00:00Matt Barzal, he's been sidelined by knee inflammation since training camp.
00:03And for fans hearing that description, what does inflammation actually tell us?
00:08And what additional information would you need as a doctor to understand why it's keeping a player off the ice?
00:13Inflammation is sort of a general term for discomfort, for pain, right?
00:18Oftentimes, that's what we're using. It's pretty vague.
00:20So in this case, I think really what it's telling us is there's something that's bothering him,
00:24that's not letting him either practice or play at his full potential.
00:29And so that's probably where we'd have to leave that because it is a pretty generic term
00:33and really not too specific about what injury we might be looking at.
00:37There still isn't a set return timeline for Barzal.
00:40So without trying to put a date on his comeback, wouldn't ask you to do that.
00:44What makes a recovery like this difficult to predict?
00:47And what should fans understand about the difference between returning to the lineup
00:51and then returning to full performance?
00:54I think this is one of the hardest things in professional sports,
00:57especially when someone has been sidelined for a while.
00:59You know these players are gamers.
01:01They want to play.
01:02This is their livelihood.
01:03And they love playing.
01:04So you know they want to do it.
01:06You also know that they want to be effective, right?
01:08And that's another component of it.
01:10And finally, you want to make sure that you're not potentially exposing them to additional injury.
01:15And we know you can get injured at any point.
01:18There's no guarantee that that can't happen.
01:19But you want someone to feel, again, confident that they're able to handle the stresses
01:24and they're able to feel like themselves.
01:27And sometimes that's even a question we ask them.
01:29Hey, what percent do you feel like yourself now?
01:31What percent do you feel like yourself?
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