I think the actual issue is fans presuming to have any idea the details or severity of what Nylander and Matthews dealt with and then judging them on their baseless assumptions.
We will never know everything, but by most accounts Nylander was dealing with migraines. Assuming that came with noise and light sensitivity as it does for many of us, it likely was debilitating and it would have been incredibly irresponsible and dangerous both for himself and the rest of the players in the game to let him try to take part in the games (Nylander also has a history of migraines to further support this)
As for Matthews without the details of the illness, the symptoms he was displaying and the injury he sustained after, which we aren’t going to get how can anyone arrive at any kind of conclusions with relation to his resolve to play?
Both were kept out of play by the team doctors so if people have a problem with how it was handled based on their utter lack of knowledge of the situations at play, then blame the medical staff.
The issue is not the fans. It's not the media. It's not the EVIL market. You People will blame everyone except for your God Kings.
We judge them based on the standard that is set by the league. We judge their contracts based on the same thing. It's not our fault that the standard for professionalism for this organization is non-existent. The biggest choke in franchise history in the most storied rivalry in the league, and nothing changes except the "leaders" on this team asking for no more dress code.
They were ready to go for 82 and then suddenly disappeared. With little to no explanation. When asked they get defensive. Of course people question their heart. This started long before they decided to quit and not dress for the games, we've all seen them quit on the ice too. For years. It's like You People don't even know what the Stanley Cup is all about and why it's so coveted in this country.
There's no medical professional on the planet that could stop the true great players from competing for the Cup. But we're not allowed to even ask questions to guys that get paid more than all of their peers in a limited dollar system. God forbid that we want to enjoy something for once in our lives after dedicating all of this time, money, and attention to the team.
New Beiber jersey is in the mail.