Not all shoulder injuries are created equal though. 1.) we don’t really know what the actual injury is. 2.) if it’s something like a labrum tear, depending on the severity, it’s very viable to play through that.
I’m by no means comparing myself to an NHLer, but I had several shoulder injuries growing up playing hockey. I played through a torn labrum and it did not really affect me too much unless I was hit a certain way and my shoulder would sublux (partially dislocate/pop out). It would hurt like hell but felt fine after it popped back in. This wasn’t an every game occurrence or anything either. My tear was not super severe though. And at the end of the day, I did get surgery, but I waited until after the season.