Injury Report: Dustin Byfuglien (Warning in OP)

[GumbyCan2]

This sounds like a grievances with how the team handled Buffs health.

I’m guessing there will be an in-depth audit of the teams medical assessments and diagnosis, treatment plans, and so on.

This is seriously fishy, and I’m willing to bet that the Jets are at fault one way or another, otherwise it would be all good.

It’s pretty obvious that team doctors cut corners, sign off on a players health so the team can get their money makers back on the ice. I’ve even heard the excuse “pro athletes heal extremely fast because they’re in such peak physical condition”.

The paper trail is going to be looked into heavily here and this one stinks big time.

You do make a good point(s) there HP. I'll poor a little A-1 sauce on there too!
That's the other angle, the Jets meshed up, medically, and Buff thought, fine I'm not reporting to camp for personal reasons, gets granted a personal leave,, gets his doctor to perform aneeded surgery so he has a reason to be in recovery, and time to bring light to the fact he should have been covered for this, under his contract? Jets "suspend him" to make it look like he went against their medical or whatever? Buff files a grievance to be heard by an arbitrator. I dunno but yes, very fishy!

 

[Calendal]

If he was cleared last year I would assume they would have X-ray evidence to back that claim up.

They might have x-rays that are open to interpreration. Long ago I broke a bone in my ankle.. got cast for 8 weeks.. got it taken off but no x-ray was ever done. Everything felt normal.

Maybe 5 years later I sprained the ankle and they took x-rays and ruled it a sprain. Wore a small support for 3 weeks and it healed up.

Some years after that they took MRI of the ankle for different reasons and noticed that the bone had never healed up. They said it didn’t really matter as it was the end that was separated.

They may not have been looking at the correct place.

All of this is highly anecdotal, but just a reminder that those images are still open to That’s why a trainef professional looks at it and even they can still be mistaken.

 

[KingBogo]

Players returning back to playing professional hockey a few weeks after a high ankle sprain? If that happened to you or I your doctor would be suggesting you not have any strenuous activity for likely 6 weeks.

Separated shoulders. Nik Ehlers returned back from that in hmmm... 2 weeks?

This is all off the top of my head, unless surgery is required these guys are back out on the ice playing through injuries constantly.

You do realize that the doctors contracted by the Jets are some of the top medical people in the province and you are basically calling them out as being unethical and suggesting something that would jeopardize their ability to practice medicine? Is this your your stance?

 

[Krauser]

It’s pretty obvious that team doctors cut corners, sign off on a players health so the team can get their money makers back on the ice.

Its pretty obvious that you don’t know what you’re talking about.

There was no ice to get Buff back onto at the exit physical. It was April, the next season was months away.

If there was any serious problem with his ankle and/or foot in April that would require surgery, the team’s selfish motivation would’ve been to have him have that surgery right away and go through rehab so he would be ready either at the start of the season or soon after (ankle/foot problems rarely take more than a few months to heal).

How could it have been in the team’s interest for their doctors to sign off on Buff’s physical only for him to spend the summer fishing without further medical supervision, investigations, treatment, and/or rehab, if there was any chance those could be required?

And if the team’s doctors had for some idiotic and unprofessional reason falsely documented that his ankle and foot were in good health at the end of last season, and Buff was still having pain or other symptoms there, why wouldn’t he report back to the team when camp opened, explain his symptoms, get the imaging that supposedly showed a fracture, and then go on IR for a salary of about a million dollars a month?

It makes no sense at all for Byfuglien to approach the situation this way, even if he disagreed with the team’s medical opinion, either at the time of the physical or some time after.

 

[ffh]

There is a process if there is a disagreement about an injury. If buff went and had surjury and didn't go threw the process of notifying the team or the players union before he got another opinion and then surjury he wont get anything. And it sounds like that is what he did.

 

[Robinson2187]

Maybe he further injured his ankle fighting a small mouth bass.

They are a scrappy breed indeed

 

[Whileee]

Craig wouldn't have been involved in any diagnosis.

There will be detailed medical reports on each step of this process. That said, it isn't uncommon to have diagnostic uncertainty even with an ostensibly straightforward injury, and ankles aren't always straightforward. My sense is that whomever Buff consulted with in MN found something the Jets' doctors didn't, and provided a divergent diagnosis and treatment plan that included surgery. Now the questions will surround those divergences, whether it's something that was missed or wasn't there, and how any differences can be reconciled.

It's going to be messy, I suspect.

It's relatively straightforward to determine whether a bone fracture is recent or old. If his doctors found a recent fracture, that's very different than if they found and old one.

 

[Whileee]

I wonder if insurance companies are involved. If he had his contract insured then the insurance company pays his salary while injured if it's a hockey injury. Otherwise, the Jets would pay, and they likely wouldn't want to do that if they aren't sure when and how he was injured.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Whatever the case ... get well soon Big Buff! Stay strong!!!

 

[GNP]

I don’t really understand what the arbitration is about. What are they arbitrating and why?

________________________________________________

As they say -- "follow the money" --that's what the arbitration is about.

 

[eepruls]

Could someone explain how injuries that happen on the ice differ from injuries that happen on a player's own time? Appleton just broke his ankle while playing soccer did he not? What about an injury in the off-season?

 

[Zippity]

Could someone explain how injuries that happen on the ice differ from injuries that happen on a player's own time? Appleton just broke his ankle while playing soccer did he not? What about an injury in the off-season?

Good point, they are probably using Great west life and his claim was declined.
In the blue collar world, work injuries fall under workers comp, and then Std and LTD for non work injuries

 

[Keystone]

So let me get this straight? The only thing that makes sense is Buff lied and got hurt worse in summer, which is why he didn’t report to camp cause he knew the ankle would look worse than the exit medical.
Or
His ankle was mis diagnosed in exit, never healed up right, and he came to camp saying it’s not healed and Jets said it was fine in Spring. So he left ticked off that they didn’t believe him.

Even if it wasn’t misdiagnosed, considering he had 2 injuries in short order, and came back relatively quickly, he likely had to medicate to play. Maybe the ankle felt worse in summer or at least not right once he wasn’t taking painkillers to play. Could lead to animosity and second guessing.

 

[ps241]

So my bet is that this forum is going to get way ahead of itself here. Should we just skip the trial and order up the hanging judge now?

No medial degree, only bits and pieces of real knowledge of the situation, no problem........often wrong.....never in doubt!!!

 

[King Woodballs]

So my bet is that this forum is going to get way ahead of itself here. Should we just skip the trial and order up the hanging judge now?

No medial degree, only bits and pieces of real knowledge of the situation, no problem........often wrong.....never in doubt!!!

How can you say such a thing.... that has never happened here before

 

[jetdiehard]

It would be nice to know if the Jets ex rayed the ankle after the Jets season was over.

 

[ps241]

How can you say such a thing.... that has never happened here before

I do get it. We are a group that comes here to speculate so it’s all good. I am just going to buckle up because this thread has the potential to be black belt level tinfoil hat.

 

[Whileee]

It would be nice to know if the Jets ex rayed the ankle after the Jets season was over.

An x-ray of the ankle might miss a fractured bone in the foot.

 

[puck stoppa]

I do get it. We are a group that comes here to speculate so it’s all good. I am just going to buckle up because this thread has the potential to be black belt level tinfoil hat.

How'd you know what I was wearing last night!?

 

[ThinIce61]

I think I'm ankling (angling, yes sad, I know, lol) on the side of the Jets here.
For an organization that imo at least has shown themselves to be ultra cautious with injured players to the point of keeping them out if their hair isn't quite parted correctly I just can't see them telling Buff " nope, you're fine, get thst big derriere of yours out on the ice.
Each of us does know our own bodies better than anyone else and if Buff was still feeling pain and all the rest of it ( shout out to Westy ) I think had he spoken up and maybe he did that the Jets would have run as many tests as necessary and consulted with as many people as possible to get the best diagnosis.
Especially when the season hasn't begun and you know how big a hole Buff reagravating an injury will cause to the back end of the team.

It is a major distraction no matter what the players say and sad to say but we aren't going to see Buff in a Jets Jersey ever again, imo.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

Remember Chevy saying 'take as much time as you need on your LOA, Buf' then ~10 days later, 'You are suspended'. Now guess what, we are in a financial dispute with one of our star players, and he was forced to seek alternative medical treatment which appears that he had a completely valid injury all along. Whatever the outcome ends up being, this does not align to the Jets public tune of We Are a Family.

 

[ps241]

How'd you know what I was wearing last night!?

The good thing about a tinfoil hat is you can wear it with anything.

 

[tbcwpg]

Remember Chevy saying 'take as much time as you need on your LOA, Buf' then ~10 days later, 'You are suspended'. Now guess what, we are in a financial dispute with one of our star players, and he was forced to seek alternative medical treatment which appears that he had a completely valid injury all along. Whatever the outcome ends up being, this does not align to the Jets public tune of We Are a Family.

The suspension thing was just a formality thing for cap flexibility.

 

[Jetfaninflorida]

The suspension thing was just a formality thing for cap flexibility.

Was It? Then why did they publically say take as much time as you need on your LOA, Buf. They didn't publically say, take ~10 days on your LOA, Buf. I think the dispute will show that this suspension becomes a big issue and the Jets org won't come out looking good to other NHL Players. Hope I am wrong.

 

[ffh]

As per the cba if buff didnt like what the jets doctors had to say he could talk to the players union and league and request to get looked at by third party doctor and then what they decide would be final. He may have done this we dont know. But if he acted without doing this he has no case. If a 3rd party decided that he should have had an operation then they would have told the jets. Chevy sounded like he was not aware till after the operation. So I doubt that he had the operation after talking to league and filling a grievance but before. Which means he has no case.