Hawks Do Weird Things With Injured Star

While all the joy from Tuesday night's win begins to fade in anticipation of either The Ending or The Rising on Thursday, one question that should be answered is why one of the Hawks stars wasn't part of it.

In Game 3, Brent Seabrook was the victim in Raffi Torres' never-ending quest to prove that humans are just too stupid to have been evolved from monkeys.

While there are many questions about whether Torres should have been suspended and just what kind of hit was it (to the head or not? Blindside or not?), more questions should be directed at the Hawks for how they handled Seabrook after the incident.

New NHL protocol states that if there's even the slightest suspicion of a concussion, if you even sneeze funny, then a player must be removed from the game and bench and observed in a "quiet room" to determine the extent of the damage.

Getting a flying body-block to the dome from a brainless guided missile like Torres would probably fall under the category of suspicion of concussion. However, Seabrook was allowed to return to the game immediately. In fact, he took his next shift, only missing a mere 26 seconds before rejoining the power play that resulted from the hit.

Seabrook came out again a couple minutes later, and this is where things get dicey. Clearly wobbly, Seabrook was again targeted by Torres, though legally, which was a nice change of pace.

Seabrook was clearing the puck from a corner, had plenty of time to brace himself, but was still knocked over by a hit he usually dismisses.

It was only then that Seabrook was removed from the game, as he was not seen for the last five minutes of the second period.  He returned for all of the third period, but missed all of Tuesday's Game 4.

Perhaps we can believe that Seabrook is carrying another injury besides the dome-dent from Torres and was able to gut out the third period with adrenaline, and only after a day of non-activity did whatever it was stiffen up. But is anyone buying that?

What is frightening is that it's pretty common knowledge that there can be serious trouble if you suffer another blow to the head soon after an initial concussion.

It's what has kept Sidney Crosby in sick bay for almost four months now. He suffered a hit to the head during the Winter Classic, played the next game, got dinged again, and has been basically a heated rumor since.

Is this what happened with Seabrook? By risking him after a blow to the head, have the Hawks given themselves a problem that will remain into next season?

This is not the first time that Seabrook has been clocked, either. We all remember James Wisniewski's maniacal charge in Anaheim last season, causing Seabrook to miss a game.

How could he play the third of Game 3 but not Game 4? We'll never know, unless it's a problem in training camp next fall.

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