Hart Injury and Return More Proof Medical Staff Proactive Vs Reactive

In my last Hart injury update from earlier this week, I mentioned how the new medical staff has been much more proactive and precautious this season than their predecessors were in the previous couple of seasons. They jump into action at the first sign of a potential injury as to not exacerbate the issue even further making it into a much larger issue than it truly needs to be; which was the previous staffs main problem. The previous staff was much more reactive than proactive and it led to longer injury recoveries as well as early returns that were unwise.

Hart's latest injury is just another more proof of the new staffs approach to injuries. They have kept the same approach with all players pretty much all season, but given this write up is about Hart I'll refer back to his concussion back in December. The medical staff held him out of the 3 games following the team's Christmas Break despite Hart not necessarily having any symptoms over the time off. They did it to be sure there would be no setback. It was a miss a few games now and don't risk missing ten(plus) games later proactive approach, and it worked.

It appears the approach was the exact same this time 'round.

Dating back to his rookie season, Hart has had a history of attempting to "hide" injuries, but it appears after missing the end of the last two seasons, the young goalie seems to have learned his lesson, and this time around was quick to make sure to inform the medical staff that something felt off after the morning skate on March 28th.

After the injury occurred, the medical staff immediately pulled Hart from all on ice activity for a full two days before sending him out on a "rehab" assignment just three days post-injury with goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh, Skills Coach Angelo Ricci, and rehabbing teammate, Cam Atkinson.

The rehab assignment seemingly went well as Hart continued rehabbing by himself(with only the goalie coach and skills coach) for another two days before officially rejoining the team for morning skate on April 4th in St. Louis. He did sit out of that night's game, which was his fifth straight, but due to the staff's ability to be proactive and pull him at the first sign of injury, they seemingly mitigated the damage and have hopefully made it so that, barring anything else unforeseen in the final 5 games, Hart will finish a season for the first time in over two years.