CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Brian Dumoulin said that the injury that kept him out of the final six games of the Penguins' playoff run was a grade 3 tear of his MCL.
Dumoulin, speaking with reporters during the Penguins' locker room cleanout day Tuesday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, said that he suffered the injury in Game 1 when he crashed into the Pittsburgh net upon colliding with Filip Chytil on a New York goal that was disallowed for goaltender interference:
Dumoulin said that his knee hit the post on the play, causing it to hyperextend, though he didn't feel the pain in the moment.
Dumoulin played one more 22-second shift in the third period, during which he said his knee felt unsteady and like his shin was slipping out. He put a brace on after regulation ended and continued to play into triple overtime, taking another 22 shifts, shifts that he said were at times "questionable" but lasted normal lengths for him.
Dumoulin added that he was playing with some sort of foot injury in the beginning of the year.
"Throughout the whole year, it seemed like whether it be a blocked shot or something, it just hit me in a bad spot," he said.
Dumoulin isn't the only player who was playing through injury at some point in the playoffs.
Jason Zucker was clearly not 100 percent after returning to the lineup in Game 3, something he alluded to after playing: "Nobody's 100 percent healthy, especially come playoff time," Zucker said at the time. "You know, you're always trying to play through something. For me it's just the joy of being out there and just wanting to play games. If I have to play through some pain then so be it."
Zucker said that it felt like he just "couldn't stay ahead" of his injuries this season.
"It seemed like it was one thing after another," he said. "
Zucker was trying to manage that pain in order to play in the playoffs. He joked that the medical staff and strength coaches have a whiteboard with an algorithm on it for what's needed just to keep Zucker on the ice. One of those things was not sitting on the bench for some games, instead sitting up higher on an elevated chair off to the side of the bench -- something he confirmed Tuesday was injury-related.
Zucker didn't want to get into specifics regarding the nature of his injury, or if it was related to his sports hernia earlier in the season that necessitated core muscle surgery.
I asked Zucker what the rehab process is going to be like for him this summer with his injury, and if surgery is a possibility.
"I'm still trying to figure that out with the doctor and our medical staff right now," he said. "I don't really have a good answer for you on that one."
Regardless of if surgery is necessary, Zucker doesn't feel a need to change his offseason regimen to prevent injuries in the future, because his injuries this season weren't anything he could have controlled.
"This was one of those things that I feel was no wrongdoing on my part," he said.
Casey DeSmith, who underwent core muscle surgery May 6 after leaving Game 1 in double-overtime, said that the injury was one that had been nagging him for the last month and a half of the season. As the game went on into the second overtime, it started bothering him more, and he made the decision to leave the game.
"It was just the nature of double-overtime and the fatigue and stuff like that," he said. "I made a movement and just felt my whole hip and groin just kind of all go at once. It was a pretty easy decision to pull myself out of the game considering I couldn't really move or go down or anything like that. I knew it was pretty much done for me at that point."
DeSmith specified that the injury was to his right groin, whereas the injury that necessitated surgery last offseason was to his left groin. He's optimistic about the recovery process this summer, having gone through this exact surgery once before, just on the opposite side.
"I had the same thing done last year on the left groin, and I had no issues this year with my left groin," he said. "I saw a great surgeon and he did a good job and successful surgery. I have good facilities good physical therapy here, good strength training. I'm just looking forward to getting back to being healthy and not having to deal with this anymore."
MORE FROM CLEANOUT DAY
• Mike Sullivan vehemently refuted a report that surfaced Monday that Sidney Crosby was cleared by team doctors to play for Game 6 but was held out by the team.
"Yeah, the report is false," Sullivan said. "Sid was not cleared for Game 6 by our team doctors. Our team doctors always have the last say in a player's health and ability to return to the lineup before a coach's decision is made. The reason that is the way it is, is because we have our players' health as a priority, first and foremost. Sid was not cleared to play in Game 6 by our team doctors, and any other report that suggested otherwise is simply false."
Crosby refuted the same report.
"I was cleared Sunday morning after the morning skate and things like that, just how I felt that day leading up to it," he said. "Sunday before the game is when I was cleared. There's a process you have to go through. And I went through that process, wasn't cleared for Game 6, and was cleared for Game 7. So that was all there was to it."
• I asked Marcus Pettersson if he thought Alexis Lafrenière intentionally pulled his helmet off before the tying goal in Game 7, and if he knew that he was allowed to just put the helmet back on instead of leaving the ice.
"I think it was one of those plays where it came off, I can't say if it was intentional or not, he was falling," Pettersson said. "But in the heat of the moment, yeah. The rule is I probably could have put it on again. But in the heat of the moment, I think I tried to get to the bench and get a change in before. It was an unfortunate play."
• Brock McGinn, on the penalty he took in overtime that gave the Rangers the power play that led to the series-clinching goal: "Yeah, it was a tough break. I think that's something I'll have to live with. It's a tough bounce, but I just got to get the puck in there and not turn it over and let that happen."
• Kasperi Kapanen on what he needs to improve on this summer: "I think just being consistent. I think I had really good games this year and I think I had really bad games. So I think that's something that I need to focus on. And somehow just getting my confidence back and my swagger that I used to have. I don't think it was there this year and I think it showed."
• Kapanen, a restricted free agent this summer, said that he'd like to be back.
"I think (management) is going to take care of a couple bigger pieces than me first," he said. "Then hopefully we'll figure something out. I love being here. I've never felt better on any team in my life before than here. It's an absolute privilege to to play with these guys and see them every day."
• Zucker deadpanned this quip on Bryan Rust, someone he's known since the two were teenagers in the U.S. national team development program: "To see the kind player that he's turned into is incredible. I mean, I've told him his entire career, he has zero skill, zero talent. And he turned it around. It's impressive."
• After playing two shortened seasons the last two years, I asked Jeff Carter if it was at times physically challenging to go through a full season again this year.
"It was definitely different," he said. "I think after two years of shortened seasons, this one felt a lot different. I think at times, throughout the second half, I think just personally it kind of caught you a little bit. But I think the coaches and strength staff and all them, they do a good job of managing and I think they understood how it was this year. So all in all, I thought I felt pretty good."
• Crosby said that he won't be going to Finland for the World Championship, saying that he wasn't asked by Team Canada. He believes the deadline for rosters to be set has already passed. The tournament is already well underway, having started on May 13.
• Rickard Rakell and his wife are expecting their first child, a daughter, in about a month. He's excited to get back to Anaheim and see his wife for the first time since the trade. With his wife so far along in the pregnancy and needing to prepare for the baby, as well as take care of their two dogs, it wasn't feasible for her to follow him to Pittsburgh.
"I'm really excited about that," he said. "Yeah, I haven't seen my wife in a long time, so I do look forward to seeing her as well."
• Here is my separate story on Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and the core wanting to stay together.
• Here is Danny Shirey's story on Rust and Rakell both wanting to return to Pittsburgh.
