Hockey players pride themselves, and are praised for their toughness. It seems every year it is revealed that a player had been playing through some kind of ridiculous pain, and sometimes it leads to heroic performances like that of Sean Couturier's five-point outing against the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

Of course this does lead some to question whether persevering through injuries has gone too far, and could potentially be leading to worse injuries as a result. The latest NHLer to reveal that he had been playing through chronic pain is the New Jersey Devils' 1st overall draft pick Nico Hischier. As a result of the injury, which was only brought to light after the Devils had officially been eliminated from the playoffs at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Hischier will be unavailable to compete in the World Hockey Championship. 


Hischier joins Couturier (torn MCL), Zach Werenski (undefined injury suffered on October 30th, unclear if surgery is required), and Wayne Simmonds (don't even know where to begin) as some notable players that exited the 1st round and revealed the pain they'd been playing through.

 

 

Wayne Simmonds played with more injuries than he can remember this season 🤕

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We've heard of upper body injuries, and lower body injuries, but sheesh - that's a full body injury.

(H/T Twitter/New Jersey Devils)