Well this is terrifying. Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello was hit in the head with a slapshot from teammate Ryan McDonagh in Game 5 of New York's series against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed the rest of the Rangers playoff run through the Easter Conference finals with hockey's notoriously vague "upper body injury." It was always suspected that he suffered a concussion, but in speaking to reporters today, Zuccarello let on that it was much, much worse than that: he was in the hospital for three days and "couldn't talk for a while."Per the New York Daily News:
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"…And some feeling in my arm and stuff." Jesus. Watching that video is even tougher now, especially when he gets to the bench and can barely sit down properly. Zuccarello was a huge part of the Rangers offense and when a player like that goes down there's always concern, but also the hope he's able to recover and get back to action at some point. The deliberately useless injury report language used by NHL teams feeds into this sentiment, too, allowing fans and commentators to speculate about a possible return. But to find out he couldn't say a word for four days and had to re-learn how to do it? You just hope he has a full recovery, and anything after that is gravy.It sounds like he will make that full recovery—he said his doctors were clear that he was going to be healthy—and, amazingly, feels optimistic about being ready to play next year.[Daily News]"I don't know what you guys know, but there was a small fracture in my head. I lost my (ability to) talk and some feeling in my arm and stuff. I was in the hospital for three days," Zuccarello said. "I couldn't talk for a while. I had a contusion, some blood in my brain. That affects a lot. I went to speech therapy. I'm getting much better. I couldn't say a word for four days… I feel much better and I'm getting better and better."