Setting the record straight on Hendrix Lapierre’s injury history

Setting the record straight on Hendrix Lapierre’s injury history originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

In Hendrix Lapierre, the Capitals got a steal on Tuesday in the first round of the NHL Draft. He is a center with enough talent to make him a top-10 pick, but he ultimately slid back due to an injury-filled 2019 that spooked other teams.

But you may not know the whole story.

Lapierre suffered a concussion in February 2019. Then, it was believed that he suffered two more concussions in October and November and he was shut down for the 2019-20 season. Three concussions in 10 months is very serious so you can understand why other teams decided to pass on Lapierre.

There’s just one issue. Lapierre didn’t suffer three concussions.

“I only had one concussion in February 2019 and after that it was neck injuries,” Lapierre said.

Bob McKenzie laid out the whole situation Tuesday on the NBCSN broadcast after Washington had selected Lapierre.

“In nine calendar months, [Lapierre] had three head and neck traumas and the third one set him down for the balance of the 2019-20 season,” McKenzie said. “The symptoms weren’t going away so he went to see Dr. Dan Dyrek in Boston. … They came up with a diagnosis that it wasn’t just concussions. That it was cranial, cervical, traumatic injury and that there were some problems with his vertebrae that were dealt with when Dr. Max Gauthier in Montreal gave him six treatments in the spring.”

Even if it was not three concussions, suffering any injuries to the head or neck injury is certainly a concern. But Lapierre’s future seems much less fragile knowing he only actually suffered one concussion in 2019 rather than the three we believed initially.