Yesterday, Holmgren confirmed what many following this team during the postseason had suspected, that Smith, the Flyers' captain, had suffered a separation of an already-ailing shoulder in one period against the New Jersey Devils on April 4, then separated the other shoulder the following period. It forced him to miss the final game of the regular season and the week of practice leading into the playoffs, forced him to alter his physical style, and forced him to receive repeated injections to numb excruciating pain.
He did not miss a playoff game, his minutes vacillating wildly as the injuries around him piled up. "I don't know how he did it," Holmgren said. "Jason Smith and Derian Hatcher brought toughness to a new level, in my mind. Neither of them should have been playing."
Hatcher had fluids drained from his ailing knee daily. He has another season in his contract. Smith, acquired last summer in a trade with Edmonton, does not. Yesterday, Holmgren confirmed what many also suspected, that Smith's grittiness in this postseason did not guarantee him an offer to remain as this team's captain next season.
"I'd be foolish not to consider it," Holmgren said. "Those are the hard decisions that need to be made. I'd love to sit here and say that everybody will be back. But the economics of the game probably aren't going to allow that."
On his way out the door Sunday, Smith flashed that gap-toothed grin of his when asked to detail the extent of his injuries. He also shrugged when asked if he thought he would be back.
"I'm fine," he said. "No excuses."
No surprise there. He didn't give them all season, accepted blame readily when his play did not measure to his and your standards. It reminded you of what the matured Allen Iverson said upon his return in March, when someone asked if the assertion that the Sixers were better off in the long run without him was fair.
