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“Give him credit, he put a lot of work in that week and got some quickness back from his game.”

Well, if true, this changes just about everything.

Because now, it seems, before his NHL career was about to begin in big and important ways, Boeser told his head coach in a meeting he was tired.

Why Green decided to take hits for this until Dec. 19 remains a mystery.

If all true, however, I kind of wish he kept it to himself and kept on taking bullets.

That’s a lot of hits to take for two months to turn around and say, ‘Actually, the player asked for it all along.’

He suggested he was too tired to play, to his coach, putting at risk living out a dream, which would have been playing opening night?

And now, with a foot in so much pain he was still wearing a walking boot and using crutches yesterday, he’s all about playing through it?

It does stretch credibility pretty thin.

I mean, I could see a player agreeing with his coach but bringing this up?

“That’s what I like about Brock, we have open, honest communication,” Green said. “He’s a smart enough kid and a humble enough kid to learn from it.”

Ultimately, you have to take the coach at his word, and know that there had to be nuance.

It reminds me of the Anton Rodin story I heard. When he got to Toronto to play for Utica in the first weekend of the AHL season, he was asked if he was ready to go.

Rodin said he would have liked more practice time, but he could go.

The organization instead shut him down for the first two games, and they pinned the reason on the suggestion he wanted more practice.

Was it fair? Hmmm. Don’t think he’d tell you it was.

In turn, was Tuesday fair to Boeser?

It will be especially unfair if he’s now asked to comment on all of this.

I hope that doesn’t happen.

It certainly won’t be by me.