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“I’m looking for clarity,” said Baertschi. “He’s got a good understanding of how much you can take. If it takes me another month to recover, but I’m 100 per cent, that’s good. We have to be patient.”

Last season, Baertschi missed nine games with a concussion from a questionable and non-penalized Feb. 7 hit from enforcer Cody McLeod. He also suffered a concussion with the Abbotsford Heat in December, 2012 when he was sent crashing into the boards. And he had another nearly a year earlier at the world junior championships.

“This one feels different,” added Baertschi. “The others were more whiplash and the neck and once the neck was good, I started feeling better. This one is more visual problems and I feel like it’s more connected to the brain.”

Baertschi had his back to Golden Knights forward Thomas Hyka while taking a pass. He was hit hard, dropped like a rock to the ice and you could tell something was wrong.

“He hit my shoulder and slipped off and hit me in the head,” Baertschi recalled of the unpenalized play. “Did I like the hit? No. He had a chance to avoid me, but the game is fast and things happen. I don’t think he wanted to hurt me, but something didn’t feel right.

“I got a headache and got dizzy. I pulled myself out and knew I had to stop and get checked out, And it just got worse and worse the next few days and I’ve been out ever since.”

Even when Baertschi followed the proper post-concussion protocol — slowly returning to the gym and riding the bike to get his heart rate up — he ran into a recovery roadblock on the ice.