‘The optics of the injury situation aren’t good for the strength and conditioning staff, but there are a few factors at play here, in my mind. The biggest of those is an abundance of caution. How many of these injured players would be able to gut through their ailments if this were the regular season? My guess is the list would not be as long as it is now. Knowing there are 17 regular-season games to play, and hopefully more in the playoffs, means it makes sense to give players the necessary time to heal right now. As McDermott mentioned, it’s more important to be healthy in January than it is July and August.’