Season Over After Serious Injury, Elliotte Friedman Raises Concerns Following Olympic Break

We aren't talking about jet lag. We are talking about a catastrophic reality check. Insider Elliotte Friedman just uncovered a ticking time bomb regarding the actual physical state of some superstars currently in Italy.

According to his intel, there are players "hanging by a thread" physically.

They are holding it together with tape, needles, and adrenaline just to wear the jersey. For an athlete, representing your country is the ultimate high. They will mortgage their bodies to do it. But the bill is coming due.

Friedman warns that we might get some brutal news the moment the Games end. The fear is that these players will return to North America only to be shut down for the rest of the season.

Friedman pointed his finger directly at the Florida Panthers organization.

You have to look at the mileage. This group has played an insane amount of hockey over the last four years thanks to those deep playoff runs. That grind destroys bodies. Friedman notes that some of their guys are clearly nowhere near 100 percent.

That puts the spotlight squarely on Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad.

These guys don't play a perimeter game. They play heavy, violent minutes. If Tkachuk is pushing a broken body past the red line for Olympic gold, the Panthers might have no choice but to pull the plug to repair the damage when he gets back.

It would be a massive blow to their playoff positioning.

But that is the hidden tax of international competition. We are about to find out who comes back with a medal, and who comes back with a doctor's note for the next six months.