TORONTO -- On Tuesday, Aaron Ekblad went home to Florida.
After becoming a surprise scratch in Monday night's loss to Team Russia, the most important defenseman on Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey watched his teammates lose from a press box suite while wearing a suit and tie.
He and North America management were following league protocol after Ekblad experienced concussion-like symptoms following a big hit from Finland's Leo Komarov in Ekblad's first game of the tournament.
But in terms of making the tough call between playing through pain in a best-on-best tournament and preserving yourself for the long grind of a regular season, there is no real protocol.
There are judgment calls, conversations and, right now, lots of NHL general managers just hoping it ends.
"If you're a fan of the game, you love to watch the excitement, and it's a beautiful game to watch," said one Western Conference general manager. "But when you look at what's the benefit to the [NHL] team? It's zero."
For a team like Ekblad's Panthers, it's now gone into the negative. The Dallas Stars can feel their pain. Stars captain Jamie Benn of Team Canada pulled out of the tournament to heal from surgery, and they've now suffered two injuries in Canada's Tyler Seguin (foot) and the Czech Republic's Radek Faksa (concussion symptoms).
Ales Hemsky of the Czech Republic, one of the last healthy Stars left, had better watch out.
How the communication between the club team and international team went down has varied depending on the situation. Stars GM Jim Nill got word after Canada's first exhibition game against the U.S. that Seguin was banged up.
He sent Seguin a text, and the response from his star center assured him he was fine. After he played another exhibition game, the tone of the texts changed.
Seguin was hurting.
A conference call was set up with Nill, Seguin, doctors and Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong, and the group hashed out a solution. Maybe Seguin could power through the injury, but with center Ryan O'Reilly ready to step in, it wasn't necessary.
The decision was made to send Seguin home. There might have been relief for the Stars that Benn and Seguin were out of harm's way and should be ready to go to start the season, but they also felt for a guy who all summer had been looking forward to representing his country.
"I talked to Tyler the night before he went to the camp in Ottawa, how excited he was in playing for Canada," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said Tuesday. "I don't think any of them think of injury before they go. They just think of playing."
And when they get hurt, they think of playing through it. That's what makes these guys the best in the world.
So it's important that NHL clubs have a say in the decision, especially considering how hard it can be for the player to take a big-picture approach when opportunities like this don't present themselves very often.
For a player such as Faksa, this is one of the first opportunities to play for his country on a big stage.
"Radek, he's a young guy representing his country. He's 21. It tugs at them," Nill said. "It's hard. It's tough. It's tough for them to go, 'Hey, I can't go anymore,' to their teammates there and their country."
Ultimately, the team has a say, and the Panthers certainly didn't hide their desire to bring Ekblad home, nor should they have. He's their franchise defenseman. They have Stanley Cup hopes this season.
It's not like Ekblad grew up dreaming of wearing the Team North America orange and black. So this was the no-brainer.
It makes the North Americans' job a little harder as they face Sweden on Wednesday needing a win to survive. The team is also without goalie Matt Murray, who is out with a hand injury. Ekblad was their big-minute defenseman, taking on the toughest competition for coach Todd McLellan.
Fellow defenseman Ryan Murray left practice early in what McLellan called a maintenance day, saying he expects Murray to be available for the Sweden game. If not, that would leave North America with five defensemen, which would be an issue.
"Yeah," defenseman Jacob Trouba deadpanned. "You usually want six."
If they get to six, the young group remains confident they have a defense capable of advancing in this tournament. The coaches and general managers of the emerging NHL stars might not exactly be broken hearted if they don't.
The World Cup has seen big names go down and it's just getting out of group play. Multiple general managers said they were taken aback at just how intense and physical the opening exhibition game was between the United States and Canada. It was clear then the players cared about this tournament in a big way. When that's the case, injuries are going to follow. It's inevitable.
Those watching from the outside, waiting for it to end just hope it doesn't strike their key players as the games get even more intense once the World Cup shifts to the semifinals
"You just look at the history of these tournaments, one team is going to get significantly hurt," said one GM. "You're holding your breath it's not you."