When the Colorado Avalanche battled the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night, fans noticed that forward Matt Calvert was wearing an interesting-looking visor with a pink tint. At first thought, many fans wondered if this visor was for "looks", but it turns out Calvert can't play without the pink tint.
During his career, Calvert has suffered from quite a few concussions, and it has caused him light-sensitivity problems.
«It's basically like wearing blue light glasses at night or in front of screens, in that it limits the exposure,» Calvert explained. «There's bright lights in the building, so anything that can help.»
«Yeah, I guess,» Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. «If he's kinda mentioned that to you, then I guess so,» he added.
«Our goal with him is the same as the rest of our team: We need to be durable; we need to stay healthy, and that was an issue for us last year,» Bednar added. «A guy like Calvy, the way he plays and the energy role he plays, the way he chips in on our penalty kill and the different things he finds a way to contribute on our team, he's an important piece to it. He's a veteran guy in our locker room; he's a glue guy and we need him to be in our lineup.
«As the season goes on, we just gotta keep having those conversations and seeing how these guys are doing with their health and make sure they're getting the rest when they need. We need guys like (Calvert).»
Calvert, 31, was drafted in the 5th round, 127th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He's spent parts of 11 seasons in the NHL with Columbus and Chicago.
In 549 regular season games, he's tallied 200 points (95 G, 105 A), 370 penalty minutes, and is a -21. In 32 career playoff games, he has 17 points (7 G, 10 A), 34 penalty minutes, and is a +14.
