Page 65 of Offside

"What stops the lift?" she asked.

"Weakness," I said. "Pain, if I keep pushing."

"Don't keep pushing. Lower it," she said. "I have what I need."

I did as she said, the arm dropping back to my side.

The appointment took place during the first full week of January in a clinic twelve miles from the Storm facility. The waiting room had no team logos or photographs of players. Marchetti had offered to attend, but I'd told him it was unnecessary.

She'd reviewed the medical file Reyes and Zoe sent, including the imaging, changing strength and range, prior restrictions, and my response to the adapted game. She didn't have the contract correspondence or conflict record, and Declan didn't even know when the appointment was.

The specialist compared the movement I could make with the passive range she could guide. Then she tested strength at low and usable-range loads, repeating the work after rest. The first effort held, but the fourth weakened.

"That's what happens late in practice," I said.

"And in games?" she asked. "Is contact the difference?"

"Depends on contact. Worse after a high reach. Better if I keep the arm low and get my feet there first."

"Your file says you've changed which pucks you contest," she said. "Is that deliberate?"

"Yeah," I said. "I don't chase the high ones."

"Does that keep you effective?" she asked.

"Most nights," I said. "Not all of them."

"I need the report to distinguish them," she said.

"I know," I answered. "Don't blur it for the contract."

She stopped the sequence before fatigue could turn the assessment into damage. After comparing the response with the earlier numbers, she sat across from me with the file open between us.

"The clinical progression is consistent," she said. "The initial worsening, the later contact episode, the difference between active and passive movement, and the load response—they all fit the same chronic shoulder picture. I don't see any evidence that the rehabilitation approach caused the limitation or concealed it."

"Can I keep playing?" I asked.

"With management, yes. Based on today's findings, continued play is reasonable if your physician retains participation oversight and the load plan keeps adapting to response. That's not a guarantee against another decline."

"Can you clear me without restrictions?" I asked. "Even with the adaptations?"

"No," she said firmly. "The limitations are still present."

I was glad she didn't soften it.

"Your usable capacity is real," she said. "So are the limitations. They both belong in my report."

It was the same thing Declan had done in September. He'd recorded the function lost and the function remaining without claiming that either erased the other.

"Put both in," I said. "The club needs the real answer."

"I planned on it," she said.

Marchetti used the medical report and the proof in the shifts. He sent the club clips of the Nashville penalty kill, the Detroit game after the televised decline, and the Buffalo exit that created our only goal. Six other sequences showed me giving up an old option and still finishing the play. He built the counter around minutes, matchups, late-game use, and what the independent specialist called real managed capacity. He didn't mention Declan.

The club moved, though not all the way. The calls happened over three days. Park held the term at two years. Marchetti pushed the money and role. The independent report didn't make my shoulder healthy, and neither of them bargained as if it had.

The final proposal arrived Friday afternoon. It offered two years at three-point-two million a year.