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Leafs’ Lupul assumes he has a concussion

Joffrey Lupul

Just a few days after Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle refused to say winger Joffrey Lupul had a concussion -- “no, that’s a bad word,” he told the Globe and Mail -- Lupul went ahead and admitted as much himself.

“Yeah,” Lupul said on Wednesday, when asked by the Toronto Star if he assumed he suffered a concussion. “I mean, no one’s really said that word to me. But I definitely didn’t sprain my ankle.

“I think it’s safe to say I took a pretty solid blow to the head.”

Lupul, 29, hasn’t played since this hit from Flyers forwards Jay Rosehill and Adam Hall on Apr. 4:

The Leafs have been calling the ailment an “upper-body” injury over the last week and have been very cautious regarding the topic of a potential concussion.

“We don’t use that word until we’re 100 per cent sure on any of those situations medically,” Carlyle told the Globe. “The term concussion, in today’s sporting world, you want to make sure you’re 100 per cent sure before you start using that one.”

Lupul said he wasn’t certain why the Leafs were so averse to speaking about potential concussions (to be fair, they’re not the only team that does this), and didn’t know why the word wasn’t being used.

“When people say ‘concussion,’ they think of Sidney Crosby sitting out a year. Whereas I can say, right now, I feel fairly good,” he explained. “There’s obviously different severities of blows to the head. And I think it can be misconstrued.”

Lupul maintains his recovery is still in “day-to-day” mode, but says there isn’t any rush to get back into the lineup.

“I just want to make sure I’m back at 100 percent,” he said.