The Toronto Maple Leafs made veteran defenseman TJ Brodie a healthy scratch in Wednesday’s game against the Washington Capitals. And on Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers scratched Sean Couturier for a second straight game.

Toronto’s defense corps looked like they didn’t miss a beat as they beat the Capitals 7-3, and the Flyers won 4-3 on Tuesday against the Maple Leafs.

There was some shock in Leafs Nation to have an experienced hand like Brodie sidelined by Buds coach Sheldon Keefe as was John Tortorella scratching Couturier and teammate Cam Atkinson. Still, the reality is we’ve seen many capable NHLers made healthy scratches this season, including Evgeny Kuznetsov, Patrik Laine, Kent Johnson and Andrei Kuzmenko.

NHL coaches don’t have nearly as much leverage as they did in the heydays of iron-fisted bench bosses like Punch Imlach and Mike Keenan. If they aren’t getting the results they’re looking for, coaches likely see a healthy scratch as the last line of defense. There’s also a factor we’re seeing play out in leagues like the NBA – load management, where teams keep their key players on the sidelines in the hope of having them fresh and rested for important games. The NBA has been concerned about that development, but in the constant grind of an 82-game regular season, you can understand why GMs and coaches go the route of sitting players out when they’re not 100 percent healthy, either mentally or physically. A physical athlete like an NHLer is always an injury risk, but when you’re a team like the Maple Leafs that has amassed a good deal of depth at key positions, it affords you the luxury of doing what Keefe did with Brodie Wednesday. Indeed, if you’ve been following the Leafs this year, you’ve noticed Brodie has had his share of struggles. The 33-year-old blueliner is, at this stage in his playing career, no longer a top-pairing guy. When he tries to do too much, it shows in the mental mistakes he’s making on the regular. Keefe saw Brodie flailing in Toronto’s late-game meltdown loss to Carolina Saturday. With fans and media up in arms over Brodie’s clear slippage in performance, there was no more shielding Brodie from the consequences of his on-ice choices.

The same holds true for the aforementioned NHLers. If any of them had been thriving, a healthy scratching would be a non-starter for coaches and teams. But the reality is the constant punishment of playing three to four times every week can wear down even the best NHL players. When you’re a youngster trying to find your way – like Johnson in Columbus – or when you’re a greybeard trying to continue being given significant ice time, you can get lost, either mentally, physically or both. And that’s what’s happened to Brodie and perhaps Couturier as well. They’ll likely get back into the lineup soon, but if their teams keep winning without them, they can afford to sit their underperforming players more often. For that reason, it wouldn’t surprise us if Keefe chose to make Brodie a healthy scratch once or twice in the Leafs’ remaining 14 regular-season games this year. He can paint such a move as a way to keep Brodie energized and ready to rumble once the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, but ultimately, disciplining Brodie as he’s doing is no longer about keeping Brodie happy at all times. Brodie will be a UFA this summer, and if he does want to stay in Blue and White, he’ll be looking at a notable pay cut from his current salary cap hit of $5 million per season.

You can take being a healthy scratch as a negative and allow it to hamper the rest of your season, or you can swallow your pride and return to action with a singular intent to never be a healthy scratch again. That’s what the Buds want out of Brodie as the Flyers want with Couturier and Atkinson. Professional hockey can be a cold business, but it is still a business. The business now includes healthy scratches as a tool meant to encourage good decisions and discourage poor decisions. We’ll see how it works out with Brodie and Couturier, but they won’t be the last guys treated the way the Leafs and Flyers are treating them now. It’s a zero-sum industry they’re working in, and if you’re not contributing solid results, there are going to be other options considered. Some of them are options that will push you out of the playing picture, whether you like it or not.