In the NHL, there are no grace periods for players getting back into action.
After signing a free agent contract with the Montreal Canadiens on October 6, and playing three mandatory conditioning games in the AHL, Marc-Andre Bergeron took the ice as a member of the Habs on Tuesday night for the first time this season.
The Canadiens were able to snap a five game losing streak, with Bergeron logging nearly 17 minutes of ice time, however it was Atlanta Thrashers' forward Colby Armstrong who had a special welcome back present for the Habs' defenceman.
Armstrong scored the tying goal in the third period just as Bergeron was picking up his stick, but it was his devastating hit on Bergeron in the second period that raised eyebrows.
"It was a good hit," said Bergeron on Wednesday. "It took me a couple seconds there to come back to myself, but after that I was fine."
"It's a quick game and I'm not up to that pace yet. I didn't see that guy coming, I should have saw it coming and protected myself a little better," he added.
Initially, it was believed he may have suffered a concussion on the play, which would have been another blow to a Canadiens' blueline that has been decimated by injuries to defencemen Andrei Markov and Ryan O'Byrne.
"If I had felt bad I would have come back to the room, but after the hit I was fine," explained Bergeron. "I stood up there by the boards for a couple seconds and I was fine."
"I had a concussion my first year I played pro, about nine years ago. Obviously it wasn't one last night. I have a family and when I'm older I want to remember them and have fun with them."
Whenever a hit of that magnitude is delivered, it always raises concern over the safety of the players involved.
Prior to the season, Canadiens' general manager Bob Gainey, who was a part of the competition committee that discussed hits to the head, spoke to the team about the dangers that can be associated with them. It's something Habs' forward Mike Cammalleri knows all too well from his days in Junior.
"I remember playing junior hockey and you'd get hit like that and you'd be throwing up after the game and missing a couple teeth and no one really knew what a concussion was. You jsut figured you had a really bad headache and that you just didn't feel good for a week or so and you just kept playing," said Cammalleri.
Despite its history, Habs' forward Brian Gionta believes awareness over head injuries are at an all-time high.
"I think guys have learned enough over the last few years that they can kind of police themselves. They know when they're feeling right and when they're not. There's not that pressure that there used to be to get out there at all costs. Guys are aware that their career is short, and you have a lot of life after so you want to make sure you're ok," stated Gionta.
"I feel that we have a tremendous medical staff here," said head coach Jacques Martin. "In a lot of the injury situations the input from the player is really the key. He's the one that feels his body. [Tuesday] night was a situation where [Bergeron] felt he was able to continue and Wednesday [in practice] he didn't miss a beat."