If they could only turn back time. Suddenly the last fourty eight hours, have borught some bad news for a number of NHL clubs. The all star break certainly didn't do much for some, rather than have rested players ready to tackle the stretch drive, teams are finding players heading off to the trainers room, some for the rest of the season.
The bad news parade began in Detroit, yesterday Domenic Hasek announced that he was through for the season, his fragile groin apparently no longer to take the strain of an NHL season. No problem said the Red Wings, not a welcome development but they'll get by, Cujo is ready to go. Well not so fast, tonight against the Sharks, Joseph sprained his ankle and now finds himself off the ice until next week, an MRI scheduled for tomorrow in Detroit. The Red Wings had best assign a 24 hour guard to Manny Legace.
Colorado had their own bad news press conference yesterday, Rob Blake is out for six weeks, having suffered a hairline fracture of his left leg, apparently the injury happened two weeks before the All Star game. Getting progressively worse as the weeks went by. Look for the Av's to be testing the trade waters to try and shore up the defence now. Today they put Andrei Nickolishin on injured reserve, suffering from an abdominal strain. He's out until he's feeling able to play, better known as indefinitely. Also on the injured list for the Avs are Travis Brigley, Riku Hahl, Dan Hinote and Marek Svatos, all listed as out indefinitely.
Radek Bonk is gone for four to six weeks, the Ottawa centre broke his foot blocking a shot last night against the St. Louis Blues. Just another stumbling block for John Muckler, the Sens GM will now have to turn his attention from attracting muscle for the team, perhaps look for some scoring help now. He also has to deal with the end of season injuries to Anton Volchenkov and Vaclav Varada. Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette are both day to day.
Vancouver received bad news this week as well, Magnus Arvedson is gone for the season. He underwent surgery for torn knee ligaments, the good news is the surgery was successful, the bad news is he's gone for three to six months, effectively taking him out of the playoff hunt. Arvedson who had struggled at the start of the season, was starting to come along prior to the all star break. For Brian Burke it's back to the phones or bring up some farm hands. Other wounded Canucks include Ed Jovanovski, Matt Cooke and Mats Lindgren, all listed as out indefinitely.
Montreal joins the injury parade, listing Sheldon Souray as out for at least two games. That after injuring his knee in his first game back since the all star game. Souray will return to Montreal for examination, if the doctors find serious ligament damage he may be gone much longer. Andreas Dackell and Craig Rivet will keep him company in
the trainers room, both listed as day to day.
48 hours, two days that have changed the dynamics of the teams involved. How they handle the adversity, will tell a lot about how far they go in the rest of the season and into the playoffs.
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