The groins have it!
The pre-season has been tough on a lot teams so far. Injuries are abound and the season hasn't even begun yet. So far it appears the groin is the most popular ailment. Here's a list of the wounded:
Toronto Maple Leafs
Kyle Wellwood - groin
Michael Peca - groin
Darcy Tucker - unknown
Ben Ondrus - unknown
Wade Belak - groin
Tomas Kaberle - unknown
Brendan Bell - bone bruise
San Jose Sharks
Jonathan Cheechoo - groin
Joe Thornton - bruised foot
Nashville Predators
Jason Arnott - groin
Atlanta Thrashers
Vitaly Vishnevski - groin
Steve Rucchin -groin
Buffalo Sabres
Daniel Breire - hip flexor
Carolina Hurricanes
Oleg Tverdovsky - groin
Chicago Blackhawks
Tuomo Ruutu - knee
Michal Handzus -shoulder
Mikael Holmqvist - groin
James Wisniewski - back
Dallas Stars
Eric Lindros - groin
Detroit Red Wings
Danny Markov - knee
Greg Johnson - heart (abnormal EKG)
Florida Panthers
Ville Peltonen - shoulder
Philadelphia Flyers
Antero Niittymaki - hip
Ummmm, does anyone stretch before they play hockey anymore? Come on guys! Either that or the NHL needs to look into getting some better trainers. This is ridiculous!
Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh
Comments
The golden irony here is that Hasek is NOT on the list. (knock on wood)
Man, I hope he can stay healthy...
Posted by: jeff | September 28, 2006 07:42 AM
Jeff I was thinking the same thing. I guess the groin is going to be Lindros' injury of choice this season. If you remember, over the last few years, he has supplemented concussions, with knees, shoulder, and last years wrist. I don't think there is functioning joint on this guy.
Posted by: Bosh | September 28, 2006 11:48 AM
You forgot to put Roenick to the list, who is out for pulling Owen Nolan's groin. He had to do something, though, because Nolan's 2 goal game has him way ahead of J.R. for that coveted "I can be the Teemu Selanne of 2006! I swear!" award.
Well, big news today is Zherdev finally signed with the cabumblejackets. Is he still available in our fantasy league? Hmm...
Don't know if you guys are Buccigross fans from back in the day when NHL 2 night used to exist (and man those were good days), but he's got his Eastern conference predictions up and there's some very interesting choices. This is a guy who came within one point of predicting Crosby's point totals last year and who also said the Southeast division would produce more Cup winners over the next ten years than any other division...so, he's got some serious psychic street cred going on. Take a look and scroll down when you get there:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=2597756
Posted by: Playoff Moustache | September 28, 2006 03:03 PM
He also predicted the Rangers to finish dead last, last year!!! Haven't heard him recind that one!
So Bucci doesn't think the Flyers or Habs will make the final 8? That's a surprise. I actually think the Pens will make the playoffs this year! How about that?!
Posted by: bosh | September 28, 2006 04:23 PM
Ha - didn't know that about his Rangers pick. Definitely don't see him owning up to that one in this year's crop.Using that logic, I'd start putting some money on the Caps. Then again...
You know, it seems quite a few people are picking the Pens to make the post-season or to have an outside shot at sneaking in as one of the lower seeds. Obviously I'll be delighted as hell if that happens, but I'm not sure they're at that stage yet. What I'm realistically hoping to see this year is Fleury take a real big step forward in goal and a team commitment to reducing those overall goals against (which means doing some serious PK work). With Crosby and Malkin, this team sort of reminds me of Atlanta when Heatley and Kovalchuk were breaking in. That team had a serious stretch of wins a few years back, but couldn't maintain it throughout the year enough to sneak in the playoffs. I'll be thrilled if the Pens can get to that level this year. Anything else is cherry.
Posted by: Playoff Moustache | September 28, 2006 06:16 PM