Thought #7: Will Injured Players Ever be the Same?
We all know what the Vancouver Canucks lost when Alex Edler suffered his back injury in 2011. The man was never the same again, especially playing through the playoffs with a couple of broken fingers. We all know what injuries did to good ol’ Manny Malholtra. We saw it once again in Daniel Sedin after the blind-side hit from Duncan Keith.
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So my question is, with the injury history associated with Brandon Sutter and Edler, will the two be the same players ever again? Sutter has had his fair share of injury issues, including two major injuries this year to his back and to his jaw. Edler has a really bad injury to his fibula.
May I tentatively add Chris Tanev‘s name to that list? His hand seems to be taking a beating from blocking so many shots the past couple of years. His injury called for Alex Biega’s services if you recall from December. The fact that Tanev has only played 63 games might surprise you. He has missed almost a dozen games.
The concern goes to Henrik Sedin, too. After his injury under John Tortorella with the ribs, he never seemed to be the same. Now with his back being an issue in the faceoffs, wonder how long the Sedins can keep playing, let alone scoring.
Brandon Prust had his season come to an end due to a mishandled injury. This should be a lesson to all Canucks. Nobody is ever perfectly safe. Let’s play the remainder of this meaningless season through the last 14 days. We don’t want any of you young gems to get hurt.
Next: Thought #8: Adding the Blue Jackets Compensatory Pick