Injuries beginning to pile up around NHL
Doug Wilson didn’t go looking for Joe Thornton insurance last summer. The general manager of the San Jose Sharks already had it.
The Sharks didn’t panic when they found out their longtime star with a series of nagging right knee injuries had another setback. They knew what they could count on from captain Joe Pavelski and the rest of the supporting cast.
“We’re very fortunate we have a lot of players that can go up and down in the lineup,” Wilson said. “Our players just look at it as they just move up a role or slip into a different position, and it’s not really that much of an adjustment for them because they’ve done it before.”
All over the NHL, teams are adjusting on the fly to a surprising number of significant injuries early in the season, including to a handful of starting goaltenders.
The Kings are calling Jonathan Quick week to week with a lower body injury. The Panthers will be without Roberto Luongo for two to four weeks because of a sprained ligament in his right knee, and the Penguins don’t know when Matt Murray will be back after he was diagnosed with yet another concussion. The Flyers have ruled out high-priced forward James van Riemsdyk for the next five to six weeks, and the Blue Jackets are without top defenceman Seth Jones and centre Brandon Dubinsky.
No GM can go into an off-season making moves on the uncertain scenario that a star will go down. But previous experiences paved the way for Los Angeles, Columbus and Florida to have a plan in place.
“We’ve experienced it here two years in a row,” Kings GM Rob Blake said. “We lost Quickie for four or five months and Jeff Carter the same last year. (Coach John Stevens’) message is the same: The next guy up, someone’s going to come in and fill that spot. Will he be at the level of Jonathan Quick? Will he be at the level of Jeff Carter or (Anze) Kopitar? Probably not. But they are adequate players, and the rest around have to be better, too.”