Teams make do without key pieces
Injuries to all-stars has some pointing finger at condensed schedule
Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall, Johnny Gaudreau and Jonathan Quick: The NHL’s injured-reserve list could ice its own all-star lineup.
If it seems the league’s top talent is sidelined a quarter into the season, you’re not mistaken. No more is that aching trend apparent than in Buffalo, where five key Sabres are out, including top centres Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly.
“I think the more injuries you have, obviously the harder it’s going to be,” said Sabres forward Evander Kane, who recently returned after missing 11 games with broken ribs. “But there’s no excuse. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you.”
Lightning players had a similar response upon learning Stamkos was expected to miss four months with a torn ligament in his right knee.
“You can’t sit here and sulk,” forward Tyler Johnson said. “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
While the Lightning have the experienced depth to potentially overcome an injury to their captain, other young and rebuilding teams don’t have that luxury.
One concern raised is whether the NHL’s condensed schedule might be contributing to the rash of injuries. Players have less downtime in a season that began a week later because of the World Cup of Hockey, and also has the league squeezing in its allstar game and a five-day bye week.
“I think we have to look at the schedule,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. “As a coach, you’re not sure what day it is half the time, if it’s a game day or a non-game day. But it’s a lot of games back to back. And it’s a lot of games for the players.”
The Flames, who will be without Gaudreau (broken finger) for six weeks, are in the midst of a six-game road swing covering nine days.
It’s hardly any easier in the East. The Devils, minus Hall (left knee), are playing 14 games — including 10 on the road — in 27 days this month.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly disputed the notion that the league’s tightened schedule is leading to an increase in injuries.
“I certainly don’t think there is sufficient evidence that would suggest, much less demonstrate, that there has been a larger number of injuries this year than in the average year, or, more importantly, that any of the injuries that have been suffered to this point in the season had anything to do with the schedule,” Daly wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
Eichel sprained his left ankle in practice a day before Buffalo’s season opener. Quick, the Kings goalie, hurt his groin in Los Angeles’ season opener.
Without providing totals, Daly said, the number of man-games lost through Nov. 8 was up by a little more than eight per cent over last year.
However, he noted, this year’s total is either roughly the same or significantly less than five of the previous nine seasons. And this year’s total is higher by more than 10 per cent than only two of the past nine seasons.
NHL Players Association spokesman Jonathan Weatherdon said it’s “too early to be drawing conclusions with respect to the number of injuries through this point of the season.”
Daly cautioned against using man-games lost figures published in most teams’ game notes because he called the numbers unreliable.
Based on the game notes alone, the Oilers lead the NHL with 100 man-games lost, followed by Dallas with 93.
THEY SAID IT: Gulutzan shared a story regarding the first time Calgary forward Michael Frolik landed on his radar. It happened in the 201213 season when he was an assistant in Dallas during Jaromir Jagr’s only season with the Stars, and Frolik was in Chicago.
Gulutzan was unhappy following a lopsided loss to the Blackhawks, when he encountered Jagr in the weight room.
“Jags goes, ‘Coach, you’re down about last night’s game?’” Gulutzan recalled. “And he goes, ‘Ah, Chicago’s just better than us so I wouldn’t worry about that.’ And he goes: ‘Michael Frolik’s playing on the fourth line in Chicago, and he could play on our first line here.’”
Gulutzan rolled his eyes and broke into a laugh, saying: “Yeah, it was nice to hear from Jags, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it coach. They’re just better than us.’ I was dying on the vine.”
“As a coach, you’re not sure what day it is half the time, if it’s a game day or a nongame day.”
— Glen Gulutzan