Will the injuries ever cease?

October 21, 1:42 PMNHL ExaminerChris Morgan

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Can the Pens deal with Gonchar's injury? (US Presswire)

Obviously, I love hockey. It is a great sport and I thoroughly enjoy every season. That said, this season has gotten off to a kind of downer of a start, and no it isn't because the Wings are scuffling a bit. It's because the injuries to big name players keep piling up. When will the madness end!?
 

You've got Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen on injured reserve down in Dallas. Wow, injuries in Dallas, that sounds familiar. Oh that's right, injuries pretty much killed the Stars' season last year. Modano's injury is in particular a shame, as I feel this will likely be his last season in the league. Well, he had a great run, and he really outlasted his Mighty Ducks counterpart Basil McRae.

Nashville's Jason Arnott is on the IR with an arm injury. Much like the Stars, the Predators were decimated with injuries last season, including to Arnott. He's one of their primary goal scorers, and it is going to be hard to fix their 4.2% efficiency on the power play without him. Yes, you read that right. The Preds have only converted 4.2% of their power plays. I know it's early in the season and it is a small sample size, but that is still comically poor.

Wow, I'm starting to get deja vu, as Sergei Gonchar is also injured. He has a broken wrist that will keep him out four to six weeks. The Penguins were only the fourth seed in the East last season, and it was largely due to the fact they were missing Gonchar most of the season. He came back, and they won the Cup. He's a huge part of that team, and even with Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski a year older and a year wiser they'll still miss him. Oh, they'll be a playoff team and likely win the Atlantic Division still, but this one will hurt.

However, I doubt it will hurt as much as Marc Savard's injury. He'll be out four to six weeks with a broken foot. So now they've traded away Phil Kessel and Chuck Kobasew, and they've lost Milan Lucic and Marc Savard to long term injuries. Suddenly the Bruins look iffy on offense. Savard is the best offensive player on that team and tremendous playmaker. It's been a slow start for Boston, and I don't expect it to pick up any time soon now. That said, I'm not counting out the Bruins. I think they could be this year's Anaheim Ducks. They'll be less than stellar during the regular season, but be as good as anybody in the playoffs. Provided they're healthy, of course. Then again, even with these injuries the Northeastern Division could be theirs for the taking. Do you see Montreal or Buffalo wresting control of that division? I don't.

Hopefully the injuries stop happening at an alarming rate and we can all focus on the better, happier stories of the NHL, like Phoenix's solid start. For now, however, several injuries are likely to have teams reeling. And yet, with all these injuries, the Toronto Maple Leafs have no excuse...