Just when you thought draft photos couldn't get any worse, this happened.
Rangers’ development camp didn’t go as planned for prospect Dylan McIlrath, as he suffered an injury that’s on the OH CRAP end of the hurt spectrum. It’s one of those things that results in horrified facial expressions and a cold sweat in people who’ve experienced it. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s an unforgettable and truly disgusting experience. What Dylan McIlrath did was dislocate his kneecap.
Pavel Bure in 1998 (in a jersey I somehow forgot existed)
Pavel Bure spent twelve years in the NHL with three different teams. Along the way he earned the Calder Trophy, the Rocket Richard (twice), and finally this week election to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Bure holds a place on most “what-if” lists – what would a post-lockout Bure have accomplished? Would an already impressive career have been flat-out ridiculous? Thanks to two ACL reconstructions and a torn meniscus, the what-ifs will stay what-ifs. Canucks (and Panthers and Rangers) fans may want to spare their own feelings and turn away as I break down the knee injuries that stopped Bure in his (very speedy) tracks.
Anton Volchenkov plots his revenge
When Anton Volchenkov’s face met the business end of Mike Richards’ stick in game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, everyone recoiled in horror anticipating the damage that had surely been done. Everyone except fans of the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa had come to know and love Volchenkov in his ten years with the organization for huge hits and blocking shots (generally with his face). Imagine the horror that swept the Ottawa Valley when it became apparent that Volchenkov was not only hurt, he was actually bleeding – something previously assumed to be impossible.
Last year John Branch of the New York Times wrote a three-part article entitled “Punched out: The life and death of a hockey enforcer”. The article opened eyes to the physical and mental toll the enforcer role could take. Off the ice Derek Boogaard wasn’t just an affable giant who protected his teammates and raised money to send kids to hockey camp. He struggled with the pain of injuries he’d been accumulating since he was a kid, and he handled that pain with massive doses of narcotics.
Dion Phaneuf delivers the hit that finished Michael Sauer's season.
The Sauer family can’t stay away from sports. Two brothers in the NHL, one retired from the AHL/ECHL, one retired from the NFL, a sister who played college basketball, and another who played soccer. The Sauer family also can’t stay uninjured, with a few of those careers ended by injuries, and the remaining two NHL careers in the balance thanks to concussions.
It’s awfully hard to write about NHL injuries where there aren’t any. Somehow this year’s playoff season has been fairly uneventful, leading to me staring at my computer for at least an hour willing it to come up with something to write about (it didn’t, but the good news is there’s still funny cat videos on YouTube). Silly me, I completely forgot that when there’s nothing going on and almost everyone is healthy, you can always count on Ryan Kesler to have some body part falling off. This time it’s his shoulder, and for those of you who are keeping track, 75% of Kesler’s limbs have now been repaired.
Ilya Kovalchuk: The man who finally made me write about the groin.
When the Devils announced Ilya Kovalchuk would be missing game 2 in the Devils-Flyers series with a lower body injury, it became clear that the time for an all-groin post was finally upon us. Kovalchuk’s injury was initially rumoured to be a groin pull, and so what better opportunity to explore that magical, mysterious world, and to attempt to keep the inappropriate jokes to a minimum.
No promises though.
Jo Innes, Ryan Lambert, Daniel Wagner, Cam Charron, Ellen Etchingham, Jake Goldsbie, Darren Kritzer
