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.
If you recall...
You may recall that an issue which popped up last weekend was Daniel Alfredsson being knocked out of game two between the Senators and Rangers after taking an elbow to the head from Carl Hagelin. It was unclear whether or not Alfredsson would be back this series or this playoffs, assuming he would be back ever again in his career. He’s year to year as it is and a bad concussion wouldn’t help his long term outlook much.
Alfredsson skated today for the second day in a row and it sounds like he’s just about ready to come back.
UPDATE:
Per the Red Wings’ twitter feed, Helm had surgery to repair lacerated tendons in his right forearm. He’s done for the season
After just having missed a few weeks with a sprained knee, Red Wings’ center Darren Helm caught a tough break in last night’s series opener against the Preds. A hit on Alexander Radulov along the boards resulted in what appeared to be Helm’s right wrist coming down hard on one of Radulov’s skate blades. There are a lot of possibilities for what sort of injury Helm might have, with a lot of possible outcomes with respect to his ability to continue on in the playoffs.
Jonathan Quick is unaware that normal people don't bend like that.
The last installment of the pre-playoffs injury updates is an all-California affair. In keeping with the west coast theme, now seems like a good time to mention that I predicted the Ducks would go far in the playoffs this year. Whatever. My thing is injuries, not picking teams that are worth a damn.
These plastic rats are day-to-day.
Pre-playoff injury updates were originally being written in the order in which teams clinched. Since everybody clinched at once over the weekend, they’re now based on which combinations amuse me the most. Next up: Florida and Phoenix. A team that won a terrible division and a team that won a slightly less terrible but still pretty awful division.
One of these guys may not be ready for the first round. Hint: It's not Dany Sabourin.
*Note* The pre-playoffs injury updates were originally being done in the order in which teams clinched. Since the rest of them decided to make my life hard and all clinch at the same time, updates are now being done in the order I find most amusing.
Welcome to the national capital edition of the pre-playoffs injury update. First, a bit of trivia. Ottawa (not Toronto) is the capital of Canada. Yes, it’s true. Go ahead and question everything you thought you knew. Next, it may also interest you to know that Washington DC is not a state. Having gotten those important little tidbits of information out of the way*, let’s look at how these two teams are shaping up headed into the playoffs.
* There are people out there that regularly get these two facts wrong. Yes, really.
EXCUSE ME.
With a couple of notable exceptions for the Bruins (Nathan Horton, Tuukka Rask), both they and the Devils are looking good headed into the playoffs. Boston has a fairly standard crop of injuries – a groin strain, a knee sprain, and a couple of concussions. New Jersey is mixing it up with a broken wrist and a blood clot (what?). Weird. Here’s what’s up with these two teams as they close out the last few games of the regular season.
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Jo Innes, Ryan Lambert, Daniel Wagner, Cam Charron, Ellen Etchingham, Jake Goldsbie, Darren Kritzer
