Hockey Night in DSP-Season 2011-12

[pk500]

I feel bad for Sid. But it's better to be cautious than take any insignificant risks with him. With the team doing well, it's better to rest him and have him ready for the playoffs.

Rest? I think it's more than that. The hit was pretty innocuous, with no head contact and apparently moderate neck whiplash, yet Crosby is out indefinitely. What's to prevent this from recurring from even the most gentle hits?



I really worry about his career prognosis. Hope I'm just being alarmist.

[Naples39]

FWIW, the Pens never specifically identified that as the hit that is causing the problems. Speculation is, it was this one, which did have some whiplash to it. Still not that bad though.

[pk500]

Interesting. Thanks for the vid, dude.

[toonarmy]

The deal with Sid is serious I believe. They treated his return with kid gloves and waited until he was healed as much as possible. If the hits with Kunitz and Krejci caused his symptoms to reappear then that is huge. Neither hit looks all that bad when it comes to the head. Goodness knows what a hard hit to the head would do. This news is very disappointing for NHL fans in general. Sid is one of the elite players in the league, and it doesn't matter who he plays for, he's good for hockey and fun to watch. I sure hope it's not a big deal, but it does not look good for Sid.

[10spro]

Honestly this morning I was thinking with the rosters that the Kings have and where they are in the standings, a move would have to be done for a team that just can't score squidly and I ranked quite high in terms of expectations at the beginning of the year. Sure enough, T. Murray was just fired.

[toonarmy]

Murray is obviously a scapegoat in this situation. The players are underachieving on offense and the GM has to bear some of the blame for allowing blatant holes in the lineup, especially the bottom two offensive lines. Defensively, the Kings are very solid. Surely they will want to replace Stevens as interim head coach very fast. He is not much of a motivator, so I don't see him making much of an impact on a team with glaring weaknesses and holes on offense. It'll be interesting to see how much player movement occurs with this team over the next year. They have a lot of great talent on paper, but it doesn't seem to be working out.

[Naples39]

NHL coaches are hired to be fired. From afar, I wouldn't necessarily say Murray was doing a bad job, but changes are needed from time to time. The Kings were only 25th in goals last year, and are currently dead last in the NHL. They need a new approach I think.

[10spro]

NHL coaches are hired to be fired. From afar, I wouldn't necessarily say Murray was doing a bad job, but changes are needed from time to time. The Kings were only 25th in goals last year, and are currently dead last in the NHL. They need a new approach I think.

Yeah, I don't think any coach forgets how to coach all of the sudden. Murray has brought this franchise back to respectability. Sometimes, a different voice is needed to kick some bad a$$es, but when you have the likes of Kopitar, D. Brown, Williams, the grittiness of Richards, 2 studs in D in Doughty and Johnson and you got to be able to score more often. Maybe they do miss W. Simmond's energy but whether it's bad chemistry in the room or whatever, this team has underachieved so far. Biggest disappointment for them got to be D. 'what a waste' Penner. This dude has been struggling for awhile.

Maybe a D. Sutter type should give them a good kick at the can.

[10spro]

C. Giroux's head injury is alarming considering the whiplash effects the players is complaining of the last couple of days. He's sidelined indefinitely now.

[Naples39]

C. Giroux's head injury is alarming considering the whiplash effects the players is complaining of the last couple of days. He's sidelined indefinitely now.

This is devastating for the Flyers. Giroux was having an MVP caliber season. Now the team is without both their offensive and defensive lynchpins indefinitely. It would've also created an interesting opportunity for Schenn to play with the big boys, but oh wait, he's out indefinitely with a concussion too.

[Diablo25]

Huge blow to the Flyers. The organization was saying yesterday he was complaining about whiplash more than headaches/concussion symptoms. I still have my fingers crossed that they are just being safe and he is back sooner than later. F*ck.

[Naples39]

Huge blow to the Flyers. The organization was saying yesterday he was complaining about whiplash more than headaches/concussion symptoms. I still have my fingers crossed that they are just being safe and he is back sooner than later. F*ck.

Holmgren yesterday: "Claude is continuing to feel better."

Holmgren today: "Claude reported not feeling very good today. Over the past few days, his symptoms have gradually gotten worse."

Wut?

[HipE]

Huge blow to the Flyers. The organization was saying yesterday he was complaining about whiplash more than headaches/concussion symptoms. I still have my fingers crossed that they are just being safe and he is back sooner than later. F*ck.

Holmgren yesterday: "Claude is continuing to feel better."

Holmgren today: "Claude reported not feeling very good today. Over the past few days, his symptoms have gradually gotten worse."

Wut?

I know all too well what you guys are going through. When Crosby first was diagnosed with his concussion last year, Bylsma said he would miss about a week, and we all know how that turned out. Get ready to enjoy the fun of daily symptom updates/health speculation! Trust me, it will wear you out quickly.

The Pens are also missing their top offense player and defensive player with concussions right now (Sid/Letang), and also have defensemen Michalek and Bortuzzo out with concussions. I guess this is karma for all of the Cooke headshots over the years? I'll take a torn ACL/MCL like Geno got last year any day of the week at this point, at least then you know how long a player will be out.

[Naples39]

Huge blow to the Flyers. The organization was saying yesterday he was complaining about whiplash more than headaches/concussion symptoms. I still have my fingers crossed that they are just being safe and he is back sooner than later. F*ck.

Holmgren yesterday: "Claude is continuing to feel better."

Holmgren today: "Claude reported not feeling very good today. Over the past few days, his symptoms have gradually gotten worse."

Wut?

I know all too well what you guys are going through. When Crosby first was diagnosed with his concussion last year, Bylsma said he would miss about a week, and we all know how that turned out. Get ready to enjoy the fun of daily symptom updates/health speculation! Trust me, it will wear you out quickly.

The Pens are also missing their top offense player and defensive player with concussions right now (Sid/Letang), and also have defensemen Michalek and Bortuzzo out with concussions. I guess this is karma for all of the Cooke headshots over the years? I'll take a torn ACL/MCL like Geno got last year any day of the week at this point, at least then you know how long a player will be out.

Uncertainty and false optimism I can handle. It would be one thing if he came out and said Giroux had a setback today after showing signs of progress, but his comment today directly contradicts what he said yesterday. If his symptoms have been getting worse over the last few days, his line yesterday about "continuing to feel better" is an outright lie.

Though this should be expected with the Flyers and concussions.

[greggsand]

Am I nuts or do the Blues look pretty good this year. Sobotka!!!

[toonarmy]

It's unreal how many players are out with concussions now. No amount of rules changes and suspensions will end this trend. The league absolutely must change the equipment and get rid of hard plastic armor. You can more than adequately protect the shoulders and elbows with soft padding. These players are too strong and fast now. Thankfully, more and more people are recognizing this is an equipment issue and speaking out on it.

[10spro]

It's unreal how many players are out with concussions now. No amount of rules changes and suspensions will end this trend. The league absolutely must change the equipment and get rid of hard plastic armor. You can more than adequately protect the shoulders and elbows with soft padding. These players are too strong and fast now. Thankfully, more and more people are recognizing this is an equipment issue and speaking out on it.

Equipment is a big part and it must be cushioned in a way that it almost feels like a sponge. Dudes are much bigger now and much faster while the rink size has not changed one bit. I remember in the 90's when all of today's hockey rinks were being built and I was having this chat with my beer league buddy about the need to make the rinks bigger to match the European ice rinks. I mean, I don't see the type of injuries over there that we see now in NA. The way a player goes after a puck these days behind the net or along the boards leaves little room for error for a defenseman (therefore almost every teams goes through a rash of injuries to their D core) while it seems that the forwards are more subject to head injuries.

The Giroux incident as innocent as it looked is a clear example of how dangerous any hit to the head is. The league must continue to educate players and doctors and therapists must understand that the road to recovery from a concussion depends on the individual and can be a long and arduous one.

Just off my mind in the last couple of years, look at the players that were affected by head injuries long term. A. MacDonald and his teammate D. Perron, M. Savard is pretty much done with his career, P. Mueller for COL, M. Staal, M. Richards and of course Pronger and Crosby are sidelined too.

Since degenerative brain disorders will not simply go away, especially in a physical sport such as hockey, stern measures must be taken by the league in order to promote the longevity of NHL players. And the league must act now. We are not talking just your average Joe player but Stars players going down.

[toonarmy]

Add Skinner and Pitkanen to the list of players out indefinitely with concussions. Both guys are integral to the Canes.

[MizzouRah]

This is just sick...

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=142355

[pk500]

Am I nuts or do the Blues look pretty good this year. Sobotka!!!

I think of "The Wire," season 2, every time I see that last name.

[greggsand]

Am I nuts or do the Blues look pretty good this year. Sobotka!!!

I think of "The Wire," season 2, every time I see that last name.

Same here. I even tweeted that earlier this year "Wire fans looking for a NHL team to root for: the Blues have a dude named Sobotka!"

[ScoopBrady]

This is just sick...

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=142355

Loved it.

Big win in Minny last night for the Hawks.

[pk500]

Am I nuts or do the Blues look pretty good this year. Sobotka!!!

I think of "The Wire," season 2, every time I see that last name.

Same here. I even tweeted that earlier this year "Wire fans looking for a NHL team to root for: the Blues have a dude named Sobotka!"

The scenario would be even better if his first name was Frank.

[Diablo25]

Just got done watching 24/7 and loved it. I love the edge it has. Hate to say it but as much as I hate Tortorella I enjoyed his intensity behind the scenes. Laviolette's first sentence of the series has an F Bomb Good stuff.

[toonarmy]

Agree about 24/7. Don't really like either team, but it's a lot of fun to see the behind-the-scenes stuff and the on-ice chatter. On a side note, sucks about Pronger being out for the rest of the season. I hate to see anyone on any team suffer a season-ending injury.