Injuries are one of this season’s biggest stories; which teams do you think have been hit hardest?
Kevin Burgundy | Jan 14, 2010 | Comments 9
Every NHL season features so many different storylines and this season has been no different. From naked shootouts, to the Vancouver Olympics, Auger-gate, Brodeur’s all-time shutout record, and all the way to the great Kovalchuk trade watch, we’ve seen it all this season. But instead of talking about any of those stories, there’s another story that’s played a huge role in this NHL season: injuries. And lots of them.
The number of individual injuries to star players this year seems higher than ever before. Stars like Alex Ovechkin, Roberto Luongo, Marian Hossa, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg, Marc Savard, Daniel Alfredsson, Eric Staal, and many more have all missed games this season due to injury. It’s staggering.
Some teams have seen their rosters completely ravaged by serious injuries to critical players. And no, I’m not talking about when Mike Van Ryn went down earlier this year for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I’m talking about teams like the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, and Detroit Red Wings. These are the 4 teams that I believe have been hit hardest with injuries. Let’s take a closer look at the number of injuries each team has suffered and the significance some of the injured players represent.
*Note: I won’t include players who’ve missed less than 5 games. As well, these stats are all based on the number of games their team has played as of January13th.
Boston Bruins
Milan Lucic – 32 games missed
Marc Savard – 16 games missed
Mark Stuart – 10 games missed
Bryon Bitz – 6 games missed
The Boston Bruins played a good chunk of this season without their top line from last season. Both Marc Savard and Milan Lucic were injured and Phil Kessel was traded to the Leafs prior to the season starting. Regardless of depth, virtually every NHL team would note a significant drop in goals for with these players out of the line-up. It’s also worth nothing Tim Thomas did not have a good start to the season either. The Bruins have done an admirable job climbing back into the playoff picture despite the injuries they’ve suffered this season.
Ottawa Senators
Pascal Leclaire – 21 games missed
Jason Spezza – 17 games missed
Chris Neil – 14 games missed
Anton Volchenkov – 14 games missed
Daniel Alfredsson – 10 games missed
Filip Kuba – 10 games missed
This list doesn’t include Milan Michalek, who’s also injured. As a result, the Ottawa Senators have been playing without their top line for about a week now. It’s no wonder they’ve only scored 5 goals in their last 5 games. The Senators also average the 5th most goals against per game in the league and a lot of that has to do with Pascal Leclaire, Anton Volchenkov, and Filip Kuba missing significant time because of injuries. The Senators are holding onto 8th place in the Eastern Conference by a thread, but have used all the slack they built for themselves earlier in the season. Luckily for the Sens, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza are starting to practice again with Alfredsson expected to return as early as this weekend in Montreal.
Edmonton Oilers
Fernando Pisani – 36 games missed
Mike Comrie – 29 games missed
Nikolai Khabibulan – 26 games missed
Ales Hesmky – 23 games missed
Steve Staios – 12 games missed
The 2009-2010 Edmonton Oilers season has been one to forget… unless it results in selecting Taylor Hall at this summer’s Entry Draft. And if that happens, it’s a result of too many goals against and not enough scored. Obvious statement, but the Oilers have allowed the 4th most goals against and are in the bottom 10 in goals for in the NHL this season. Comrie and Hemsky, two of Edmonton’s better forwards, have missed more than half the season (in fact, Hemsky is out for the year) and the prized summer goalie acquisition – Nikolai Khabibulan – didn’t play well before getting injured. Khabibulan is expected to miss the balance of the season with surgery on a herniated disc. And Fernando Pisani is still made of glass. Needless to say, a big reason for Edmonton’s struggles this year can be associated with the injuries they’ve faced.
Detroit Red Wings
Johan Franzen – 42 games missed
Jason Williams – 30 games missed
Valtteri Filppula – 26 games missed
Niklas Kronwall – 24 games missed
Jonathan Ericsson – 14 games missed
Dan Cleary – 12 games missed
Henrik Zetterberg – 8 games missed
Clearly, the Detroit Red Wings have been hit hardest by the 2009-2010 injury bug. It’s absolutely amazing that this team is still challenging for a playoff spot (they are 9th in the Western Conference and 1 point back of the Kings for 8th) when you consider how difficult the Western Conference is, the UFA departures this past summer (Jiri Hudler, Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson), and the star players who’ve been injured this season. While many may think the Red Wings are finally struggling or that their young depth players aren’t living up to expectations, I think it’s fair to say the non-injured depth players have performance pretty damn well for the Wings. With Franzen ahead of schedule and possibly back in the Wings line-up before the Olympic break, perhaps the Wings will be able to make a somewhat healthy push to make the playoffs. That in itself would have to be considered a successful season.
Regardless of what happens between now and the end of the year, injuries will be one of the main things I’ll remember when looking back at the 09-10 the NHL season. Here’s hoping for a healthy 2nd half of the season!
Stay classy, depleted NHL rosters.
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Kevin Burgundy is the chief writer for Stayclassy.net. Follow him on Twitter (@Stay_Classy) or email him.
Filed Under: Boston Bruins • Detroit Red Wings • Eastern Conference • Edmonton Oilers • Featured • NHL • NHL Teams • Ottawa Senators • Western Conference
What about the Canadiens?
Andrei Markov 35 games missed
Brian Gionta 21 games missed
Paul Mara 10 games missed
Roman Hamrlik 7 games missed
Hall Gill 14 games missed
Andrei Kostitsyn 7 games missed (still injured)
Glen Metropolit 6 games missed
I agree with Fred, how could the Canadiens NOT be in the discussion? Our roster is thin enough as it is…
We’re just lucky our goaltending has been healthy (knock on wood).
In complete honesty, I looked at the Canadiens roster and didn’t notice all the injuries Fred points out above. Definite oversight on my part (I’m not having a good week in keeping in good graces with journalism gods). I knew the obvious injuries to Markov and Gionta, however, I wasn’t aware of the Metropolis or Mara injuries and I assumed the Kostitsyn injury wasn’t too serious (another bad assumption on my part).
Absolutely, the Habs goaltending has been one of the huge reasons Montreal is still considered a playoff-bubble team. Montreal deserves mention in here as well, but I still believe Detroit’s had it worse.
It’s hard to distinguish who’s been hardest hit by the injury bug, but I think it’s even harder to say that the Wings have not been the hardest hit.
All these teams are certainly in the discussion, and I find it interesting that 3 out of the 5 teams (if you count the Canadiens) come from the Eastern Conference Northeast Division. I don’t know if that says anything, but it could help explain why a team like Buffalo, that is short on talent, but has Ryan Miller is running away with the division. The argument could be made that their weakened opponents have helped them the most.
You’ve got to hope that the hockey gods take pity on these teams in the 2nd half and let them have a healthy second half while the rest of the league takes on their fair share!
Does anyone have a link to where it would show which teams have missed the most number of man games?
Kyle, nice insight into the Northeast Division and Buffalo Sabres success. Not to take away from the Sabres too much, but it would certainly help explain (partly) their 8-3-3 record against other NE teams (have all their losses been against the Senators?).
I looked fairly hard for a link to tell me the # of man games lost to injury but couldn’t find one (I had to add the number of games missed manually). Would love to see if such a link exists. When I added the # of games missed, it seemed Detroit had the lead because a few of their players have missed most of the season (Franzen and Williams especially) thus far.
Yeah I’m biased but I’d say the Oilers have been hit the hardest. They’ve lost their best forward and their goalie. I don’t think there is a team out there that could overcome that.
You could also add these guys to the list too.
- Grebeshkov 13 games
- Jacques 8 games
- Visnovsky 5 games
- Nilsson 10 games
- Stone 19 games
- Souray 16 games
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BDGallof, Hockey Independent. Hockey Independent said: On HockeyIndependent.com today…Burgundy asks: "Who's team do you think have been hit hardest by injuries?" http://bit.ly/8xmvWU #nhl [...]
Ryan, is Stone a full time player? I wasn’t sure if he’d missed games due to injury or because he’s going back and forth between the NHL and AHL.
Also, although not for as long as the Oilers, the Senators haven’t had Pascal Leclaire in approximately half of this years games so far. And as well, Jason Spezza has missed a ton of games, and Alfredsson’s been out since before Christmas. They are barely keeping their above sea-level.
Thanks for the comments, all!
[...] these teams are in playoff positions, and its worth noting that the Bruins, Senators, and Red Wings have all battled heavy injuries all season. The Flames don’t have the same excuse but they’ve lost three straight games. The Kings [...]