These are words no man ever wants to hear: “You have a nearly catastrophic injury to your testicle.”
Yet Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom likely heard something very similar from doctors after being speared in the “man zone” by Patrick Sharp of the Blackhawks during last year’s western conference finals.
Unbelievably, Lidstrom not only played the remainder of that game but practiced the next day before surgery was required. The future hall-of-famer then managed to play all seven games of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Stories like this aren’t uncommon in the NHL where hockey players have earned—and for good reason—their reputation as the extreme warriors of professional sports. Its not uncommon for a hockey player to take a stick or puck to the grill and lose teeth or require stitches only to return to the ice shortly after.
Meanwhile pitchers have been known to hit the disabled list for hangnails, NFL quarterbacks can’t be touched from the waste down or the shoulder pads up and Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce required a wheel chair for a sprained ankle in the 2008 NBA Finals.
So it makes the early onslaught of injuries in the 2009-10 season all the more disturbing and confusing—and that’s not even taking into account the H1N1 virus that’s already affected four NHLers or serious concussions that have sidelined Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, Oilers star defenseman Sheldon Souray or talented Panthers youngster David Booth.
A pair of stars from the Dallas Stars—Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen—have played in three games combined and don’t even qualify for “A-list” patient status.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins have been hit hard by injuries to their talented Russian duo. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar will be out another month with a broken wrist while fellow countryman and MVP candidate 
Evgeni Malkin is out 2-3 weeks with a strained right shoulder.
Luckily for the Pens, a red-hot start (10-2-0, 20 points) has put them in a fine position to absorb early injuries and with their mind entirely focused on winning back-to-back titles, a healthy Gonchar and Malkin down the stretch and in the playoffs is really all that matters.
The Penguins opponents in last year’s finals—the Red Wings—have also been hit hard with injuries. Star right-winger Johan Franzen is out until February with a torn ACL and a broken wrist has sidelined center Valtteri Filppula until right around the New Year. For a Detroit team already off to an uncharacteristically slow start, the injury news could not be much worse.
In Boston, the Bruins hopes to repeat as eastern conference champions took a big hit when forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic both landed on the IR until late November. While north of the border—in Vancouver—the Canucks were already without one Sedin twin (Daniel), veteran forward Pavol Demitra and star defenseman Sami Salo when goalie Roberto Luongo discovered a hairline fracture of his rib.
While Luongo’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious, and the key Bruins should be back with plenty of time left to do damage, these preseason favorites may struggle to live up to the hype.
Meanwhile, with the Olympics looming, the Russian national team has more to worry about. The Montreal Canadiens defensive corps to a big hit when Andrei Markov sliced a tendon in his ankle—an injury that might force him out of action for the national team—and one that has certainly hurt any chances of another playoff run in Montreal.
One of the most exciting players in the league—Atlanta Thrashers left wing Ilya Kovalchuk—broke a bone in his foot and will be sideline at least four more weeks. This is a crushing blow to a team with little talent and throws an interesting twist into Kovalchuk’s future with the franchise. A free agent at season’s end, will this injury make it an easier choice to trade the supremely talented winger? Will potential suitors now be hesitant to part with high draft picks and prospect to acquire him now?
Kovalchuk’s game is so much about speed, will this injury cause him to lose a step and thus bring his level of play down a notch? Kovalchuk and the Thrashers have officially entered dramatic territory.
In the city of brotherly love fans have plenty to cheer about these days with the Eagles and NL Champion Phillies. But Flyers fans have plenty to be unhappy about. Already struggling at 5-4-1, the Flyers will be without 30-goal scorer Simon Gagne for the foreseeable future as he is sidelined indefinitely with a sports hernia. Now, another potent offensive weapon in Daniel Briere has a groin strain and is being listed as day-to-day.
Groin injuries are never fun and tend to linger. For a speedster like Briere, anything that slows him down will negatively impact his playmaking ability and scoring output. If Gagne is out too long and Briere has trouble getting back to 100 percent, the Flyers slow start could turn into a long-term problem.
I’m not a doctor, I don’t play one on television and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but many teams need their stars to get healthy soon or plenty of fans will be having an unhappy Christmas.
