Racki:
LNOF: One of the media types addressed it already (maybe Matheson??). The doctor’s didn’t feel there was any risk in him making it worse by playing, and if all things go as they should (i.e. he heals at even the slightly slower end of the scale), he should be ready by September some time. But yes, there is no guarantee in that. I have no problems with what they decided. It’s interesting that you say “would have also avoided the concussion at least”. Yes, not playing would likely avoid injury. Does that really make too much sense? Let’s skip playing him next year too, just in case he hurts his back. Sorry to put it that way, but really, we can’t protect him for everything and wrap him in bubble wrap.

How many of us would say he looked like he played with a shoulder injury for most of the year? I was actually surprised at that. He was our best player almost every night (or at least one of the 3 best players). There’s also really no signs that he injured the shoulder any worse by playing through it. I think you’ve got two risks here too. You play the guy, and yah, he could injure things worse (but the medical staff – as little as we trust them – did say the risk there was minimal or low to do more damage), or you don’t play him at all and he doesn’t continue on the development path for that year. I am happy with the choice.

Fair enough Racki, and as I said I’m not around as much as I would like, although I did read that as well, that the staff felt it wouldn’t be made worse by playing.

My line of thought is this: They knew he would need surgery. They know the rehab will take 5-6 months. They knew he was playing well but with pain, so he was still developing on track. They knew at a certain point, let’s say the All Star break, that the season was lost. So why not shut him down at that point (end Jan) to give him a buffer period at the back end of the rehab and perhaps get some normal summer training in before training camp to help with his readiness for the season and his development as well. There are a lot of players who have shoulder surgery who after they rehab it still takes them a while to get their game back, so the more time they have the better. There is a larger risk now that he will feel rushed and miss a portion of camp and perhaps take longer to get back to form. That won’t help his development much, in fact it could set him back.

I just don’t see much of an advantage to waiting as opposed to not waiting. To me there’s more value in making sure he’s as ready as possible for next season when you’re already playing for next season.

And just to clarify – I certainly didn’t mean to imply to be overly protective of him to the extreme as you cited in your example. Re the concussion comment, obviously it wouldn’t have happened if he had been shut down, and that’s hindsight, but it would be one less concussion in an important player’s career. I’m thinking more in terms of long term asset protection and hopefully he doesn’t turn into a player prone to concussion.

Btw I like bubble wrap…

With that being said, I have one more paper for the semester to finish tonight and after that I should be able to start on my draft mini series for the next part of the rebuild series.

More on topic now, RNH is going to be a special player, last time I did the math I think he projected just over 70pts with 30G if he played the entire season. I still find it hard to believe how hard we lucked out drafting Ebs and I have a feeling the Hall has the potential to put up Messier-lite #s at his ceiling.

I can’t say I 100% disagree with that. But the track record of our medical staff (even the new guys) hasn’t been the best either (and as LNOF noted, they’re already under suspicion again with Hall, although I have no problems with that choice).

Really, I think I do agree that sometimes Hemsky doesn’t seem into it enough, but I think a lot of it is blown out of proportion too.

As for the trade attempts with Boston… I’m actually kind of happy that fell through. Seguin would be nice though. But that would be Nuge + Hemsky for Seguin. I think Nuge will be a better player than Hall or Seguin in the end. Several scouts also felt too that if Nuge was eligible in the 2010 draft, he’d have gone first. But they often say that stuff just like every good d-man is the next Lidstrom/Pronger.

How many of us would say he looked like he played with a shoulder injury for most of the year? I was actually surprised at that. He was our best player almost every night (or at least one of the 3 best players). There’s also really no signs that he injured the shoulder any worse by playing through it. I think you’ve got two risks here too. You play the guy, and yah, he could injure things worse (but the medical staff – as little as we trust them – did say the risk there was minimal or low to do more damage), or you don’t play him at all and he doesn’t continue on the development path for that year. I am happy with the choice.

I mean really, it’s bothered him for a while, he injures it in Nov and the doc’s determine it’s ok to carry on and let him play through the pain. Ok, but at some point when you know the season is a lost cause, which was a while ago, shouldn’t you say, ok Hall go get the surgery and take your time rehabbing and you’ll definitely be ready for the start of next season when we’re really going to kick butt. But no, let’s wait and hope now that you will be ready for next season. Hindsight is everything but I think this decision by the Oilers who knew he was playing hurt should have been made at least at the all-star break, would have also avoided the concussion at least, although not the head wound.

Hope he will be ok and the shoulder will be good as new, but this really bugged me that they waited this long.