While Vancouver isn’t offering much detail about the concussion suffered by Daniel Sedin, the club did allow defenseman Keith Ballard to speak about his concussion -- one that’s kept him out of the lineup since Feb. 7.
Based on what the 29-year-old rearguard had to say, it hasn’t been good.
“I had a lot of different stuff,” Ballard told the Vancouver Sun. “I had dizziness and a lot of headaches during the day. I was sleeping 16-18 hours a day and, when I tried to do some light workouts, I ended up getting real sick and I’d be in bed for four days.
“By around the end of February, we almost had no choice but to just shut me down and not do anything. At that point, I couldn’t get through a day without a lot of symptoms.”
Ballard thinks he suffered the concussion during Vancouver’s Feb. 5 game against Colorado, but didn’t start experiencing symptoms until playing against Nashville two nights later. He’s been off the ice ever since, only rejoining the team for the morning skate prior to Monday’s 1-0 victory over Los Angeles.
“Day 1 was today so I’ve got a ways to go,” he said. “I missed a month and a bit. It’s good to get back on the ice with the team but, as far as anything else goes, I’m not looking too far forward.
“I’ve been skating for a little bit over a week, at first just on my own and then with a couple of guys who stayed back on the road trip,” he continued. “Before that, I had a few bike rides and a few workouts. Now I need to get in some good practices with the team and get some contact. That’s the one thing I haven’t had at all.”
Ballard has played in 47 games this year (1G-6A-7PTS), averaging over 15 minutes of ice time.