When a key player goes down with an injury, it’s a tough thing to take for fans and players on the affected team alike. Sure, injuries are just a part of the game, but losing a captain or scoring leader (or even a lesser-known faceoff and defensive specialist) can be a big blow on the ice and in the locker room.
As rough as that can be, it’s easy to forget a simple silver lining: an injured player gets the chance to rest. Steven Ovadia brings up this hypothesis in a provocative column today: could rest related to injuries actually become a “secret weapon” for Sidney Crosby, Chris Pronger and even Zach Parise?
It’s true that Crosby and Parise are among the fittest athletes in hockey while Chris Pronger shows year after year that he can carry teams on his back for half a game during the playoffs, so one can safely assume they would prefer to play. Yet if you set aside the fact that they’ll obviously need to shake off some rust - not to mention that each one of them still is far from certain to return - all three could benefit greatly from this time off.
Here’s a quick look at how each one would benefit.
Why the rest could be good for Crosby.
Naturally, concussions are a complicated matter, so there’s no telling if Crosby will be back. And if so, he might not be as comfortable going into those areas around the net where he scores a surprising amount of “dirty” goals.
Assuming for a second that he would be at-or-near full strength, Crosby could gain a lot from the time off. Let’s not forget that the 23-year-old phenom has a lot of mileage on his skates for a player his age. The Pittsburgh Penguins played until the last game of the season two years in a row and then made it to a seventh game in the second round in 2010. When you combine those playoff runs with what must have been a whirlwind 2010 Vancouver Olympics, Crosby’s last three or so seasons would be a full career for most players.
Perks for Pronger.
Pronger’s been limited to 50 games this season, but he didn’t miss a game the previous two seasons and averaged 29 minutes per game in the Flyers’ playoff run in 2010. When you consider Pronger’s size, age (35) and physical style, a little breather might allow him to shoulder another extensive workload as Philadelphia readies themselves for another Cup attempt.
Setting a price for Parise.
Now, it’s a long shot that Parise will play and the Devils will make the playoffs, but imagine if that happened. After New Jersey reaped the rewards of signing him to a thrifty $3.1 million annual cap hit for his current contract, Parise hasn’t had much of a chance to make a strong final impression that he deserves a Kovalchukian deal.
In fact, the Devils might balk to his X-rays at the negotiating table, if they’re feeling especially brutal.
Yet if the Devils did make the playoffs, Parise could either anchor his own line or ride shotgun with Ilya Kovalchuk. The team leans on Kovalchuk for a huge chunk of its offense, so adding Parise to the fold could provide a considerable boost.
It could also give Parise’s bank account quite the boost.
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Now, don’t get me wrong, no one should root for their best players to get injured. Even for a brief period of time.
Yet if you’re an optimist - and to some extent, a realist - it’s clear that there could be a silver lining. Maybe the human body isn’t meant to withstand 82 games of hockey, so getting a breather before the playoffs (or in Parise’s case, most of the season off) has its pluses.
Although Crosby’s trophy case will probably beg to differ.