We’ve had so much talk of concussions here of late thanks to the issues Sidney Crosby is dealing with in trying to come back from his own that the other players who are struggling with their own problems get lost in the mix. We heard from Nathan Horton earlier about how he’s fully recovered from his and he’ll be ready to go in training camp. David Perron is yet to get back on the ice after suffering a concussion last November and who knows when or if we’ll hear from Marc Savard again.
Colorado’s Peter Mueller missed all of last season after picking up up a concussion in a preseason game against Los Angeles thanks to an errant stick to the head. That concussion coupled with the one he received late in the 2009-2010 season helped conspire to keep Mueller out of action. As Adrian Dater of The Denver Post writes today, Mueller has put all of that behind him and he’s ready to start anew this year.“I’m excited to be a hockey player again,” Mueller said Wednesday in his first public comments since last September. “Obviously, I’ve had concussions in the past and it’s something I have to deal with, but right now everything is in the right direction. Everything is pointing forward. I’m excited that it’s all behind me.”
Mueller, a left winger whose good health could be a major key to how successful the Avs are this coming season, has been skating regularly and will undergo physicals with the rest of the team Sept. 16. Assuming he passes, he’ll be on the ice with no restrictions the next day, the first of training camp.
The Avs are going to need Mueller if they plan to keep up with everyone in the Western Conference somehow. The team made a dynamic switch in goal getting rid of both Brian Elliott and Peter Budaj and bringing in Semyon Varlamov and Jean-Sebastien Giguere. They also added Jan Hejda to paper-thin defense that will have to play above their heads to keep the team in games. Add that to a forward corps that boasts Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk, and potentially 2011 first round pick Gabriel Landeskog and there’s reason to be hopeful for a run at the playoffs in Denver. After being so miserable two out of the last three seasons, however, it doesn’t look too promising.
If Mueller can get back into the form he’s shown he’s capable of as a 20-goal, 50-point per season threat, marks he reached in his rookie season in Phoenix, the Avalanche at least don’t have to worry about keeping up offensively. Defensively, however, is another issue entirely. That’s not totally for Mueller to worry about though. Staying healthy and producing offensively are what’s on his plate for now, let’s just hope that he can avoid any further concussion problems. We’ve had enough of those to last for a long time.