A little debate on playing with injuries

[johnnyhasbeen]

So our season ended in the first round as we went out to a healthy Ottawa squad. It seemed to me that we had players who had been nursing injuries for awhile going into this round. It is rumoured that Price's groin has been an issue for quite some time. I think we may learn from this that playing injured to finish high in the standings really hurts your chances in the playoffs. Ottawa sat their injured guys and were in great shape for this series. We didn't and it showed. Maybe the biggest mistake of the season? Just a thought.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Interesting idea for sure.

In a way, if Price and Pleks were both nursing injuries, that in itself would explain out final-month collapse as those are two absolute pillars of this team. I'd be rather happy to hear that Price's issue was not between his ears but between his...well, you know.

It's a tough call, though. Players generally want to play. They're competitors. As a coach, you're probably best to defer to them rather than make enemies out of them; especially as you have no way of knowing how serious the injuries actually are and are relying on their word. And then you have to consider that players don't always play well following an extended period of sitting out.

[illWill]

Has any team ever been decimated by injuries in such a short span leading into and during the first round of the playoffs? Perhaps, but we definitely got some unlucky breaks. Eller's loss was much more extreme than people are talking about. And no matter how Gionta was playing, he still was the Captain of the team.

[JMMR]

Great teams have the depth to cover for injrues.

Good teams don't.

The Canadiens are a good team.

[johnnyhasbeen]

Great teams have the depth to cover for injrues.

Good teams don't.

The Canadiens are a good team.

I have to agree, but I do believe we are a season or two away from having the depth to move up a notch. Last spring I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, now I do and it is a fast moving train screaming down the tracks. Also this time last year I would not have called them good. I had four letter words for them, but good wasn't one of them.

[brobin]

Didn't Plek run off to the worlds? I would think if Price really had an issue we would have heard about it by now.

I think our problem was we needed to play all out to win. Great job by the coaching staff to keep everyone playing so hard, but being small and dependant on speed, it took a toll. Some bigger, and perhaps more skilled teams, can take it easier and still win. They have big bodies that can play at 90% and still dominate many teams.

I am still not sure where we would have ended up in a full season. Would the wall we hit have continued long enough to drop us down the rankings? Would some of these injuries have started piling up even before the playoffs? How tired would Markov look after 82? We can only speculate.

Perhaps resting some players would have helped, but we were playing so bad at the end I think they wanted these players lots of time to get their game together. Maybe if we didn't struggle at the end a few players besides Price would have been rested.

In the end, I still think we are short a few bigger skilled guys and some more depth, but I viewed this as year one of the rebuild. Hard to be upset with the progress.