Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Drury Update

Well, it appears that we have confirmation out of New York today that the hit that Curtis Glencross put on Chris Drury did give Drury a concussion, which means he will have to sit out of the line-up for at least a week from the injury, which puts him qualified for a return likely after the Rangers game against the Senators on Saturday afternoon. I believe that would put his first game on Tuesday (the 17th) against Washington.

Saying that, it means that Drury is qualified to return to the Rangers line-up after concussion symptoms have been found. He would still need to get clearance from doctors to return and that isn't guaranteed.

Drury has not had a blazing start to his season offensively, not that he has really had to be at the peak of his game, but nevertheless, he's still not scoring the way he should be. In 18 games this season, Drury has only scored two goals and four assists for the Rangers, collecting minutes on the second line and some minutes on the power play. Of course, with Marian Gaborik in town and scoring, the pressure does seem to be off Drury, when he's in the line-up.

ImplicationsThis does not bode very well for Dale B. in the Draft, who selected him in the 9th round (138th overall). Dale currently sits in 16th spot and really needs something good to happen before the Waiver Draft, since he'll likely be having a hard time deciding who to move off of his team next week, with all the injuries he has.

On the Sheet, Drury was listed in the top box for the Eastern Conference forwards, since he had some of the best numbers on the team last year and there wasn't really any indication how good Gaborik was going to be this year. Granted, neither player was picked in their box, so this turns out to be more of a Draft situation.

As far as I know, the guidelines for dealing with concussions is fairly cut-and-dry, having to take a minimum of a week off game action and trying to rehab the body back into game shape, before passing basic baseline tests and having to deal with team doctors all the time. It does surprise me that teams do not disclose concussions more adamantly, allowing everyone to know that this player will be out for at least a week and will get re-evaluated on a __________ (fill in the blank) basis.

When Jonathan Toews went down, the whole first week was wondering whether or not he had a concussion, which had to be annoying for all the parties involved. Saying that a head injury is a day-to-day issue is not going to help anyone's cause.

Teams should be busting out the 'c' word as soon as possible, that way the media and the fans can at least gauge the coming events for their favourite team. If players are not gunning for other players' heads, like most say they do, disclosing a concussion shouldn't be an injury that players are aiming to take advantage of.

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