Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Blues Without McDonald

A news byte that failed to make the newsletter on Monday was the St. Louis Blues' loss of another one of their top forwards on Saturday night, Andy McDonald.  McDonald was injured on the final shift of the game, when he slid into the legs of the Oilers' Shawn Horcoff, just before the overtime goal was scored against the Blues.  McDonald stayed down on the ice and was helped off after the play had concluded.  On Sunday night, McDonald was not in the line-up for the team when they took on the Canucks, citing an upper-body injury, which may or may not be a concussion.  It is believed that it could be more of a stiff neck than anything else.  He should be considered day-to-day for now.

McDonald has not been the biggest of scoring threats for the Blues this season, but he would also normally have some of the better talent on his line, which is currently injured at the moment.  In 25 games this season, McDonald has only registered 8 goals and 9 assists, but it has been more of a team scoring effort that has kept the Blues well within the playoff race through the first-third of the season.

Going into Week Ten, McDonald was ranked 112th in pool scoring, which is down from 83rd, where he finished the 2010 season.  If the injury is minor, I would imagine he'll find a way to claw his way back up a little bit further.

ImplicationsHowever, in the draft, Neil B. is waiting to hear some good news on one of his top forwards, as he sits in 7th place in the standings and only 13 points out of the money after Monday night's action.  The sooner he can have one of his forwards back on the ice, the sooner he can feel better about making a run at some prize money this year.  Neil picked McDonald in the 9th round, 165th overall, which is still a pretty good bargain, considering where McDonald is still ranked.

Link to the Injury/News Page

No comments: