Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Hurricane Semin Downgraded to a Concussion

On Saturday, Alexander Semin of the Carolina Hurricanes took a big hit from St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, forcing him from the game in the 2nd period, not to return. On Monday, Semin sat out of the contest against the Bruins with what was described as an upper-body injury. On Tuesday, the team confirmed that the upper-body injury is indeed a concussion and now the Russian sniper will be out of the line-up indefinitely.

In 20 games with Carolina this year, Semin has 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points, which has him currently ranked 222nd in pool scoring, 157th among all forwards.  Needless to say, it hasn't been a big money kind of season from Semin and now a concussion won't help anyone's cause.

Concussions are a tricky injury, but with NHL protocol, Semin will not be eligible to return to the Carolina line-up until the weekend, at the earliest, but he could also find himself dealt the same fate as Rick Nash, which cost the Rangers forward six weeks.

ImplicationsSemin hitting the concussion list will open up a new bag of questions for Leo M. to answer during Waiver Draft week. Does he stay with Semin and wait out the injury or try and replace his points right away and try to climb back into the race? This is a toughie.

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