Around the Rink 11.08.06

The Toronto Maple Leafs got a hit today when they found out that Captain Mats Sundin will be out three to four weeks with ligament tear in his right elbow. Sundin had 19 points (8g, 11a), which leads the Leafs for the season thus far.

With the Leafs doing so well, it's probably the worse case scenario to have Sundin out for a long period of time. We'll see the true resolve of the team to see if they can bounce back from this news or not.

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Speaking of injuries, doesn't it seem like there are more injuries than last season?? Maybe it's me, but it seems everyday there's a new crop of injury news coming around. Yet, it's not the normal "day-to-day" groin pull that happened last season; but it's a lot of serious stuff. There's plenty of ankle injuries this year with Martin Havlat, Chris Higgins, and Jeff Carter. Of course, plenty of back issues has been out there and some "upper-body" stuff, but it just seems like there plenty of them.

I'm sure I'm crazy; but still.

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The Vancouver Canucks announced that Luc Bourdon has been sent back to the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats. Bourdon had no points in his nine games with the Canucks and would have had his contract kick in if he played one more game.

Bourdon is a good defenseman is a hulking presence, but he's not ready for the NHL just yet. He'll have his time to grow and we'll probably see him in the AHL at the end of his junior season. In this instance, I really applaud the AHL for making a 20-year-old age limit for incoming players. It allows more players to get time in juniors and mature before making the big jump.

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The NHL GMs concluded their meetings yesterday. The one thing many thought would be possibly changed, the schedule, wasn't changed or thought of during the meeting. I'm sure that the conflict won't go away, but it won't be resolved any time soon. You see, the Western Conference teams want to have more games against the Eastern Conference for the young guns to be seen once a year. The Eastern teams want to keep travel cost downs.

The East, of course, is all up and down the Atlantic seaboard, which had all 15 teams in close quarters. The West is spread out from part of the Eastern Time Zone to the Pacific Time Zone, so travel isn't a big deal for them. So, like always, I'll have to come up with a solution:

-One game, home and away, against other conference teams (30 total)
-Five games each against Divisional teams (20 total)
-Three games against each team outside your division, but in your conference (30 total)

That's 80 games for the year. Though it takes away a home game for each team, it always takes away a travel date. Plus, fewer games aren't the worst thing and could actually make the Finals end in May. Food for thought.

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