NHL Notebook: How Serious is Gagne's Groin Injury?

Saturday, August 29, 2009

By Tim Panaccio
CSNPhilly.com

What was going through the mind of that brilliant strategist Mike Babcock this week, while he was skating players hard on the first day of his Team Canada Olympic orientation camp in Calgary?

Talk about brain cramps from one of hockey’s more obnoxious coaches – and we haven’t heard a single person question that serious lack of judgment.

Most of Babcock’s players hadn’t seen a pair of skates – much less laced them up – since last spring. True, Simon Gagne had been skating for two weeks. But he wasn’t skating hard.

Is it any wonder Gagne tweaked his right groin?

Good thing they had insurance, huh? Just to protect the players from Babcock.

As for Gagne, the Flyers are saying the injury isn’t a big deal. Except that, in addition to rest, Gagne was given an injection of PRP – Platelet Rich Plasma – which most certainly is not the usual course of treatment for a simple groin pull.

Gagne has had three offseason surgeries in four years in his groin and hip area. His performance will be something that will bear watching when the Flyers’ full training camp opens Sept. 12.

“You get used to it,” Gagne said of his persistent hip and groin injuries. “It is part of the game. We play a physical game. The way we skate is not a natural thing for your legs.
 
“Sure I have had some problems in the past year with the hip and the groin. But still I am able to play with that kind of pain. Like I said, I am used to it. These types of injuries are not fun to have. Usually I find a way to get through it.”

This setback won’t affect Gagne’s Olympic status, provided he is healthy this season and produces on the ice. His play here – and his stats – will determine whether he gets a roster spot with Team Canada.

“I was disappointed to leave this time after only one day,” Gagne said, “but on the other side, I had a great conversation with Steve Yzerman and the management and they said not to worry and it’s not a big deal.

“But at the same time with all of the talent that Team Canada has on the ice, I know it is going to be hard to get a job there. I am going to get healthy right now, have a good start with the Flyers and have a better chance to force Mr. Yzerman and Team Canada to pick me in December.”

Taking it personally
In Canada, some newspapers do just that when players thumb their noses at their cities – like Dany Heatley has done in Ottawa, saying he wants out of town. Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun carved up the spoiled winger this week, suggesting that the ‘A’ Heatley wears on his jersey stands for “Asinine,” and even calling Heatley “a contradicting suck hole.”

More Dany Boy
Heatley stood up teammate Jason Spezza at his wedding this summer. Spezza was asked at the Olympic orientation session if there was any way he could defend Heatley in his motives to leave the Senators.

“It’s not my place to defend him,” Spezza replied. “He’s making his decisions for a reason. He feels like Ottawa isn’t a good fit for him anymore, and he has to stand by that. Obviously, reaction from people isn’t going to be favorable in Ottawa, but we have to move forward as a team. If they trade Dany, then we have to move forward and become a better team without him. If he’s back – and we’ve picked up a couple of good players – we’ve got to move forward with him.”

Another home
For ex-Flyers’ assistant coach, Wayne Fleming. He’s surfaced in Edmonton, where he joined the Oilers’ staff.

Fleming had the misfortune of coaching the late Alexei Cherepanov (at Avangard Omsk) in that game over in Russia that saw the Rangers’ prospect die of a heart attack on the bench. Asked how the death affected his team, Fleming told the Edmonton Journal, “Devastating. It was like a piece of crystal smashing and trying to put the pieces together.”

Quotable
Drew Doughty, all of 19-years-old, was paired with the Flyers’ Chris Pronger for parts of Team Canada’s camp. He could be the youngest Canadian since Eric Lindros (age 18 at the ’91 Canada Cup) to represent Canada a major international event.

“I didn’t know too many guys when I came in, but I’ve already met them all,” Doughty said. “It’s a little weird being the youngest guy. You don’t want to mess up a pass or anything because these guys are so used to making great passes and the perfect play every time. It’s a little intimidating, but I just try to go out there and play.”

Quotable II
Mike Babcock on being Canadian: “I’m Canadian. I was born in Canada. The greatest country, in my mind. And we play a great game that people here have passion for. I love living in the U.S. But I spend my summers in Canada. And we talk about [hockey] a lot. We have how many people living in Canada? Thirty-seven million? [about 34 million]. So we have 37 million people living in Canada who love the game. I think that’s awesome.”

Desert dogs disaster
The NHL’s big hope for Phoenix was that Jerry Reinsdorf would win the bidding process for the Coyotes in bankruptcy court and keep the club in Glendale. When Reinsdorf didn’t get his way with the $23 million in local subsidies he wanted, he pulled out.

In a stunning move, the NHL, fearful that Jim Balsillie’s bid would be the only one the court would entertain, immediately announced it was buying the Coyotes. Now the league could end up running the team… forever.

Wonder how the Board of Governors feels about that?

“I don’t like it, but the league has to do it,” one BOG member told us. Did we mention that the league has done a stunning about face? In its new court filing, the NHL admits its needs more time in case it finds a potential owner, who wants to move the team out of Glendale.

Didn’t the NHL insist all along that moving the Coyotes wasn’t an option? Wasn’t that a major reason why they rejected Balsillie?

Loose pucks
• Let’s say Stephen Walkom successfully manages a comeback on the ice as an official after five seasons of being the officials’ boss at the NHL office. How is that going to play out with the officials he reprimanded over the years? Several officials told us a while ago that they felt Walkom had lost touch with the game on the ice once he moved into management and no longer had a “feel” for making the proper calls.

• Looks like the NHL’s idea of having a second outdoor game this season has fallen through. The Canadiens were supposed to host the Washington Capitals at Olympic Stadium Nov. 28. It’s been scrubbed and moved back to Bell Centre because there’s a chance the Montreal Alouettes football team could go deep into the CFL playoffs.

• Reigning men’s NCAA champ Boston University will meet Boston College as part of a doubleheader outdoor hockey game at Fenway Park Jan. 8. New Hampshire and Northeastern’s women’s teams meet in the opener.

• Former Flyer center Mike Sillinger called it a career with the Islanders after 17 seasons while another former Flyer pivot, Peter Forsberg, continues skating with Modo and tells reporters in Sweden that maybe this retirement thing was a bit premature. Here we go again.

• Congrats to Jacques Demers, the last man to coach a Canadian team to the Stanley Cup (Montreal, 1993) on his appointment to the Canadian Senate.

• In the end, all Patrick Kane had to do was plead guilty to disorderly conduct, pay $120 in court fees and apologize to the Buffalo cabbie he was accused of assaulting over 20 cents. Do you think an ordinary hockey fan would have gotten off so easy? “Obviously, I’m in a little different situation than most kids at this age, but at the same time I think it’s definitely been a learning lesson and something I want to move forward on,” Kane said before the court. “It’s maybe better I learn it now than later in life.”

• Atlanta general manager Don Waddell said he’s had some “constructive” contract conversations with potential free agent Ilya Kovalchuk – which is what Waddell said about Marian Hossa a few years ago. Waddell desperately needs Kovalchuk to re-sign. Kovalchuk reportedly told the Thrashers that he wanted to see what moves the club made in the offseason before committing. The Thrashers have added Pavel Kubina and Nik Antropov, which apparently pleased him. But it’s still no guarantee.

• Finally, with Patrick Marleau losing the “C” in San Jose and Joe Thornton losing the “A,” it’s really no surprise, albeit a bold move – and probably the right move, too. The team has badly underachieved with them in postseason after overachieving during regular season play. Of course, no one believes Marleau and Thornton saying it’s “no big deal” to lose their letters. It’s a huge deal to a player and an embarrassment. Especially for Thornton, because it will reinforce the whispers that leaked from the Bruins’ camp when they traded him to San Jose in 2005: You can’t win with Joe.

This story contains material from the Arizona Republic, Associated Press, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Boston Globe, Calgary Herald, Canadian Press, CBS Sportsline.com, Daily Herald Times,  ESPN.com, Montreal Gazette, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail; TSN.ca, and other news services.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net