Conflicting reports are circulating about the nature of Jordan Staal’s injury. It does seem that the top of his foot was cut by the skate blade of PK Subban and he clearly had some trouble putting weight on his foot as he made his way back to the bench. Craig Adams got a first hand view of the injury when Staal returned to the bench and was concerned about what he saw.
“When he got to the bench, I noticed his (right skate boot) laces were cut,” Adams said. “Obviously, I was hoping it wasn’t too serious.”
This morning is when things got interesting as several reports began to circulate about Staal being out for the remainder of the playoffs after having surgery to repair a lacerated tendon in his foot. I will say that I was hesitant to report that right away, as the Penguins are pretty tight lipped with their injuries, but have been known to report major losses. In the past when a player was set to miss significant time they have been much freer with that information. I wasn’t getting that info from anyone…
Then Dan Bylsma hit the podium following this morning’s practice, which Staal missed, and said that yes, Staal did have a procedure, but that he wouldn’t declare him out for the playoffs. The report is that Staal is day to day following the procedure, but he could return at some point.
“As far as a time frame goes we will not put a time frame on it at this point,” Bylsma said. “But he has not been ruled out for a return.”
Bob McKenzie of TSN reported on his twitter that Staal could return in the Conference Final or even sooner…
J Staal not necessarily out for playoffs. Had surgery to repair foot tendon that runs to toe, but could be back next round if not sooner.
The situation is very reminiscent of the Gonchar scenario during last season’s run. Immediately following Gonchar’s knee on knee collision in game two against the Washington Capitals last season a couple of Russian reporters who we are friendly with were saying that Gonchar himself said he would be out 6 to 8 weeks with the injury. We all saw how that ended up working out… sure he was felled with a pretty severe knee injury, but he was able to return and contribute to a Stanley Cup victory. The playoffs have a great healing effect and that could easily be the case with Jordan Staal.
It is eerie how many similarities to last year are popping up during this run… this is yet another one…
More soon…
Thanks for the update…..Hope he feels better soon…. He’s an awesome player.
Different injuries,
knees essential only have to move in one direction. Put a brace on for stability and it’s up to the player as to whether he trusts the knee.
Your foot has 360 degrees of motion, even in a skate. You put Staal through surgry, then rush back the recovery time, he won’t be mobile.
I want to see the man play, he is only 20-21 (can’t remember folks sorry! Lol) if he comes back too early from a tendon injury, he will never skate the same. I hope the staff are fixing here and just doing what the always do come play offs with injuries and lie
Walshy,
I am not saying that the injuries are comparable. Just that the situation is eerily similar to last years… the whole Gonchar thing resulted in immediate news that he would be shelved for 6-8 weeks and he was back shortly there after… this could be similar… the tendon is question is apparently in the toe.
I don’t think that they would rush him back if it could jeopardize his career…
We will see… I have been hearing different stories about this all day. Some sources are saying he could be back sooner… some are saying he is out the year. We shall see!
B Metz
Metz,
Wasnt having a crack by any means sorry if it came across that way!!!!
You know my feelings towards rushing players back from injuries, just read the pens website and I dont like the cloak and daggers approach teams take during the playoffs, I think it sucks….