NHL pre-season plagued by injuries

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This article was published 30/09/2024 (370 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s become a hot topic as several stars — from Drew Doughty to William Nylander to Patrik Laine — have gone down with injuries before the puck drops for real on a new NHL season.

Is any potential reward worth the risk of having key players appear in what are, at least for them, rather meaningless preseason games beyond working off some rust? And, by extension, are lengthy training camps necessary in an era when the modern athlete is already showing up in tip-top shape?

“It’s a really hard question to answer,” Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers, who might just be considered an expert on the subject considering his history, told the Free Press on Monday in a candid, one-on-one conversation.

Two years ago, Ehlers had a regular camp, played in several preseason games and felt 100 per cent only to suffer a sports hernia in the first regular-season game that would cost him three months of action.

Conclusion: Gearing up for meaningful games by getting some reps couldn’t protect him from injury the second things started to count.

Last year, Ehlers suffered a significant neck injury while lifting weights just as camp was set to begin, missing all exhibition contests but making it back just in time for the start of the season, one in which he appeared in all 82 games for the first time in six years.

Conclusion: Sitting out camp didn’t spell doom. Far from it, in fact.

“Last year was the first time I kind of had to jump right into the regular season. And I was fine,” said Ehlers. “But it does take at least a game to get into the timing of it all. And the game-like situations, the game conditioning and so on.”

So where does Ehlers, who has played in two of Winnipeg’s first four preseason games this fall, stand on the issue?

“There’s pros and cons. I do like a game, at least one game, before it gets going,” he said. “You need at least a game – at least I do – to get into the timing and all of that. But you also don’t want to get injured in preseason. But you can get hurt at any time.”

A bit of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

The Jets officially began training camp on Sept. 19, which is exactly 20 days before the 2024-25 season begins Oct. 9 in Edmonton. They have two preseason games remaining this week — at home to Calgary on Wednesday, and then visiting the Flames on Friday night.

“Could we shorten it? Sure. But I don’t think there’s a lot of guys in here complaining about the length,” said Ehlers.

“You want to get back with the guys and you obviously want time to figure out the chemistry with the new guys and get them integrated in the team. For guys that play two games, three games in the preseason, you go a long time with practicing and you kind of want to get into it. That’s like the not-so-fun part. You want to play games, but you want to be ready for that puck drop on day one. I think the length of camp is what it is. There’s no complaints.”

]As Ehlers correctly noted, injuries can seemingly come out of the blue. Winnipeg had two defencemen undergo surgery last week, and neither Ville Heinola (ankle) or Logan Stanley (knee) got hurt during game action. But common sense suggests the odds increase once competition is introduced.

Dougthy (broken ankle, at least three months), Nylander (head, day-to-day) and Laine (knee, undisclosed) are all recent proof of that.

Jets coach Scott Arniel believes his club has found a happy medium by playing just six preseason games. Some teams have as many as nine.

“At the end of the day for me, six gives us that practice time and maybe reduces some of those chances of injuries happening,” said Arniel. “But those things happen, you just never know when it’s going to hit you. I like the six number. Our players like it too. It gives a good balance and ratio of practices to the game and gets us set for next week when we start.”

Arniel noted it’s a much different time compared to when he played during the 1980s and training camp would typically last about a month, giving players ample runway to get into shape after slacking all summer.

“These guys are 12-month-a-year athletes, they’re working out all the time. Not so much back then,” he said.

Of course, don’t tell young Jets prospects like Brad Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov or Elias Salomonsson that the preseason is not necessary. This is their chance to get noticed, to send a message to management that they’re ready for more responsibility.

“I think it’s hard because you have these young guys that come up. They kind of get to see what it’s like a little bit playing in the NHL, what level and speed it is, the reads and all that,” said Ehlers.

“I think most of the games are for the young guys that come up and kind of want to show what they can do in this league. They want a chance at cracking the team, and you’ve got to have that, too. It’s tough.”

“I think most of the games are for the young guys that come up and kind of want to show what they can do in this league.”–Nikolaj Ehlers

The danger can come when you have an eager young player wanting to prove himself — like Toronto Maple Leafs minor-leaguer Cedric Pare — who crosses paths with an established veteran like Laine who is simply trying to get his legs under him. The result, as we saw on Saturday night, can be disastrous.

Laine went down in a heap after taking a knee-on-knee, and he’s now on crutches and in a leg brace. It’s a horrible blow to a beloved former member of the Jets who missed the majority of last season dealing with both injury and then mental health issues which involved entering the NHL’s player assistance program.

A summer trade to Montreal was supposed to provide a much-needed clean slate.

“I know what it feels like. You come back, you feel good and you get ready to go and something happens again and you’re out for a long time again. You feel like it’s a cycle that just won’t stop. You feel like you can’t get out of it,” said Ehlers, who is one of Laine’s best friends and speaks with him almost daily.

“Obviously for Patty he was in a good mindset. Excited to play for Montreal, and I think they were excited to have him as well. It was a fresh start. But again, injuries happen. I’ve already talked to him. I know he’s obviously rattled right now, but he’s also focused on getting back even stronger. And that takes some mental strength as well. That’s a good thing. He’s in a good place, even though this happened.”

The Jets return to practice on Tuesday. They still have 36 players in camp, including the injured Heinola and Stanley, and must cut down to a maximum of 23 healthy skaters in the next week.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg