Sniper lost 1 week or more

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This article was published 22/01/2012 (4983 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Add Evander Kane to the long list of star National Hockey League players currently on the shelf with concussion-like symptoms.

And as is the case of Sidney Crosby, Chris Pronger, Marc Savard, Simon Gagne, Al Montoya, Danny Briere, Alex Steen, Sami Salo and others, the question now is how long the Winnipeg Jets will be without their sniper.

The Jets announced Saturday that Kane, who is first on the team with 18 goals and second in points, first started complaining of headaches on Friday — a day after he played in a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. He missed Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers and the medical concussion protocol calls for him to be symptom-free for a week before he can return to the ice.

“Evander Kane came to us (Friday) with a headache. We weren’t sure what it was because we’ve had the flu come through a couple of guys,” said head coach Claude Noel. “We sent him home and wanted to make sure we got an evaluation on him. We got him evaluated and it looks like he has a concussion. He’s feeling better today. We’re going to play it day by day and see how he’s doing.

“It’s part of the game, it’s another injury. You just have to deal with people and whether they’re in or out and how long it’s going to be. It’s a fairly grey area and you don’t know what you’re dealing with, that’s the problem. Is it going to be a few days, is it going to be a few weeks? But I’ll handle that the same way with everything else. We have what we have.”

Kane’s spot on the Jets’ top line with Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler was filled Saturday by Eric Fehr while Patrice Cormier was summoned from St. John’s and was in the lineup against Florida.

It’s almost a given Kane will not travel with the Jets to Carolina and New York for the two road games before next week’s all-star break. In fact, the soonest he could be green-lighted to be back on the ice if he is symptom free is next weekend.

“I have no idea when all this took place,” said Noel. “I’m not so sure he completely knows. I’m not sure when he was feeling these effects so I don’t have any answers to those questions.

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“When you’re a player like him that’s having success you’re going to get more physical play your way. Sometimes this is going to be the result. I don’t think people target the head specifically, it’s just part of what takes place when you’re a player that draws attention.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait