Roses and Raspberries
Great Players and Shoulder Injuries

Roses to: Players who can play the game of hockey the way Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Malkin can.

Raspberries to: Shoulder Injuries, Shoulder Surgery, Potential Shoulder Surgery

Mom’s scouting report turned out to be a bit too prescient for my liking. If you recall, Mom, upon seeing Malkin play for the first time, exclaimed, "He’s like a baby Jagr!" And now, apparently Malkin is like Jagr in more ways than just style of play.

At the current moment, the Rangers are saying Jagr’s status for the season opener is uncertain. Jagr had shoulder surgery, but the Rangers and doctors, apparently, aren’t convinced that Jagr’s shoulder is yet ready for the rigors of actual NHL games. Thus, the Rangers could be starting their season without their best player.

While Malkin hasn’t yet assumed the role of best player on the Pittsburgh Penguins, Malkin did show—before the shoulder injury felled him in his first game—that he was definitely ready to make a contribution to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Without Malkin and without a healthy Malkin, the Penguins lack a second line center. The Penguins never had a legitimate second line center all of last season, and the only reward that came from last year’s miserable record was the prize of Jordan Staal in the NHL entry draft. Point being, having a more than legitimate #2 NHL center in a healthy Malkin, the Penguins can be competitive on most nights. With Malkin injured, well, which players look to be the top prospects for next year’s NHL lottery draft?

Beyond anything else, the thing that sucks about shoulder injuries is that I’m not going to get to see Jaromir Jagr be Jaromir Jagr to start the season (and I’m one who thoroughly enjoyed the return of the Jaromir Jagr I’d known and loved in the 90’s last season). If Malkin ends up sitting out a few weeks, I’m not going to see Malkin for awhile, and if he does end up needing surgery on his shoulder, well, it’s going to be almost a full year (or it could be) until I actually get to see the kid whom Mom compared to a young Jagr.

And as a hockey fan, well, I want to see Jagr and Malkin healthy, and I want to see Jagr and Malkin playing. Best wishes to both for a full, fast recovery and regaining of full strength in their injured shoulders—because, really, I just want to see Jaromir Jagr be Jaromir Jagr and Evgeni Malkin be Evgeni Malkin.