Nothing is quite as stomach-turning as seeing any player suffer an injury of the severity of the one that Stephane Robidas experienced last night at the American Airlines Center. Especially when it happens to such a well-respected long serving member, and alternate captain, of your home team. Thoughts and prayers from Dallas Stars fans all around the globe are with Stephane Robidas as he starts a long road back to the ice this week.
I’m far from a medical expert, but it’s said that a clean fracture of a leg is probably the best thing that could happen to a player that goes down in the way that Robidas went down. While it’s no minor injury by any stretch of the imagination, it’s better to re-set the bone and let it heal than to have any structural damage to the tendons or ligaments in a hockey player’s leg.
He can take solace in the fact that Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning suffered a shockingly similar injury earlier this season, and has been blowing away the hockey world with how quickly and efficiently he is healing. Earlier this month, TheScore.com went into detail about the Stamkos injury, and what the road ahead had in store for the Bolts’ prized sniper. I figured it would be of interest to Dallas Stars fans this morning, all things considered. [TheScore]
The Stars will be without Robidas for the foreseeable future, but they luckily didn’t have their stud center, Tyler Seguin, miss any game time with his muscle issues that were bothering him all week. He was in the lineup, with his usual linemates of Jamie Benn and Valeri Nichushkin when the Stars fell to the Chicago Blackhawks last night. [FOX]
Robidas wasn’t the only big-minute defender to suffer an injury in the Central Division last night. Shea Weber, captain of the Nashville Predators, left the Predators’ game against the Edmonton Oilers last night after being hit in the face with the puck. Weber is one of the few NHL players that has not adopted a visor on his helmet, and took a wrist shot from David Perron near his right eye. [USA Today]
Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks had a much better day at the office. On Friday night, Burns notched his first career hat trick against the St. Louis Blues in a 6-3 victory. Like any dedicated professional in any craft, Brent Burns sometimes brings his work home with him. I guess that’s the case here, because Burns came home to find his driveway littered with celebratory hats as well. Awesome. [SB Nation]
If you missed Darren Helm’s goal against the New York Islanders last night, you missed a doozy. It’s hard to even call it a highlight reel play, because the goal itself is anything but a beauty. Helm used his best asset, his wheels, to generate this goal out of nothing… but the real draw to this play was the explosive three-man collision that directly preceded the puck crossing the goal line. [FOX]
Could Canada’s new NHL television deal with Rogers mean the end of Don Cherry, Coach’s Corner, or the rest of the traditional Hockey Night in Canada ensemble? I certainly hope not. Say what you will about “Grapes,” but the man is an institution… and an entertaining one at that. [TheChronicleHerald]
The KHL will be hosting it’s annual All-Star game in January, and it should feature some name recognition for hockey fans in North America. The game will be headlined by obvious cornerstone of the league Ilya Kovalchuk of SKA St. Petersburg. A less obvious emerging star of the Russian super-league is one-time Dallas Star and former Richard winner Jonathan Cheechoo, who has done quite a bit of career rejuvenating overseas. [R-Sport]
Finally, for those of you Stars fans out there that are fans of popular culture or rap music, the rapper I probably have the most respect for out of this generation, Macklemore, showed a little Texas Stars love in his show down in Austin this week. Rather than wearing my grandfather’s coat or something burnt orange, he took to the stage in the new Texas Stars road sweater. Nice choice. [Twitter]