Weeding Out the Injured

Playing in all 82 games is a sure blessing to a lot of players who play in the NHL. It means that they spent the season injury-free and their health wasn't a concern to their team and their teammates... not to mention all of the poolies who are anxiously awaiting their return to the frozen surface to score more points for their pool team.

Sadly, not every player has that luxury... only 89 players registered 82 (or more) games in the league last year. Jeff Halpern played in 83 games last season, because he gained an extra game between his trade between Dallas and Tampa Bay. 33 players played in 81 games last season, while only 29 players played in 80.

Just to put it all into perspective... 941 players registered in a game last year. 141 skaters played in 80 or more games.

Saying that, you have to come to expect injuries, suspensions, demotions and scratches in the league, but it's moreso the injuries that become the concern. There are plenty of players who are only considered third or fourth line material and they are not necessarily pool worthy, especially if your pool doesn't consider penalty minutes to be a point-producing statistic, so we'll try and neglect them, as I try and weed through some more of the more injury-prone players that you may want to consider avoiding in your hockey pool draft.

Of course, these sort of determinations are mostly considered to be trends. These trends could just as easily be bucked in favour of a good season or finally having a player get back to 100% and be a little more weary of travelling through the neutral zone with their heads down. A lot of times, players who are considered to be injury-prone, remain that way through the remainder of their career. When it comes down to picking players for your draft team, you should take their health trend into consideration before choosing those players. It isn't to say you shouldn't or can't choose these players, it's more taking their disability into account and determining whether or not their true value is for 82 games or less.

A good place to start would be in Calgary, where they have managed to sign free agent forward, Todd Bertuzzi, to a brand new 1-year deal this summer. In the past five seasons, Bertuzzi has managed to play in all 82 games twice, the last time being three seasons ago in Vancouver. The past couple seasons have been marred with a chronic back injury, which has kept him from 81 games over those two years. This has been an alarming trend that the Panthers, Red Wings and Ducks all saw through and has now been moved away from all three teams in recent memory. The Flames have signed him to a $1.95 million deal for the year, which could very well be a bargain, since there is the chance that he could play a full year and give the team 20 goals.

Now, to some degree, this could be a harsh generalization, but if Ales Hemsky was to play a full 82-game schedule (which he hasn't in five career seasons), the Oilers would have a certain degree of success when it comes to making the playoffs more often. Hemsky does have a career-high 81 games in a season to his credit, but that was only once. Last season, he topped out at 74 games, but still had a career-high in goals at 20. It's hard to consider him one of the better players in the league, because he does find himself to be injured at least once a year, but his scoring rate is still quite good. When it comes to a guy like Hemsky, it's best not to get too excited at draft day, but if you're going to gamble on him, you may only want to consider him for 80 points in 82 games, but his trend doesn't support that at all.

Does a player like Ray Whitney vex you when it comes to this question? Whitney has to be considered one of the biggest wild cards, as he has had some real up & down seasons in games played, but he has been pretty consistent at scoring around a point per game in the last five seasons. The worst season Whitney had in the league in the last five seasons was his year in Detroit (surprisingly), where he only played in 67 games and scored 43 points. Last season, he only played in 66 games and had 61 points, which is still a good year, but the year before that, he went over a point per game, scoring 83 points in 81 games. Your best bet is to wager on the 60+ games, that way if he plays 80+ games again, it'll be one of the bigger steals, but you don't risk as much taking him in a lower position. Capitalize more with your higher picks with sure things.

There's a pretty good chance that the Canucks' fortunes didn't improve this summer with the signing of Pavol Demitra. In the past three seasons, Demitra has only played a maximum of 71 games, which does diminish his pool value. Demitra has missed 49 games over the past three seasons, hardly a lock for playing every game in the coming season. In those three seasons, he's only topped out at only 64 points (in those same 71 games with the Wild), so the tag of injury-prone does apply. In St. Louis, he was definitely more of a durable player, but his consistency in that department was also a little sketchy. When he did play 80+ games, he was definitely one of the more productive players on the ice. In 2003/'04, Demitra finished in the top 10 of pool scoring, but he's long since been a player of that calibre. Earning 60 points this season will be what you should expect from Demitra, although it would be bad value for money for the Canucks.

Another big injury question in Edmonton would be, 'which Erik Cole did they acquire from Carolina this summer?' Cole, 29, could be considered one of the more unlucky players in the NHL, having to go through more than his fair share of major injuries over the past few years. His last major injury was the broken vertebrae in his neck, which almost cost him is career in 2006, but his perserverence has paid off, but his ability to stay healthy has seemingly vanished. Cole missed 9 games in three separate instances last season, which wasn't too bad, but in six seasons, he's only cracked the 80-game plateau twice, never for a full season. He should be better than his 51 points last season with the 'Canes, now that he has moved to a more offensively charged Oilers team, but try not to expect more than 75 games out of him.

Could there be a light at the end of the injury tunnel for Ed Jovanovski. The 32-year old rearguard finally had himself a season playing more than 67 games... his first in four seasons. His injuries have been a hinderance to himself and the Canucks/Coyotes teams that have had him employed, which had seriously diminished his pool value. This past season, Jovanovski finally strung together a season where he played 80 games and finished with 51 points, ranking him 131st in my pool list. That's pretty good news for the veteran rearguard, but is one season quite enough to throw him back into the pool with all the other healthy ducks? Probably not. As much as I'd hate to say it, bucking the trend is a lot harder than one season, although, Jovanovski will be one of those players you'd hate to bet against. If you were to ask me, slot him a little further down and see if you can get him in a bargain pick position, as he could be a player that blows up in your face during the year.

A player trying his best to buck his own trend is Islander centre, Mike Comrie. Comrie has now played in seven seasons in the NHL, playing in 82 games once and had another season of 80 games. Unfortunately, he has had himself his fair share of injury knocks, but had almost finished his second season completely healthy, if it wasn't for the flu, that cost him the last six games of the year. If Comrie can hit 80+ games, he can score 30 goals, which makes him a very good commodity to any hockey pool team. Comrie may have found himself a good new home on Long Island, which bodes well for him and his underachieving employers. Can he truly buck the trend of missing games this season? It's likely 50/50 that he'll miss at least a few games this year, but he holds the same chances for a serious, long-term injury as anyone else.

Another career that goes up and down is the one of Predators centre, David Legwand. Legwand has had some great seasons in Nashville, but he has also not played a lot of games in others. Last season, Legwand only managed 65 games, thanks to three injuries during the year, and scored only 44 points, leaving him 155th in the pool rankings. This coming on the heels of one of his better seasons, where he played 78 games and had a career-high 63 points. It's not like we can't say he's never been healthy... he has two seasons, in his eight full years, where he has played more than 80 games, but the other six have been riddled with minor to major injuries. Your best bet is to look at him like you would some of the other players on the list... figure he's going to be injured and hope that he becomes a huge bargain by the end of the year by staying healthy.

One of the bigger hockey pool disappoints, thanks to injuries, is Thrashers goalie, Kari Lehtonen. Lehtonen has seen one good season with the Thrashers (34 wins in 2007), but his groin has kept him from being one of the elite goalies that he was touted to be before he finally joined the league when he was drafted in 2002. Usually, you'll want your number one goalie to start 65+ games in a season, these days the bar has risen to 70+ games, because of strength and conditioning. Lehtonen has only maxed himself out at 68 appearances once, the same year he won 34. This coming year could be his last chance at being the Thrashers go-to guy, since he only has one more year left on his current deal and then the team will have to re-examine their situation. For right now, Lehtonen is the starting goalie in Atlanta, but as starters go, he could be down near the bottom of the list.

Finally, I'll finish in Florida where Stephen Weiss has had a hard time keeping himself together for a full season worth of work as well. Weiss, drafted in 2001, has tried to play in the better part of five NHL seasons, but hasn't been able to either stay up with the club or stay healthy for a complete year. Weiss played in 77 games in his first full season with the Panthers in 2003, but has since yet been able to play in more games than that in his career in the NHL. Last season, he played in 74 games, scoring 13 goals and 29 assists, which put him 170th in the pool scoring ranks. He certainly still holds plenty of potential, if he can ever reach it all, as the Panthers had signed him to a 6-year deal last summer, so they will have to rely on the idea that he can serve the club for the majority of games in all of those seasons. As a poolie, I'm always very weary of Weiss, who had a lot of us salivating at the idea that he could serve our pool teams well when he finally hit the big stage.

If there's anything to be taken from these ten guys is that they have less of a chance to help you excel in your hockey pool, because their inconsistency of staying in their respective team's line-up. These players will be taken by poolies eventually, but a lot of times they fall short of their expectations, which is why it's a lot better to choose safer players. For players like Cole, Demitra, Bertuzzi and Comrie, the change of scenary should be taken into consideration for some renewed hope, but try not to dwell on it, since it isn't a very good gambling tool.