Off-Season Surgeries

The Minnesota Wild have already seen a couple of their players go under the knife in the off-season. Niklas Backstrom has had hip surgery, Brent Burns has undergone shoulder surgery and now Marc-Andre Bergeron has had successful back surgery this week. It does make you wonder how much of an effect that had on their success in the regular season. Another concern to us fantasy types is what their condition will be come next season. All three players should be good to go for camp and since they have the whole summer to recover, their injuries won't likely play a factor next season.

On Tuesday, the Flyers announced that their captain, Mike Richards, will be undergoing surgery for his shoulder, to repair his right labrum. He will then get another MRI for his other shoulder to determine whether or not he needs surgery there as well. These surgeries are expected to cost him 10-12 weeks of recovery, which may keep him out of any action until after training camp. This should be taken into some consideration when preparing your pool lists in September.