Back Problems for Alfredsson

The Ottawa Senators are preparing life without Mike Fisher after their trade, but they've already started to deal in the short-term without the services of Daniel Alfredsson, who missed last night's game against the Flames and will miss the next couple weeks, resting a lower-back problem.  Apparently, Alfredsson has been playing with this lower-back pain for some time and was hoping for good things when the All-Star break rolled around, but that didn't happen as planned.  With the Senators beginning the sell-off and rebuild process on Thursday, the move to rest the captain seemed like a no-brainer.

It has not been the usual season for Alfredsson, who, much like the team around him, has really struggled with offense in 2011.  Alfredsson has only 14 goals and 17 assists (31 points) in 54 games with Ottawa this year, currently ranking him 145th in pool scoring, which is well down from his usual top 40 positions.  Alfredsson has hovered around the point-per-game average over the last 10 years, is only half those numbers this season, which has to be a major disappointment to many.

Injuries to his teammates, inconsistencies in the line-up and his own injury battles are the contributors to such a poor season for himself and his team.  The rest will definitely be a help to his cause and likely the team's as well down the road.

Of course, between playing with the injury and now resting the injury, neither will help the hockey pool aspirations of Neil B., who was relying on Alfredsson to be his usual scoring self this season.  Instead, Neil's 3rd round pick in the draft has been anything but and Neil has been on a free fall in the standings, now sitting 17th, 22 points up on 18th.  More time away from the game will be a major detriment to his standing.

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