Hiller Back on the IR

Bad news for the Anaheim Ducks and their quest to get themselves into the playoff picture for good, as their number one goaltender, Jonas Hiller, has been placed on the Injured Reserve, meaning he will miss at least the next week, with a recurrence of his lightheadedness and dizziness.  This will be the second trip to the Injured Reserve for Hiller in the past few weeks, which doesn't really bode well for both himself and the team.

As it was previously mentioned in a post not too long ago, Hiller has been a beast for the Ducks in the 2011 season, playing a lot of minutes and registering quite a few wins.  The only thing that has changed recently is that he has had to take on less minutes, because of his stint on the IR.  Hiller has appeared in 48 games for the Ducks this year, picking up a record of 26-16-3 with 5 shutouts and 1 assist, giving him 63 points in the pool this year, ranking him 10th in pool scoring, through Tuesday night's action.

Another week away from the active roster will likely hurt Kristy and Don, who have been riding their stud goalie for the better part of the season.  With Hiller going down for at least a week now, I'll make mention that the pool's only duo are currently sitting in 3rd spot in the standings, 2 points out of 2nd, 4 points out of 1st and 35 points up on 4th.  The loss of Hiller won't take them out of the money, but it likely won't vault them into a better position.

There has to be a high level of concern that the number one goalie for the team may have suffered a concussion and the team is only referring to the symptoms as the injury and not the injury itself.  Sure, he's being placed back on the IR for a week, but when there is a big concern for head injuries these days, there really shouldn't be any light treading of water in the situation. The longer-term issues should definitely outweigh the short-term goals of making the playoffs... or at least acquire another goalie to fix the problem.