Sunday, January 15, 2012

Appendectomy Sidelines Benn

News early on Sunday evening say that Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn has undergone an appendectomy on the weekend and the team now expects him to be out anywhere between 10-to-21 days.  In most instances of removing one's appendix, it really does come out of the blue, as did Benn's surgery and it couldn't come at a worse time for the Stars, who are already without Mike Ribeiro.

Benn has been the Stars' best player this season, mostly because he has been healthy for the first half of the year. In 43 games played, Benn has picked up 13 goals and 29 assists, good enough for 25th in pool scoring, amidst of Sunday's action.  The Stars will be in all kinds of trouble, if they do not have the leadership by example, which it appears they won't have for at least a week.

Without Benn, the Stars will have to lean on Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder, who are two and three in team pool scoring going into Week Sixteen.

ImplicationsThis will be a pretty big hit to John P.'s pool team as well, as he is losing one of his top two forwards.  John has been slowly climbing up the standings since the first waiver draft, now sitting in 14th spot, closing the gap on 13th in the week.  The loss of Benn may hamper his team greatly, especially if he is out for the full three weeks.  John's team ranks last in goals scored as a collective, only having picked up 65 goals in total, the lowest total by a long way.

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