After failing to find a hard hit on the Oilers' Ales Hemsky this week, I was somewhat surprised that he will be sidelined for at least the next 2-to-3 weeks with a shoulder injury, with another MRI yet to come. Hemsky was hit hard by the Predators' Jonathan Blum, where he supposedly suffered the injury. Between a groin injury, a concussion and now a major shoulder injury, this has been a terrible season for the Oilers' sniper.
Hemsky has only managed to take part in 47 games for the Oilers this season, scoring 14 goals and adding 28 assists, nearly scoring at a point-per-game pace when he has been healthy. His 42 points is good enough to be ranked 101st after Wednesday night's action, but that will surely fall in the next three weeks, if it isn't longer.I don't think there is any question that he is a talented player, but the term injury-prone is generally highlighted with a picture of him. I don't think anyone can argue against that statement after the 2011 season and it really should limit his fantasy value, gambling to make him into more of a huge bargain, instead of a giant flop.
This could be a pretty big blow to Chris M. and his shot at trying to climb into the top two in the standings, but you could also argue that missing out on Hemsky for 17 games already this year has doomed him in the standings, especially being only 18 points out of 2nd place going into Thursday night's action.Chris is still 20 points up on Benson G., who currently sits in 4th place, so there is a pretty good buffer to stay in 3rd place, but Benson does have a healthy team, so it will be a matter of seeing whether or not Hemsky's absence will be the difference down the stretch, barring other injuries, of course.
Link to the Injury/News Page
No comments:
Post a Comment