Takin' a T/O with BT: 10 Injury-Plagued Teams around the NHL

(Photo by: Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Injuries are like babies: The minute they happen, everybody thinks theirs is special.

That is until the doctor comes in, snips the cord, spanks it on the bottom, and leaves.

Then, to the unbiased ear they all sound the same, and to the female eye they're all ridiculously cute and worth at least the next four hours of their time fawning over the infant.

Sidenote: Don't take that as jealously towards babies, because I'm not. I like them. If I were Snoop Dog I'd say "Them b-sizzles is fly dawg."

It just seemed like a natural place to start off for some reasons. Besides, why would I be jealous of something when I have complete control over my opposable thumbs while it's got to spend the next 10-12 years learning how? I'm already that far ahead. Point, me.

Then again, that's exactly what sports fans do. The ones who are connected to the injury spend the course of it simply fretting: The "what are we going to do" and "oh, woe is me" acts take over during the injury as fans worry about the player, their team's record, and the excuses that they're going to have to make when questioned about their team's play.

Of course if they start to win without player X in the lineup, then he can't get traded fast enough.

Or, if injuries mount and they lose something like 500 games, then there's already a built-in excuse that can last for eight seasons!

(See: Blue Jays, Toronto—2002 through 2009)

So with that, who just has the right to complain in the NHL due to injuries? Who's coming in to replace their fallen comrades? Is this list going to go in descending order with cool little band-aidy graphics as numbers?

Yes to all questions (except half of that last one). Damn you limited capacities.

10. The Toronto Maple Leafs

Yay! Another reference as to how goaltending play is so important!

Look, the Leafs aren't one of the more heavily-injured teams in the league up front. In fact, both players on long-term injured reserve (Mike Van Ryn and Phil Kessel) never started the season on the ice. Van Ryn, unfortunately, may never see it again.

But whether they were playing well or not, it's hard to win without your top two goalies in Vesa Toskala and Jonas Gustavsson.

Gustavsson is close to returning (which is a good sign), meaning that Joey MacDonald won't get hung out to dry any longer.

9. Erik Cole, Carolina Hurricanes

Edmonton Oiler fans just stuck their hand in a desk drawer and slammed it as hard as they could.

For some reason, Erik Cole only performs his best when he's in Carolina. Kind of like every other player (Tuomo Ruutu, Sergei Samsonov, Matt Cullen) that goes to Carolina. That's why he makes the list.

Unfortunately for him, Cole seems to get seriously injured in Carolina as well.

Either way, Cole still brings a very gritty presence to the Carolina lineup that is able to produce some points and throw his body around alongside Eric Staal.

There are players on the Carolina roster who can fill in a bit of that physicality (Chad LaRose and Tom Kostoplous) and there are others who can score (Jussi Jokinen, Samsonov, and Ruutu), but it's hard to replace the exact package Cole brings.

8. The Dallas Stars

For the Stars, their injuries fall more in the way of their veteran leadership.

Last year, they lost Captain Brendan Morrow early on to a devastating knee injury and then proceeded to lose their minds over Sean Avery.

This year, defenseman Matt Niskanen is a little banged up, but Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen are missing from action as well. Both players fell off the offensive aptitude scale faster than Lindsay Lohan from the "I want to experiment" phase, so getting a player like Fabian Brunnstrom more time could help him adjust to the North American game.

Thenagain, if it turns out like last year, younger players like Jamie Benn and Tom Wandell are already benefiting from the expanded roles.

7. The Nashville Predators

We'll get to the gruesome solo injuries, I promise. But, because we're talking about team sports, we've got to mention a few team situations.

To start things off, the Predators just lost No. 1 center Jason Arnott to an arm injury. In a season where J.P. Dumont has also missed extended time due to injury and the Predators are looking up at the rest of the Central Division, this is a tough one to deal with.

Fortunately for the Preds, they now get the opportunity to drop two of their top center prospects—Colin Wilson and Cal O'Reilly—into larger roles with Wilson getting expanded responsibilities and O'Reilly getting a call up.

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