TIME TO SHUT WHITNEY DOWN?
Robin Brownlee
January 05 2012 11:11PM
The Edmonton Oilers will have to get along without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the rest of January because of a shoulder injury. I can't imagine the news will get any better when Ryan Whitney meets with team medical staff in Dallas to discuss his difficult comeback from ankle surgery.
With all the trouble Whitney has had coming back from surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right ankle, the Oilers defenseman met with the specialist who performed his procedure in Charlotte this week to try to get some answers as to why he's still experiencing so much pain.
My understanding is one distinct possibility is that Whitney re-injured himself four games into his comeback when he took an awkward fall against the Vancouver Canucks at Rexall Place Oct. 25.
The fall resulted in a sprained right knee that put Whitney back on the shelf for 13 games. It might also have damaged his right ankle or foot – not necessarily the tendon that was repaired but perhaps a ligament or other soft tissue. Until the results of an MRI are interpreted by team medical staff, it's too early to say for certain.
MORE TIME NEEDED?
If that's indeed the case, it seems obvious to me the only option would seem to be to keep Whitney, who has missed Edmonton's last six games, out of action until the pain that's clearly impacted his game subsides and any further damage is allowed to heal completely..
With the Oilers hitting the halfway mark in the schedule when they wrap up their road trip against the Stars Saturday, Whitney has played in just 17 games so far this season. It's been more than obvious that he hasn't been skating or moving like he did prior to the injury.
Before this road trip began, it was determined Whitney had tendinitis in the ankle. Rest, these last six games, was the course of action decided upon. If that condition has been complicated by further damage to a ligament in the foot, it's a safe bet Whitney will be in for more of the same. Likely a lot more.
Bottom line, there's a distinct possibility the Oilers will not only be without their best forward for the rest of the month, but that Nugent-Hopkins will have company in Whitney. For how long exactly, we don't know yet.
Stay tuned.
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I wouldn't put Scott Hannan in that quality player category. He's just another quantity player the Oilers have plenty of already.
6 of one, half a dozen of the other, i don't think Hannan would have made any difference on this club. For all we know he probably turned down more money from Edmonton so he could play in Calgary. He's flopped in Calgary much like he would've here in Edmonton.
Better then guys like Peckham, Tuebert, Petry and Sutton?
Plenty of? I don't see a bunch of guys on our team that would have played 20+ minutes on the Capitals in the playoffs.
We're talking about the Hannan on Calgary's blueline, correct?
If he played 20 minutes a night on the Caps blueline last season then it's easy to see why they let him go. 10 yrs ago Scott could have brought plenty to the table. Now he's just an aging veteran playing out his career on the safe side. He doesn't play on the edge like he did yrs ago. Scott Hannan/Steve Staios, same thing.
Yup, I agree... and a 32 year old Steve Staios was a solid player... and a guy we could use.
You are right in one aspect...there are straws being grasped but they are by you....you just don't recognize it.
You are grasping at straws if you think Scott Hannan isn't a big part of the 5th worst gf/ga ratio in the league.
And yes you did say in our summer discussions that with the addition of Hannan the Oilers would have a shot at the playoffs...go and look at it.
I mean you told me how you were bookmarking the whole thing just so you could rub in my face later...did you delete your bookmark?
I can't believe it myself but I had to props you for this, well said sir!
Not sure if I'm the first but what about Strudy ?
I don't think he is better than Whitney, Smid, or Gilbert and quite honestly I would take Potter over him. He is not the Scott Hannan of 5 years ago. And even if we had him, I don't think we'd be much better off.
I've got the links at work, I'll pull them up Monday. How this whole mess started though was from me stating if Tambillini would add 2 - 3 decent Dmen with a few tweaks up front we might actually have a shot the playoffs. The Tambillini lovers of course come running in with the defense that their was no way that he could sign anyone without way over paying... So I showed how every year theirs a handful of vets that sign for peanuts... Which of course Hannan is .
Then you decide you've outsmarted a bunch of NHL minds, and proclaim that he's a poor player.... Changing the discussion from "if we add a handful of solid players we might have a shot" to a 6 month of whether Hannan is an NHL'er or not.
I think it would be a bad bet banking on a 27 year old with 40 NHL games. I'm thinking Hannan basically = Smid at this point.
Time for the Oilers to cash in on the insurance policy on Whitney and cut their ties beofre this story gets even more pathetic...
Outsmarted a "BUNCH" of nhl minds?
What you seem to be obviously missing is at this point in Hannan's career he is no longer pursued by all those NHL minds you speak of....how is it you continue to ignore the lack of interest in Hannan this summer?
You do get that Hannan had to take a reduced contract to sign in Calgary, right? And that it was very late in the summer, right?
You do get that he didn't have very many NHL minds knocking on his door this year, right?
The point you seem to be missing is that Hannan simply isn't that good and many of those NHL minds you speak of took a collective pass on him....this is the what you are having trouble comprehending....
Bottom line...having Hannan here would have made "ZERO" difference
Except Hannan is 32 and on the decline and Smid is 25 and having a breakout year. But other than that, sure Hannan = Smid.
I didn't say Hannan would have been a big upgrade. In fact I would take Gilbert Smid Whitney Sutton and in hindsight Potter over Hannan to start the season. That would put Hannan as #6 and to be quite honest I would still of gambled on Barker before signing Hannan. With making sure that Peckham had ice time and opportunity to develop and knowing that Tuebert was going to need to come up at some time to see his level of development I would not have signed Hannan at the beginning of the year. The bottom line is he probably wouldn't want to sign in Edmonton as a # 6 or 7 defenseman.
Would he be playing in the top 4 tonight if they did sign him? I am sure he would be. But hindsight is 20/20 and you can't carry 10 NHL ready defenseman.
I'm talking today right now, on ice ability, not future potential.
Theirs piles of guys like him every summer that price themselves out to start and then end up signing for a reduced rate late in the summer.
Watch, he'll be traded to a playoff team at the deadline and play some decent minutes for them down the stretch and into the playoffs....then you'll dream up another excuse.
I refuse to believe a top 4 on Calgary would be a 6 or 7 in Edmonton.
It's Teubert for the love of god. How hard is it to check his name before you type it wrongly but 100 times.