Sekera to return earlier than expected?
By baggedmilk
6 years agoOne of the biggest offseason storylines for the Oilers has been about Andrej Sekera missing a chunk of next season as he recovers from surgery on a torn ACL. The expected recovery for this injury has an intial timeline of six to nine months but ol’ Reggie thinks he could be back on the earlier side which would be yuuuuuuge.
After having an up and down season in his first year with the Oilers, Andrej Sekera established himself as one of the team’s best defensive options on the blue line and one that was able to play in any situation. Sekera always seemed to find a way to calm things down/make a clean outlet pass/generally be in the right spot and it was nice not having to worry about what the hell he was doing.
Having him miss months of the season would have left a massive hole on the Oilers’ back end that would likely have to be filled with someone fighting above their weight class. That’s not to say that Nurse or Benning aren’t destined for the second pairing in time, but it may still be a little bit early in their careers to realistically expect them to succeed in those roles now.
Over at Lowetide’s site, he found an interview that Sekera did with Sport.sk where he talks about his recovery:
“I’m seven weeks after surgery. Four and a half weeks I was in Canada, then they pulled stitches and told me that I can go home. We were a moment with his girlfriend on vacation. Now I came to Banska Bystrica, test the knee. Slowly I starting to bother him. Still has a long way. Rehabilitation takes to break Križni knee ligament in six to nine months. I believe it will be only six.”
Obviously, it would be a huge win for the Oilers if Sekera’s recovery time is shorter rather than longer, and having him miss only 20 games instead of 30 or 40 could only help. That said, the Oilers will still need to weather the storm while he’s out and it’s going to take some guys stepping their game up to make sure that happens. Not to mention, Sekera will have to prove to the doctors he’s not going to reinjure himself when he returns and will also have to shake off the rust that comes with a long-term injury like this.
On the bright side, if he’s feeling as good as he claims to be, and will actually miss six months instead of nine, that will bring Sekera back into the mix sometime in November, which would be a lot better than having him out until January. Personally, I had him coming back at some point around Christmas so anything before that is a win in my books.In the meantime, I’ll keep scouring the dark web for the blood of princes, prized goat urine, or anything else I can find that we can rub on his leg in an attempt to speed up the healing process.
Gordspeed, Reggie. We’re all pulling for you.
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