What is with all the injuries?

Seriously the guys have been dropping faster than a classroom full snotty-nosed kids with H1N1.

What is going on this season?

And it's not just a bunch of fourth-line guys taking a few nights off after breaking their first on someone's face.

This is top line guys. And a lot of them are on IR, and "out indefinitely".

Evgeni Malkin, Marc Savard, Milan Lucic, Jonathan Toews, Jason Spezza, Sergei Gonchar, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne, Eric Staal, Andrei Markov, Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, Marion Hossa....

Just take a look at the injury report. You have to scroll down forever. It's ridiculous. The only team that hasn't been touched by injuries are the Calgary Flames. Then there's teams like, the Vancouver Canucks or Colorado Avalanche who have SEVEN guys out.

Not including the healthy Calgary Flames, the other 29 teams have an average of 3.5 guys sitting out.

How are these guys getting injured? Has something changed in the way guys are playing? Did they not do enough in off-season? Is this just fluke? Was it this bad last year and I'm just high on Clif bars and energy drinks? Are the injury gods punishing the NHL for being dummies about the Phoenix Coyotes and the 2014 Olympics?

Someone sacrifice Sean Avery to the Hockey Gods so we can get an answer.

Injury Gods no likey Savard

I am working on a post about crazy old Bob Sirois. Lots of numbers, should be up later today.

But in the meantime:

Bruins lose Savard to broken foot

Injuries continue to ravage the Boston Bruins as center Marc Savard joins winger Lilan Lucic on the sidelines.

Savard suffered a broken left foot and is expected to miss up to six weeks. He has been placed on the long term injured reserve list.

I've been one of the people who thinks Savard is highly underrated. And that he should be in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics. However, he didn't get an invite to the summer evaluation camp, and those in support of Savard on Team Canada had to hope he would play an amazing first half of the season to earn a spot on the team in lieu of a player who is not producing (there are many).

Out for 6 weeks. That pretty much ends the Savard Olympic team dream.

Canadiens lose their quarterbacks.

oh. dear. lord. they're doomed.

over-reaction?

The defence corps for the Montreal Canadiens took a major hit Monday, as TSN learned that the Habs will be without leading scorer Andrei Markov for three weeks and Mathieu Schneider's season is over.

no. I don't think so.

Schneider made the powerplay go.

Markov has 64 points this season. Second amongst defenseman in the league.

He might live in Colorado...

... but he's definitely Canadian.

Who injures themselves with a snowblower?

DENVER - An accident with a snowblower will sideline Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic until March.
Sakic underwent surgery to repair three broken fingers and tendon damage Tuesday night and is expected to miss three months.
The NHL team said the injury happened at his house Tuesday afternoon.
The 39-year-old forward was already sidelined by treatment for a herniated disc in his back.
There were hopes he would be ready to play again in January. Sakic will continue to receive treatment on his back while he recovers.

Injury Gods.

The other day I was kidding when I said that I thought the guys appeared to have taken the summer off judging by the number of groin pulls that were showing up in locker rooms.

But now i'm serious.

Check out the Montreal Canadiens locker room and you'll see ten veterans suffering from minor injuries. Because alot is a lot i'm going to give you it in list form:

foot
Saku Koivu

hand (on someone's face in a fight)
Steve Begin

sore hip
Guillaume Latendresse
Robert Lang
Alex Tanguay

Groin
Christopher Higgins
Roman Hamrlik
Georges Laraque
Patrice Brisebois
Alex Kovalev

From the Canadian Press,

"Carbonneau is loathe to pick a single reason for the run of ailments, although he said bad luck certainly played a part. Most of the players had been skating on their own or in groups at least two or three weeks before training camp began.

There is also the soft or substandard ice on some of the rinks teams have practised and played on in the pre-season."