While doing a morning check up of everything Swede within the Senators’ system, I noticed these two tweets from Joy Lindsay:
Zibanejad will NOT play for #BSens — tonight or tomorrow. He will travel to Wilkes-Barre tonight and watch both games this weekend. #Sens — Joy Lindsay (@PSBJoyOnTheSens) April 13, 2012
And…
Does not seem Zibanejad is injured, just worn down after a long season. #BSens would use him if he was 100 percent, but he’s not. #Sens — Joy Lindsay (@PSBJoyOnTheSens) April 13, 2012
Ugh. In consideration of what Assistant GM Tim Murray was saying in an interview on the Team 1200‘s Healthy Scratches program, something doesn’t pass the smell test.
The plan is, (Mika’s) going to go down there (to Binghamton) to play in the two games this weekend. Randy Lee is going to go down to watch. I’ve asked Jimmy Clark and Rob Murphy, our two pro scouts, to go down and watch. And not to go down and see if he can score, I want to see his energy level. I want to see if he’s active. I want to see if he forechecks. I want to see if he plays at the same pace that he played here in earlier in the year and that he played at the world juniors at. For the most part, he was sick a long time over there. He had a cold and something else that he couldn’t kind of shake. He’s lost some weight. He was concussed. So if we are legitimately thinking about putting him in down the road here, you know that anything can happen here – injuries; somebody’s not going. I find when you add someone to the lineup, you want to add energy, you want to add jump, you want to add somebody who can help you. Certainly, in his case, when you’re burning a year (of his ELC), which really doesn’t bother me at all, we’re not going to get into the CBA aspects here but the burning the year thing for me doesn’t mean anything. He’s a top end player who’s going to get his money. He’s going to get his term here down the road. I don’t think it really matters that he’s one year closer to arbitration rights, that’s not the point. In saying that, it is a big decision and you want to be sure that he does bring you that jump, that life and that energy and anything after that is a bonus. So they’re going to keep a close eye on him down there and see where he’s at from a physical standpoint.
According to the Ottawa Sun‘s Bruce Garrioch:
GM Bryan Murray says Mika Zibanejad may have a concussion after a collision in practice. #Sens — Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 13, 2012
Fantastic. If true, this would be Zibanejad’s second concussion since suffering one in a game on January 25th. For what it’s worth, he returned to play in the Eliteserien on February 7th. From an organizational standpoint, it has to be concerning for the organization that one of their best young prospects has been susceptible to such an injury.
Thanks to these unfortunate circumstances, I cannot envision any scenario in which the Senators insert Zibanejad into the lineup and burn the first year of his entry level contract. If there’s a silver lining to this, it’s that Jakob Silfverberg’s Brynas team is already up two games to none in their Eliteserien Championship series and should Brynas sweep, Silfverberg could realistically be expected to join the Senators in time for game four of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Other News of Pithy Importance:
– Every beat writer is reporting that Paul MacLean is toying with the idea of reuniting Daniel Alfredsson with Jason Spezza for game two of the series. Personally, I dislike the idea. I feel like it makes Ottawa’s offense far too one-dimensional and easier to match up against.
– Thanks to reader @friedlj for keeping tally of the number of times that HNIC’s Bob Cole confuses Sergei Gonchar with Karlsson (and vice versa). In the first game of the series, Cole mis-identified the players five times — three times in the first, zero in the second and once in the third. Sens fans miss Dean Brown. And while I’m on the topic of Toronto crap being shoved down our throats, Glenn Healy’s ill-bred schtick has already worn thin.
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