Life without Wiz
Given James Wisniewski's style of play, it's no surprise that he's back on injured reserve.
"The way he blocks shots - it's freak too," Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "The one the other night, he's laying down and got hit laying down. He does play hard."
Fortunately Wisniewski's latest injury, a sprained shoulder aggravated Saturday in Philadelphia, isn't that serious. Coach Randy Carlyle said Tuesday that Wisniewski will resume skating "probably toward the end of the week."
It's a good time to be hurt if ever there were one. The Ducks will play just one game in five days this week, tomorrow against the Minnesota Wild.
It's the second time Wisniewski has been sidelined since joining the Ducks in a deadline-day trade last season. The other -- a bruised lung he suffered in the playoffs when he was struck in the chest with a Pavel Datysuk shot -- kept him out of just one game.
Whitney suggested that the number of injuries Wisniewski has played through greatly exceeds the number he hasn't.
"You see him with a lot of issues here and there," Whitney said. "He's battled through a lot of injuries in his career. It's pretty impressive, the adversity he's gone through, and still be a good player."
That seemed to be a concern over the summer when the Ducks were considering renewing Wisniewski's contract. The 25-year-old was headed for arbitration before agreeing to a one-year, $2.75 million contract in July. Among the reasons against him signing a longer-term deal, Wisniewski said at the time, was that the Ducks "want me to play a full season of injury-free hockey."
His latest injury, though perhaps not serious, means the Ducks and Wisniewski will have to wait another season for that to happen.
Meanwhile, for a young Ducks defense, it means more minutes all around until Wisniewski returns. He was tied for second on the team in scoring, with four assists in four games, and third in minutes per game (25:15) at the time of the injury.
"The people that are left are going to have shore up some of those minutes, and try and distribute them evenly through the rest of our group," Carlyle said. "It's not an easy task. We've got some youth in (Brendan) Mikkelson and (Luca) Sbisa, and with Whitney, (Steve) Eminger, (Nick) Boynton, (Sheldon) Brookbank - those are the guys that are going to have to bear some more responsibility."
About J.P.
J.P. Hoornstra has been covering the Anaheim Ducks since 2007. Eight months after the University of Wisconsin won its third NCAA hockey championship, he was born in a frigid Madison winter. He betrayed his blue-blooded beginnings by graduating from UCLA in 2003, and welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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