Moller's injury
This is a bit of a delicate subject because a) I wasn't in Ottawa for the World Juniors and b) I don't have any contacts in Sweden, but something didn't quite sit right with Oscar Moller's shoulder injury. He got hurt in a game against Russia, then came back and played two games. He returned to the Kings, had one practice, felt some discomfort and had the shoulder tested. Tests revealed the clavicle fracture, which will keep Moller out at least three weeks.
The question is, did the Swedish officials even X-ray Moller's shoulder? He wasn't around yesterday, so I couldn't ask him, but Dean Lombardi didn't seem to think so. It's an interesting question...how much do these teams/countries owe it to the NHL teams to protect players? You might remember Thomas Hickey's ankle injury last season. Hickey, up in Seattle, played through a ``high ankle sprain,'' and then the Kings found out he actually had torn ligaments. They were none too happy about that discovery.
Anyway, here's what Lombardi said yesterday about Moller's injury...
LOMBARDI: ``The injury, that sort of thing is going to happen. It could happen anywhere. The problem is, (Swedish officials) didn't x-ray it. He played through it, obviously, and if this was the end of the year, he could probably keep playing, but there's a problem with the procedure there. That's what is troubling to me about it.''
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Question:
Who pays for the imaging studies? If the price tag comes off the Sweedish Junior Team organization, and they have any sort of money problems, they will not be eager to image every injury.
Perhaps the NHL needs a representative at the Jr. Championships with the sole responsibility of insuring the proper treatment of NHL players, with the caviat that improper treatment will result in the withholding of NHL players from the National teams.
I, for one, was extremely surprised he played in the very next game. I followed the tournament a bit and thought for sure he'd be out the rest of the way forward, when he left in the middle of that game and didn't come back.
Rich,
I'd like to weigh in because I think I have a good perspective on this being a Football (euro) fan and seeing how they deal with international duty.
Part of this is my feeling that the IIHF should be doing it's job of protecting the players in it's tournaments through the officiating. I don't know if you saw much of the tournament but the boarding play on the USA defenseman Shattenkirk could have destroyed the career of a Colorado prospect. Those types of situations are going to eventually lead to dealing with compensation for players lost to injure, just as in the MOller case.
I'd hate to see players not allowed to go, but like a few years back we lost Demitra and I think another player, due to injuries sustained while in the Olympics. I believe that what has to happen is that leagues should be shutting down during international breaks. The JR. tournament is more difficult to make the argument for because not all the players are drafted, but maybe it can be ironed out somehow.
Anyway, in football players are regularly injured while on international duty, but the teams are often compensated at least financially. Often, its no consolation because certain players just can't be sufficiently compensated for monetarily in a short season where every game is so important.
The difference is, there is no post-season in euro Football and the season is much shorter, so in light of this Moller's injury isn't as "meaningful."
On the other hand it does impact the NHL teams who are paying these guys to play, that's why I believe the officiating in the International tournaments needs to be of a Professional level. I don't know why NHL officials aren't used, other than that they're concurrently working - which of course could be avoided if the League shut-down for the tourney.
Plus, the added benefit is that american hockey fans will pay much closer attention to the international tournament if the League isn't playing.
Hi Rich,
I've done an extensive search through all the swedish news media and nothing reveals any indication to that an x-ray was performed on Oscar Möller. The swedish team doctor simply said that they began treatment to his shoulder immediately and that the injury was a reocurring shoulder injury. Oscar Möller was qouted saying he have had problems with this shoulder before in the same area.
This opens up another can of worms; was he released to play with a hidden injury? If so, how long has he had it?
Please ask him next time you talk wth him.
In either case I think it was unresponsible by the swedish team doctor not to request an x-ray.
Thanks