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Evaluating Injuries? (Capuano Conference Call Pt. 2)

April 18, 2011, 7:42 AM ET [ Comments]
Dee Karl
New York Islanders Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Monday 7 am: Lost in (my) Translation of the audio tape of the conference call was an answer by Garth Snow regarding the injuries. It was another year with a bizarre number of man games lost. It was no longer just the groin strain injuries, but also a variety of additional "lower body injuries."

Ira Podell jumped back into the conversation after I was finally able to ask my two questions. The answer to my "How will camp differ with you as head coach" must have nudged his thought process. He asked Garth Snow "OUTSIDE of injuries, what do you tihnk is the biggest obstacle facing this team in making the playoffs?" But Garth doesn't think there is anything other than the injuries.

"I think staying healthy!" And then he said something that almost made me fall off my chair. "We're in the process right now of evaluating why those injuries happen. It's going to take some time to do that evaluation, but I firmly believe that we had a team that would have been in the playoffs if we didn't sustain the injuries that we had.

Before the season even started, when we lost Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo, those are pretty tough injuries to sustain (both shoulder injuries). And then I remember the Tampa Bay game and Andrew MacDonald breaks his hand blocking a shot and shortly thereafter Milan Jurcina goes down. That's when our depth started sustaining the injuries that became more and more difficult for our team to gain wins."

Now, did Snow mean they would be evaluating the reason for the injuries by looking into their strength and conditioning routine? Because if Big Angry Man screams in my ear one more time next season "Fire the conditioning coach!" I may hit him with my media guide.

Some of the injuries, such as that to A-Mac were due to shot blocking, which is going to be looked at by a lot of teams in the leauge. However, the shoulder, knee, groin and other muscle or tendon stress injuries sustained may need "evaluation" from all aspects.

Seriously, one playful hit from Matt Moulson in a pre-season exhibition game should not have knocked an All-Star defenseman out of the line-up for a full season.

Capuano said that each team member was given instructions in their exit interviews regarding what they need to do to come to camp in September in the best shape they can. But will there be a change in personnel over the summer on their training staff? Will the entire program be revamped?

I know this has been a sticky point... What do you think?
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