Poor Staalsy!!

What absolutely rotten luck! Poor Jordan Staal has been on the injured reserve list since the start of the season because of an infection in his foot that occurred as a result of an injury he sustained in the playoffs last year, after a tendon in his toe was severed due to an accidental stomp (for lack of a better word) from PK Subban's skate. It ended his streak of 358 consecutive games played. He had to get emergency surgery on the foot and actually was able to return to the playoffs but an infection set in over the summer and delayed his return this season.

He had just returned to practice within the last few weeks and the team gave every indication that he would return to the lineup for this Wednesday's game against the Dallas Stars. Staalsy was such a cutie too - he was so excited about being able to play again (he said that, on a scale of 1 to 10, he was an "11" in terms of excitement) and told reporters of this excitement. Reporters also commented on how his return would bring another key element to team leadership.

Well, the poor guy will have to wait up to another 6 weeks for that excitement and the team will have to wait for that leadership. In practice today, Staal left the ice about 45 minutes earlier than the rest of the players and Coach Dan Bylsma told reporters it was an upper body injury and he was being evaluated by doctors.

Ray Shero later revealed the devestating news - a wayward puck had fractured Staal's hand and he is going to be handing orthopedic surgery tomorrow to repair the damage, with the estimated time of recovery (i.e. how long he will have to miss) being 6 more weeks.

I feel so bad for the guy. He is such a great player and clearly just wants to get back onto the ice. Players always say the worst part about an injury is having to sit on the sidelines and watch, feeling helpless - especially when the team is losing. Jordan had to do that for the whole month of October and just as he was getting all keyed up about returning, his hopes were dashed by that puck.

Here is hoping to a miraculously short recovery time needed - we are all thinking of you Staalsy!!