The One Injury That Would Devastate Your Team

[HoptownPred]

Nashville

Pekka Rinne.
Currently out of the lineup, & we are feeling it.

 

[trick9]

Braden Holtby goes down and Caps miss the playoffs. Could name several others that would end the season early but that's the biggest one.

 

[The Underboss]

Tavares or Halak going down would cripple Isles.

 

[Punch Drunk Loov]

If Kessel was hurt I'm not sure when we'd win a game again

 

[hermes3893*]

Tavares or Halak going down would cripple Isles.

Okposo is just as important. He has great chemistry with Tavares.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Boyd Gordon. The difficulty of his minutes is insane

Glad to hear Edmonton finds the Boyd Wonder to be so valuable.

I've been a big fan of his throughout his career.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I'm going to go with Schwartz for the Blues. We've already seen this year what a massive hole his absence leaves in our lineup.

 

[Wolfpuck]

Jordan Staal, apparently

 

[Muston Atthews]

David Clarkson obviously

 

[talkinaway]

For the Bruins, it's cliché because everyone's picking goalies, but I'm going to go with Rask. We already had injuries to BOTH Chara and Krejci. We weren't exactly looking like contenders in the standings or on the ice when they weren't there, and it took a little time to get them back to speed, and we're definitely better with them. But even without them, we didn't look like a bottom 5 team.

Plus, we had other issues at the start of the season that have partially been plugged by Pastrnak, our new prodigy. He's 18 years old, but at least so far looks VERY ready for the NHL.

Without Rask, we have Svedberg, who makes me NERVOUS. And I'm not easily made nervous by a backup goalie - we had Chad Johnson last year, and I actually wasn't scared any games he started. Our AHL backup would be Malcolm Subban, who's a big ? to me. Supposed to be good, but hasn't played an NHL game yet.

Those goalies are NOT how you build a team that's supposed to make the playoffs - at least, not yet.

 

[FrailSwan]

At this point Seguin or Klingberg.

 

[Matt4776]

Stepan. We have Talbot behind Hank. I would have ordinarily said McDonagh, but we've proven over the last few weeks we can win just fine even with him playing like absolute crap.

 

[Insomniac99]

Cody Hodgson. Definitely.

Without him, the tank would be in danger.

 

[thepuckmonster]

Losing Henrik Sedin would be the end of our season. Like last year.

 

[tim_*]

Braden Holtby goes down and Caps miss the playoffs. Could name several others that would end the season early but that's the biggest one.

I see a few people posted Ovechkin and Backstrom above Holtby. Yikes.

Holtby is the only reason the Caps are even a bubble team this year.

 

[M.C.G. 31]

Carey Price. Easily.

 

[KingTux]

1. Price
2. Subban
3. PAC
4. Pleky
5. Whatever

 

[ponder719]

Pronger

I'm glad someone said it. This one didn't just devastate the team; it screwed our lineup for years on end, since we spent so much, and so long, trying to find a bandaid large enough to stop the bleeding.

 

[These Are The Days]

Ondrej Palat and it's not even close. He carries every line he plays on because of his iron will and tenacity. Kid goes straight the corners every single shift until he wins the puck. Sometimes he comes right up with it, sometimes it takes him the whole shift. But he pitbulls the opposition until we have possession. He is creative offensively, has a decent shot and backchecks like someone has a gun to his head. He can play with anyone and make them better because he is the best player on the ice at all times. Yes that includes Stamkos. Stammer doesn't dump the puck in from the blue line, chase after it and come up with it with 2 guys hanging on his back on a regular basis. And if Ondrej doesn't have the puck he separates from the opposition making himself open for a pass that can bail out a teammate about to lose the puck. Or if given the opportunity, he doesn't pass up the chance to shoot like Teddy Purcell used to. And lastly he's always backing up the play. Either's either joined in the heart of the offensive rush or he's the guy rushing back that neutralizes the odd man rush or simply is the one who breaks it up. To his credit, Kucherov does that a lot too.

It's that willingness to get your hands dirty that has enabled his linemates Kucherov and Johnson to be the beneficiaries the best +/- ratios in the league. The TKO line is never in their defensive zone because Ondrej makes sure of it and meanwhile Johnny and Kuch usually do the scoring. Occasionally a very intelligent secondary assist from Palat gets the play started.

There is absolutely no wasted motion from Palat. He is easily the most well rounded player on our team and the kid is gonna win a Selke one day if he keeps this up. If he's not nominated this year I'd be surprised.

 

[Guy Germaine]

I know the obvious answer for the Habs is Price, but I believe Tokarski is a very competent goalie and an injury to either Pacioretty or Subban would cripple the team.

 

[Oak]

Nash with a season ending groin injury, or more seriously, Hank getting hurt.

 

[Filip Forceberg]

Already happened, but hopefully he's returning tonight.

Pekka Rinne.

 

[JS91]

I don't think there's anyone in Tampa that would be absolutely devastating to lose to injury. Hedman or Stralman going down would pretty much downgrade our defense close to the Oilers level so that could be the worst one. We have so much offensive depth that even if any of the TKO or Stamkos goes down we should be able to manage. And if Bish went down we'd still have Vasilevskiy and Gudlevskis ready to go.
So yeah, if our either one of our top pairing D-men went down it might screw us up pretty bad.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I'd go a different Direction with the Wild. We've got the Winger depth to cover a parise loss, and the rest of the top 4 after Suter is rock solid.

But we've got zero Center depth, and even though he's under performing this year, losing Koivu would kill the Wild.

 

[TheSilverSkeeter]

Blues fans mentioning Elliott and/or Schwartz aren't wrong in that losing either of those guys has a very measurable negative impact on the team. We witnessed both missing time already, and the Blues weren't the same at all.

But I've got to go with Pietrangelo.