Speculation: Why do the Pens lead the man games lost almost every year?

[Rocket of Russia]

Has to be trainers/doctors.

We have an even worse injury track record than the Flyers did back when they had the putrid Jim McCrossin as their trainer...

Isn't McCrossin still their trainer?

How does one "work on" improving the condition of the ice? I'd be curious as to what their present game plan is, seeing as how apparently it wasn't a top priority when they dropped a couple hundred million on a new building.

The ice really is inexcusably bad. I wonder if it actually helps the Pens' PK percentages when teams come into CEC and find themselves unable to make a standard tape-to-tape pass. Meanwhile our guys know to expect that kind of garbage. PPGA at home of 3 vs. away of 9 would seem to suggest so, although that's hardly conclusive.

 

[Shady Machine]

Martin? I think he fell awkwardly as well, I remember seeing a clip of it on TV and almost facepalming. I'm not 100% on that, though.

Yeah I didn't see the play. I just remember some posters saying he broke his leg from blocking a shot. That's damn near impossible with well fitted, modern day shin guards.

 

[KIRK]

Soffest team in hockey

 

[Ogrezilla]

I picked the popup one because its the only non-answer, and I think the real answer is dumb luck. For some reason bad luck isn't an option even though its the most obvious answer.

To get any other answer, we will need someone to compile a list of injuries and their causes. If we want to test something like lower body injuries caused by our ice, we also need to get a list of other teams' players that got hurt in our building.

 

[Freeptop]

This is true. I still don't get how one breaks their leg from blocking a shot.

Step 1: Take 5.5-6.0 oz of vulcanized rubber and form it into a disc that is 1" thick and 3" in diameter.
Step 2: Freeze said disc.
Step 3: Launch said disc at a speed of somewhere between 85-100mph.
Step 4: Stop said disc using an unprotected limb.

Converting to metric to make the math easier, call it rougly 160 grams and 40 meters per second. The deceleration of the puck is going to be 40 to 0 in a fraction of a second. To make the math easy, let's call it 1/10 of a second, so the acceleration applied to the puck is 400 m/s^s. Force is mass times acceleration, so we multiply 0.160 kilograms by 400 m/s^2 to get a force of 64 Newtons. That's roughly 14 pounds of force. According to this link: http://www.ask.com/question/how-much-force-to-break-a-bone
It takes 9 pounds of force to break a bone. So, yeah, plenty of force to spare.

I'm being conservative by giving a full tenth of a second on the deceleration, and less time there would mean a faster acceleration, and thus, more force. Also, that 40 m/s is roughly 90mph, so if the puck was moving faster, that would also mean more force imparted on impact.

Granted, I was using a lot of back-of-the-envelope estimation here for the acceleration, but this shows that it certainly is well within the realm of plausibility.

Science!

Yeah I didn't see the play. I just remember some posters saying he broke his leg from blocking a shot. That's damn near impossible with well fitted, modern day shin guards.

You're assuming said player is wearing shin guards. And the Flames already discovered they can't mandate any protection equipment for their players that isn't already mandated by the League (they tried to mandate shot blockers earlier this season after losing a bunch of players to foot injuries. They got smacked down very quickly).

 

[Shady Machine]

I'm not sure if the above post is a joke, but every player wears shin guards. Unless you think shinguards are some "add on" piece of equipment. In that case, you are incorrect.

Impressive scientific knowledge though.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Step 1: Take 5.5-6.0 oz of vulcanized rubber and form it into a disc that is 1" thick and 3" in diameter.
Step 2: Freeze said disc.
Step 3: Launch said disc at a speed of somewhere between 85-100mph.
Step 4: Stop said disc using an unprotected limb.

Converting to metric to make the math easier, call it rougly 160 grams and 40 meters per second. The deceleration of the puck is going to be 40 to 0 in a fraction of a second. To make the math easy, let's call it 1/10 of a second, so the acceleration applied to the puck is 400 m/s^s. Force is mass times acceleration, so we multiply 0.160 kilograms by 400 m/s^2 to get a force of 64 Newtons. That's roughly 14 pounds of force. According to this link: http://www.ask.com/question/how-much-force-to-break-a-bone
It takes 9 pounds of force to break a bone. So, yeah, plenty of force to spare.

I'm being conservative by giving a full tenth of a second on the deceleration, and less time there would mean a faster acceleration, and thus, more force. Also, that 40 m/s is roughly 90mph, so if the puck was moving faster, that would also mean more force imparted on impact.

Granted, I was using a lot of back-of-the-envelope estimation here for the acceleration, but this shows that it certainly is well within the realm of plausibility.

Science!

Who knew Bill Nye was a poster on this board... I'm impressed though, mainly because I'm still trying to figure out the Mass times Acceleration thing.

 

[SomeDude]

The only injury this year that I can think of that probably could and should have been prevented was Neal in game 1. There's really no need to push an injury for the first game of 82, other than that it's pretty much been all "bad luck" stuff. Same goes for the last 4 or 5 years. I can't recall any injuries that weren't from a hit or puck, which you cannot prevent. Kunitz and Orpik both had nagging hernia issues in the past, but that's pretty common in hockey. There's really nobody to blame.

 

[WayneSid9987]

Theres obviously some bad luck: Sid's shattered jaw, then i'd factor in that teams generally play the Pens tougher than most other teams.

Torts was right that this team can be arrogant at times and who doesn't wanna punish that arrogant "jock" on the opposing team.

 

[Duffy13]

Seems coincidental that we've suffered A LOT of injuries around the time HCDB arrived... I'm voting "system" without doing ANY research to back up that comment at all. lol

 

[Darth Vitale]

Dan Bylsma Ice Hockey... shift after shift, wave after wave... triage after triage. Consider also that the staff is part of "Dan Bylsma hockey" most likely.

I think while they put a premium on fitness and strength, they may not put a premium on flexibility and durability. Fire Kades ™.

Seriously though some of it is just bad luck....

 

[Freeptop]

Seems coincidental that we've suffered A LOT of injuries around the time HCDB arrived... I'm voting "system" without doing ANY research to back up that comment at all. lol

It would be rather coincidental, if that was at all accurate. The Pens suffered plenty of injuries under Therrien, or am I the only one who remembers "the year of the high ankle sprain"? For those who don't remember, both Fleury and Crosby suffered from high ankle sprains that season - Fleury's being the whole reason that Ty Conklin became a folk hero. That was for the 07/08 season.

Crosby also didn't play in the 2009 All-Star Game due to injury... and that took place before Therrien was fired.

If anything, it's the players' willingness to go into the hard areas of the ice, whether it's blocking a shot, going to the net, or battling along the boards that makes them vulnerable to injuries. It's also a large chunk of what makes them one of the top teams in the League. One could argue then, that the system is to blame in a way - but if they weren't doing those things, the team would be labeled soft, and rightly so. They also wouldn't be nearly as successful.

 

[aSockalypse]

HEH HEH! We need some gas honey!

 

[Freeptop]

I'm not sure if the above post is a joke, but every player wears shin guards. Unless you think shinguards are some "add on" piece of equipment. In that case, you are incorrect.

Impressive scientific knowledge though.

Shin guards don't protect the entire leg, so a shot taken to an unprotected area (such as to the gap between the skate and the shin guard) can still do damage. Shin guards are why players don't go down to injury on every shot block. When they hit just the wrong spot, though, that's when there's trouble.

As for the scientific knowledge being impressive - not really. I didn't do a single thing that wasn't straight out of basic high-school physics. F=ma is literally one of the most basic pieces of scientific knowledge.

I'm sorry your education was so shoddy!

 

[metalan2]

It's honestly because we collectively expect our players to get injured like this every year. We, as a group influence this. I honestly believe that is what it is.

 

[66-30-33]

Was not this bad before Bylsma. Not saying he's doing this but he has some type of voodoo hex on this team.

 

[Lamar Latrell]

Part of it might be that the Pens are especially cautious in returning guys to the lineup. They haven't had to fight too hard to make the playoffs the last few years so maybe they are less likely/prone to rush players back.