As we mentioned this morning, Goaltender Gustaf Wesslau had arthroscopic surgery on Thursday due to knee pain and stiffness, which the Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline is reporting was caused by a loose piece of cartilege. Wesslau will miss 4-6 weeks while the injury heals. This type of surgery is minimally invasive, and according to Washington University’s Sports Medicine Center, if properly treated and rehabbed there should be no loss of function or degenerative effects for a player his age.
All things considered, this isn’t bad at all. If I had to guess, expect for Daren Machesney to back up Leveneu in Springfield until Wesslau is healthy, probably on a contract with Springfield, rather than a 2 way deal. The Falcons start their season the same weekend the Jackets kick the year off in Sweden, so it’s even possible (if extremely unlikely) that Wesslau COULD be ready go to by then if he has a speedy recovery. All things considered, though, I think we’ll probably see him take the ice some time in early November.
Your week in links, after the jump.
With the first on-ice workouts of training camp tomorrow, we went through a short series on the likely battles for jobs on the fourth line, the blue line, and the top six. We also posted an overall season preview, covered both the team’s alumni night plans and ticket renewal issues, took part in 5 burning questions about the Jackets over at SBNation.com, and offered some thoughts as part of From The Rink’s central division preview. We also participated in a Central Division round table that will be posted Saturday over at Pro Hockey Talk. Hopefully these people have not learned their lesson and will invite us to come talk again. 🙂
Meanwhile, En4cer45 posted a wrap-up of the Traverse City tournament for the CBJ, Dark Blue Jacket finished his fantastic Time to Step Up series of articles (and if you haven’t read them, go now!), and The Green Seat View continues their CBJ Fortune Cookies series.
Over at Light The Lamp, he’s considering if he wants to Buy, Sell, or Panic, while Full Mental Jackets’ writer Greg May produces another look at Arniel’s coaching approach for The Fourth Period.
Last but not least in CBJ-centric blogging, Jeff Little is killing it over at The Hockey Writers with a “zone based” preview of the team and a great series on Hockey and the Media (both “main stream” and emerging) that’s getting quite a bit of high profile attention.
In wider NHL news, the Ranger’s third jersey was leaked by George McFly – er – Sean Avery, Puck Daddy has a lot of questions about Guy Boucher’s new system down in Tampa, Pat Burns proudly declares he’s not dead, and he’s “far ****ing from it”, InGoal Magazine is posting awesome pictures of new goalie masks for the 2010-2011 season, and the Canadiens aren’t French enough for what seems like the umpteenth time since Patrick Roy went to Colorado.
(And, in all seriousness, our best to Pat and his family. Pat is a coaching hero, and your battle against cancer has been legendary. Our hats are off to you.)
That’s it for this weekend – see everyone at Training Camp tomorrow!
(Bruce Boudreau hitting a pinata? Bruce Boudreau hitting a Pinata.)
