... Injuries to the right of me, injuries to the left of me,... Just another day in the lives of our New York Islanders. As a fan, I am forced to ask myself if the team is just unlucky when it comes to the old injury bug, especially to its defensive corps, or is there something more to this. How can this team’s defence continually get decimated time and time again by injuries? With tonight’s match-up versus the dreaded Rangers looming, the team is faced with the possibility of playing without Witt, Martinek, Sutton and now Meyer.
As much as I am a huge fan of Witt, I must admit that on a top team, he is not a 1/2 guy but a 3/4 guy, when it comes to minutes played. Martinek talent wise on a contending team is at best a 4/5 guy and would not be getting top 2 minutes. Players such as Gervais, Meyer would be a 7 defenseman on a good team at best, if not relegated to the rafters on a nightly basis…etc…
My point through all this is as follows: Are the Islanders overextending these guys and is this resulting in a ridiculous amount of injuries to their top 7 defensemen. If a guy should be playing 10-15 minutes per game and is playing 20 minutes +, he is tired, overextended and often will lead to him being put into situations that he cannot compensate for. A player playing in a role over and above his abilities will be continuously put in situations where there is an increased likelihood of injuries, caused by a lack of ability to adjust due to a diminished skill set.
Am I wrong in my supposition, maybe, but these questions needed to be asked, and explored?
As much as I am a huge fan of Witt, I must admit that on a top team, he is not a 1/2 guy but a 3/4 guy, when it comes to minutes played. Martinek talent wise on a contending team is at best a 4/5 guy and would not be getting top 2 minutes. Players such as Gervais, Meyer would be a 7 defenseman on a good team at best, if not relegated to the rafters on a nightly basis…etc…
My point through all this is as follows: Are the Islanders overextending these guys and is this resulting in a ridiculous amount of injuries to their top 7 defensemen. If a guy should be playing 10-15 minutes per game and is playing 20 minutes +, he is tired, overextended and often will lead to him being put into situations that he cannot compensate for. A player playing in a role over and above his abilities will be continuously put in situations where there is an increased likelihood of injuries, caused by a lack of ability to adjust due to a diminished skill set.
Am I wrong in my supposition, maybe, but these questions needed to be asked, and explored?
As we are now in 15th place after 7 games, the season will only get more and more stressful as it plays out, I can only hope, the team learns to overcome the injury bug, once and for all...
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