Jackets’ health takes turn for better
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Michael Arace
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--> <table class="phototableright" align="right" border="0"><!-- begin large ad code --> <tbody><tr><td> <table align="center"></table> </td></tr> </tbody></table>
Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug Mac-Lean, back from scouting the World Junior Tournament yesterday morning, was whipping through his team’s injury report when he paused and wondered aloud, "Is that eight or nine? Did I miss anyone?"
It has been that kind of season, not just for groins, but for broken legs and hands and dislocated sternoclavicular joints.
But things are calming on this front. The latest breakdown is as follows:
• Goaltender Pascal Leclaire (neck) practiced yesterday. He had to be pulled in the second period of a 5-2 loss on Friday night in Detroit.
• Defenseman Adam Foote (hip) is day to day, but it doesn’t look he’s travel on the team’s next trip, which begins Thursday night in San Jose and includes three games. He has missed 10 of the past 17 games with different injuries.
• Defenseman Duvie Westcott (sternum) is day to day and might resume skating this morning. Westcott will make the trip and has missed one game.
• Defenseman Bryan Berard (back) is likely to resume skating this morning and is aiming for a return Thursday night. He has missed seven games.
• Defenseman Aaron Johnson (knee) might be cleared to skate today. He has missed four games.
• Defenseman Luke Richardson (jaw) is not yet eating. He’s going to need at least another month to recuperate. He has missed five games.
• Center Jan Hrdina (chest) went through a hard practice yesterday and is approaching 100 percent. He has missed two games.
• Left winger Alexandre Picard (concussion) is day to day. He is likely to be cleared to skate today, which is why he was reassigned to Syracuse yesterday.
• Center Manny Malhotra (sternoclavicular) has completed four weeks of no-workout dormancy. Expect his return in around two weeks.
• Center Gilbert Brule (leg) is off crutches and could be skating by the end of the week. He has missed 14 games.
That’s all for today.
Disa and data
Center Mark Hartigan was reassigned to Syracuse. . . . Westcott said he’s feeling a lot better. "Once they figured out why I was spitting up blood, everything was fine," Westcott said, explaining that some broken blood vessels were the culprit. . . . Berard is just happy to be standing up straight again. "I’ve never had a back injury before," he said. "I can deal with the pain — it’s just the stiffness that gets you. At one point, I couldn’t bend over and tie my skates." . . . The Blue Jackets still have yet to dress the same 18 skaters more than two games in a row.
