Concussions have been a real problem in the NHL over the last few seasons, and unfortunately that trend has already showed signs of continuing in the 2011-12 season.
The St. Louis Blues, a team that was hit hard by the injury bug last year, is feeling the effects of it once again when they received word that forward Andy McDonald suffered a head injury at the end of the second period of Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.
McDonald threw a puck towards the Stars‘ goal at the second-period horn, which ultimately resulted in a scrum with several players involved, including McDonald. He initially was bumped from behind by teammate Nikita Nikitin before teammate David Backes caught McDonald with a shot to the chin while trying to defend McDonald from the Stars’ Adam Burish.
Although McDonald returned to play in the third period of the Stars game, he is being sent back to St. Louis for further evaluation while the team finishes the rest of their four-game road trip, which continues Saturday in San Jose, followed by games in Anaheim on Sunday and Los Angeles on Tuesday.
McDonald missed 24 games last season with a concussion suffered Dec. 4 in Edmonton.
Over in Long Island, Islanders fans are dealing with a similar and all-too familiar situation: seeing Rick DiPietro’s name on the injured reserved list.
The chronically injured netminder just can’t seem to catch a break, as he suffered a concussion Wednesday when he was hit in the mask by a puck during practice.
Realistically, this could very well be the end of DiPietro’s career. He has played just 39 games the last three seasons due to an assortment of injuries.
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