As a part of our family, Jim Lang has been in front and behind the mic on both radio and television. He's been a writer and muser- and the HQ is happy to say that we're adding his thoughts and excellent penmanship to our ranks- as long as he will have us...
Here's his latest work... and you can catch up with his previous work at jimlangblog.com
But we'll be adding his new stuff here as well...
A special stick tap to Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun for tipping me off to a really cool sports website, http://www.mangameslost.com.
On the site you can keep track of all of the man games lost due to injury on any team in all four major North American pro sports leagues and all of the top soccer leagues around the world.
Maple Leafs fans are too well aware of the rate of attrition that is going on right now in the NHL. With injuries to Dave Bolland and Tyler Bozak the Leafs are woefully thin at centre.
But the Leafs are 10-5 and they will get no sympathy from others teams around the league, especially the 4-10 and 2 Oilers.
As of November 3rd the Oilers were at the top of the list with a whopping 87 man games lost to injury. In comparison the Leafs have lost 44 man games to injuries while the Flames have only lost 33 man games.
Are injuries an excuse for losing? No they are not.
Injuries are a fact of life in professional sports. No team in any sport will go through a season without experiencing some kind of injury to a key player. How that team deals with it speaks volumes of the depth of the respective organization and the character within their dressing room.
A case in point is the Anaheim Ducks. As of November 3rd the Ducks had lost 71 man games to injury. The Ducks are also one of the best teams in the Western Conference. That is a testament to the job Ducks General Manager Bob Murray has done stocking the organization with depth at all levels.
In total the Leafs currently list three players on the Injured Reserve. The Ducks have five players listed, the Oilers have six. (Dallas Eakins can’t buy a break this year. Poor guy.)
The Leafs did receive some good news Wednesday with the report that defenceman Mark Fraser is finally ready to return the line-up. Whether or not he is in the line-up for Friday’s game against the Devils remains to be seen. But at least some help is on the way.
I found it interesting that in the 2010/11 season the Canucks were sixth in the NHL with 360 man games lost to injury. Despite this they still made it all the way to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final.
So I encourage you to spend a little time and check out the website. Any hockey fan who loves the excellent site capgeek.com will enjoy mangameslost.com as well.
See...???
We told you he was good...
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