After Kristian Huselius injured himself, I reached out to Jo Innes of the "Puck That Hurts!" blog to take a look at the injury from a medical standpoint. Please take a look and give her site a visit - it's a great resource! -Matt

I have to admit I don't follow the Blue Jackets. I do follow hockey injuries, however, and when I got an email to the effect of "Hey, Huselius blew out a pec" from Matt at The Cannon, this post practically wrote itself. A pectoral tear is a pretty intense injury, and unfortunately it's one that takes a long time to rehab. Here's a look at the injury, the treatment, and what's ahead for Huselius.

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Because medical school doesn't occupy enough of my time, I've been blogging over at Puck, That Hurts! about the medical aspects of hockey.  Last Tuesday's announcement that Daniel Alfredsson would be undergoing back surgery can only mean one thing: It's time for Silver Seven and Puck, That Hurts! to collide.

Time heals all wounds.  Actually, it's time, physical therapy, medication, possibly surgery, and not pushing yourself for no reason.

In a show of truly spectacular self-defeatism, talented hockey players will often push themselves to come back before their body is ready. How often do we hear about someone "Playing through it"? And why are some injuries somehow more acceptable to play through than others? Nobody would expect a player to suit up after an eye injury or a giant laceration (Clint Malarchuk, anyone?), but this year we saw player after player limping through the playoffs on injuries that should have had them out for the duration. Was Dany Heatley really contributing more by playing with a broken hand and a high ankle sprain than he would have by packing it in for the season? Was that one point in the Western Conference finals worth the pain? If you asked him he'd probably say yes. How about Steven Stamkos – he hurt his shoulder in the Pittsburgh series, and played through to the Eastern Conference Finals where he tallied seven points. So absent of my sneaking suspicion that Stamkos is basically infinitely better than Heatley (sorry, Sharks fans), for him it probably was worth it.

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Everyone in Ottawa loves to hate Dany Heatley, and after this season there's been no small amount of grumbling about Jason Spezza.  Heatley didn't show up for the playoffs this year, and some say Spezza didn't show up for this season.  I wondered how the two matched up in the postseason.  Here's what I came up with, and remember:  I'm no Ryan Classic...

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