Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter has a broken right ankle that will require surgery and end his season Authentic Ronald Jones II Jersey , right before the start of the playoffs.
The Wild announced the diagnosis on Monday before they beat Edmonton 3-0, when Suter’s streak of 242 consecutive regular-season games ended. That’s the third-longest in franchise history.
”Sure it is a blow, but it’s a chance for other people to step up and for leaders to take the team on their back and show you can play through adversity,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”The greatest feeling of success is when people say you can’t do something and you do it. So that’s where we’re at.”
Suter was hurt on Saturday at Dallas when he crashed leg-first into the end wall and needed help off the ice, and according to his teammates he was downcast on the bus afterward. An MRI on Monday confirmed the fear that an operation would be needed to fix the fracture.
”That’s tough news, but that’s where we’re at,” left wing Zach Parise said before the game. ”We’re all going to have to play better, and we’re going to have to play simple and smart and all get together and see what we can do.”
Suter already set a career high this season with 45 assists, which also beat his own franchise record for defensemen. Almost half of those assists came on a power play. Suter is also second in the NHL with an average ice time per game of 26:46. No player in the league has been on the ice more since 2012, when Suter and Parise signed matching 13-year, $98 million contracts with Minnesota.
The 2014-15 season was the only other one out of six with the Wild during which Suter didn’t play a full schedule, but those absences weren’t even due to injury. He missed two games with the mumps virus, served a two-game suspension for elbowing and sat out the finale to rest for the playoffs.
”He brings a lot of calm and poise back there, and he moves the puck well,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. ”That’s one thing that makes a great defenseman, moving pucks out of the zone Authentic Malik Jefferson Jersey , putting pucks in the forwards’ hands, and it’s going to be important for our guys to continue to do that.”
The Wild are also currently missing Jared Spurgeon, their second-best defenseman, because of a partially torn hamstring. He skated on Monday for the third straight day, though, and Boudreau said he’ll be ready for the playoffs. Against the Oilers, Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba formed an under-25 first pair, rookie Nick Seeler played with Ryan Murphy and Carson Soucy made his NHL debut next to Nate Prosser. Gustav Oloffson is also out, missing his second straight game with an upper body injury. The Wild were plenty confident in the ability of Brodin and Dumba to elevate their performance with the higher profile and increased responsibility.
”That’s a one-two defenseman on almost any team in the league the way they’ve played this year,” Dubnyk said.
The Wild have played without several of their best performers for long stretches this season, and two years ago they entered the playoffs without Parise, who was bothered by a back injury. So while Suter’s absence is unmistakable, playing without key players is nothing new to them or any of their opponents for that matter.
”When you compete, things happen like this, and they happen because you compete,” Boudreau said. ”It’s the nature of the beast Josey Jewell Color Rush Jersey , and we’ll just move on.”
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That's a catch.
Mention the names Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Zach Miller and Jesse James , and what looked, sounded and felt like a catch wasn't one. If NFL owners pass a proposal from the powerful competition committee, those will be receptions in the future.
According to committee chairman Rich McKay and league officiating director Al Riveron, it's time.
"We want to take these great catches and make them into catches," Riveron said Monday at the NFL meetings, where the owners likely will vote Tuesday on the adjustments to the catch rule.
Such phrases as "slight movement of the ball" and "surviving the ground" will disappear, and fans, players and coaches will get the fulfilment of knowing what they were sure was a reception actually is.
The committee looked at dozens of plays dozens of times. They discovered that the previous attempts to clarify what is a catch only confused the issue. So much so that the language of the rules was getting in the way of making the proper call.
"Every time, we tried to add language to cure a situation," said McKay, president of the Atlanta Falcons "and that did not serve us well.
"We felt like the word slight was getting people caught up. It's really loss of control. If you lose control of the ball, then you haven't satisfied (the process). If you have movement of the ball but haven't lost control of it, then you still have it."
Added Riveron: "If we see total loss of control Bengals Cheap Jerseys , that's the way we're going to rule it. But we understand there are situations where the ball is going to move. We have to see loss of control."
McKay pointed to touchdown receptions by Alshon Jeffery and Corey Clement in the Super Bowl. In both cases, the ball moved a bit in the receiver's hands. In both cases, though, on-field officials, then Riveron handling the video review, determined there was possession throughout.
"Those are catches," he said, noting that under current language in the rules, "the ground trumped everything. It didn't make a lot of sense."
The committee examined plays back to the 1990s and early 2000s, including a pass to the Jets' Wayne Chrebet in which McKay said the film was "so grainy you could barely make it out." He mentioned Bert Emanuel's non-reception in the 1999 NFC title game when the tip of the ball touched the ground even though Emanuel had it in his clutches.
The major emphasis on re-examining the rule stems from Bryant's non-catch in a playoff game at Green Bay. Reconstructing that play through video, Riveron explained how the proposed change will seize logic 鈥?in other words, make what should have been a catch into a real catch.
"I think the Dez Bryant was the start of us realizing something needs to change," McKay said.
Each year, there have been similar examples that made everyone from the guys throwing the ball to the coaches on the sideline to the fans in the stands and on their mobile devices wondering what was going on. When James' apparent winning touchdown reception against New England was overturned even though the Steelers tight end made a football move to extend the ball over the goal line, it prompted Commissioner Roger Goodell to forcefully endorse seeking adjustments to the rule.
The competition committee heeded such instructions.
So, a receiver must:
鈥攈ave control of the ball;
鈥攇et two feet down or another body part;
鈥攎ake a football move: taking a third step or extending the ball or something similar.
Gone Cody Allen Jersey , Riveron emphatically said, is surviving the ground.
"That's out," he said. "No mas."
There will, however, be more emphasis on the on-field officiating calls. McKay reminded that game officials overwhelmingly get the calls correct at full speed.
"The rule is a lot cleaner, so the answer is yes," Riveron said, adding that game officials were consulted as the committee worked on the language of the proposal.
Of course, with more catches, there could be more fumbles as receivers try to extend plays and get extra yardage. Riveron has no problem with that.
"If we end up with 10 more fumbles but five of the most exciting plays of the year," McKay said, "it's a trade we'd make any day."
Notes: No proposals were made nor votes taken regarding the national anthem before games. The owners did focus on implementing the social justice platform with the players and unanimously approved a local matching funds program. Each of the teams will match fundraising proceeds of the players and teams and its players will work together to determine where to allocate the funds in a local market. The anthem discussions will resume and be a main focus of May's meeting in Atlanta.
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