Rambling about the mumps, scurvy, and other problems from 1850; thoughts on Andersen vs Bryzgalov and more …

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I usually take injuries in stride. No matter how serious or important in fantasy hockey or to my team, I rarely bat an eye. I’m so casual about them that sometimes I forget to even discuss them in the ramblings here. When Corey Perry missed time with the mumps, I just rolled my eyes and wondered if it was 1920. What’s next – scurvy?

So the mumps went through the Anaheim locker room and then jumped to the Wild locker room and I still wasn’t concerned. Then Crosby was to miss a couple of games “as a precaution” and I still moved on with my day. Then I saw the picture and realized – oh crap. Perry missed five games, so I guess Crosby will miss similar. I just lost seven or eight points in that league. Oh well – anyone who thought Crosby wasn’t going to miss five games this year was smoking the pipe anyway.

But then I saw the Rangers break the news last night that Derick Brassard is returning to New York with a suspected case of mumps. And for some reason, that’s what got me doing the double-take and taking this seriously. And I means seriously as a heartless fantasy owner – I’m sure those who actually have or have had the mumps were taking it quite seriously all along. Now it’s at the point where fantasy leagues are being won or lost from man games lost due to mumps. If you get your team into the top three and hang around there, with all  players on your squad avoiding mumps, that could be enough for the win.

I can’t believe teams are only now getting vaccinated for this. The Corey Perry thing should have been enough to vaccinate your entire team. To be fair, both Crosby and Brassard were vaccinated – so yes, it’s not 100% effectively but I’m also guessing it was done too late.

Anyway, if you want a player to replace Brassard, I like Kevin Hayes. J.T. Miller will also get a bump in ice time (and as you see below – he gets first dibs on the Nash line)

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Jim Rutherford’s press conference on Crosby:

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If you want more on the mumps story, this breaks it down pretty well – both from an NHL standpoint and from a health standpoint.

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I had trouble taking my eyes off of this gif. It has Gustav Nyquist on one side, Pavel Datsyuk on the other – and they’re making the same play to score the backhanded goal. Against Florida.