Injuries, John Ferguson was saying the other day, change everything.
So they have, only not in the way the Toronto Maple Leafs' general manager was thinking. At the time, he was discussing his defence, where the top six jobs are pretty much out of reach for the two or three hopefuls in training camp.
Then, Kyle Wellwood, who was packed off to a doctor for another look at his sports hernia problem, which will not go away, turned out to need surgery. The Leafs insist the operation was minor, and that in a best-case scenario Wellwood will return in three to four weeks, although he officially is listed as being out indefinitely.
Of course, we all know, given the Maple Leafs' long history of honesty concerning injuries, that Wellwood will be back at centre by mid-October. As a sawbones of our acquaintance said, "There is no such thing as minor surgery, only minor surgeons."
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In the meantime, however, Wellwood's absence peels back the razor-thin veneer of Leafs optimism to show the NHL team's lack of depth up the middle. Forget the happy talk about soldiering on with the likes of Chad Kilger, for example.
Kilger is a good, honest hockey player, but no one can mistake him for a second-line centre - especially since he hasn't played the position in years.
Darcy Tucker, another candidate mentioned by head coach Paul Maurice, is a top-six forward, but as a winger. None of the other possibilities - Alex Steen, Matt Stajan and John Pohl - are No. 2 centres, either.
This is a team so thin in the middle, it was hoping to install Mark Bell, another guy who hasn't played the position in years, as the No. 3 centre. Then his 15-game suspension for drinking and driving got in the way.
Like most middling NHL teams, the Leafs are deep in third-liners and fourth-liners. If, say, Pohl was the guy with the hernia trouble, then the Leafs would be in great shape. Slide Kilger over to fourth-line centre and Bob's your uncle.
Unfortunately, the Leafs live in the NHL's salary-cap world. You make your decisions on the roster in the summer. You have to decide where your money goes and then you live with it.
Despite the fact Wellwood missed 33 games last season after surgery for his hernia and that Mats Sundin refused, at the age of 36, to sign for more than one year, the Leafs decided they would be their top two centres. The key acquisitions were winger Jason Blake, goaltender Vesa Toskala and Bell.
The astonishing thing here is that Bell and his $2-million (U.S.) salary were not the price of getting Toskala from the San Jose Sharks in a trade.
We are told Ferguson lusted after Bell from the player's days with the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately, Ferguson's opinion is not shared by many throughout the league, including Bell's former coaches in San Jose.
The most intriguing of the potential replacements for Wellwood is Steen. But he has not played centre regularly since he was a teenager in Sweden.
Steen may yet prove to be more valuable as Sundin's left winger, although Maurice said after last night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators in an exhibition game that he is leaning toward Nik Antropov in that spot.
By the third period, Steen was moved back to the No. 2 line with Stajan, his old partner. They played well in the third period, with Stajan setting up the tying goal. Steen, though, was the better of the two and that was from the wing.
Kilger will audition for the opening in tomorrow's game against the Buffalo Sabres.
There is no guarantee Wellwood will return any time soon, and, in the end, Steen may be the only sensible choice.
Doctors will tell you that sports hernias are complicated injuries. A lot of things have to fall into place for a player to recover.
One has to wonder whether Wellwood returned rather early to the lineup last season after his surgery. He was off for 33 games, but that is not an unusual length of time, and when he came back, the Leafs were in a desperate push to try to make the playoffs.
But Maurice says not to worry. Remain calm, as someone once said.
"We don't have anyone else in the lineup who plays like Kyle, but we have good players," he said. "So we'll get through it."
Well, the Leafs did make the Eastern Conference final in 1993 with one good line. All Sundin has to do is get 127 points, just as Doug Gilmour did.
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