Canucks' malhotra placed on ir, will miss rest of season

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Super Nintendo Chalmers

No, it was suggested that his drop off in play more to do with his inability to do off-season workouts two summers ago as opposed to the eye problems. Clearly it was not the case as he had all of the lockout to get in shape.

That makes far more sense.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Wouldn't the Canucks then be in trouble for allowing him to play until now?

IIRC there is a standard that the eyes must pass in order to play in the NHL.

If he fails that test now then he was playing the last three weeks when he shouldn't have been.

If he passes the test then this looks like a convenient way to have Malholtra fill a role while Kesler was out only to open up a spot for him when he was ready to return.

Lots of weird little things going on in this situation that are a conspiracy theorists dream.

Perhaps he meets the legal standard but not to the point that he's necessarily fit to play. Guys play through IR eligible injuries all the time and I think this was probably another example. If a guy has a bad knee but is willing and able to suit up, that doesn't mean you can't put him on IR later on.

Teams are afforded a lot of flexibility with IR and LTIR and as long as the player is actually injured (which Malhotra clearly is) the team can do basically whatever it wants.

[AR_Six]

Couple of things.

There is no benefit to Vancouver to doing this. First of all, they're better off having him in the lineup - he is still over 70% on faceoffs. Even if he takes 8 per game, those are 8 important defensive zone draws that, say, Jordan Schroeder or Max Lapierre probably lose. He isn't going to chip in offense anymore, but remains a very responsible depth player.

Second, he wasn't over 35 when he signed anyway so if he were to retire they wouldn't be penalized by his cap hit anyway.

From my perspective this is pretty bad for Vancouver. Essentially, the centre depth now goes Sedin / Kesler / Schroeder / Lapierre. The bottom two are not great on draws - Schroeder (being a rookie) is passable at best, and Lapierre is only now turning it around after a brutal start to the season in the circle. Moreover, the Schroeder line as currently constituted is a "speed kills" line, and while not a liability (both Raymond and Hansen are responsible defensively) they aren't a checking line. The Lapierre line is, but it's not a very GOOD checking line, and won't allow the team to give the Sedins the offensive zone starts they've had for the past few seasons. Fewer goals by the top line means much tighter games.

[Tinordi]

I remember crowing back in the day about how much better a prospect Phaneuf was compared to Kesler.

I'm going to go cry now.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

I remember crowing back in the day about how much better a prospect Phaneuf was compared to Kesler.

I'm going to go cry now.

Remember when Phaneuf was light-years better than Beaksa? I'll go cry with you.

[Phaneufenstein]

Keep your eye on the pry...

/jackass

sorry Manny, you're actually a good guy on that team... that's too bad for him

[blankall]

Gotta respect the guy. I'm guessing insurance would give him his pay day. He wants to play as long as he can though. For the love of the game.

[calumniate]

Shouldn't it be up to the doctors for clearance to play just like kesler has been? Gillis is a doctor now? This is strange. I wonder what manny thinks

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

I remember crowing back in the day about how much better a prospect Phaneuf was compared to Kesler.

I'm going to go cry now.

The comparison used to be Phaneuf and Bourdon not Kesler if memory serves me correct.

With Malholtra it is just unfortunate - the guy was a huge part of the team and they are worse without him in the lineup. I think that Malholtra still being a large part of the team and a spokesperson indicates that it is a mutual decision and that there are no hard feelings associated with it.

[browna]

Although maybe its taboo to talk about now, I do recall Malhotra being the most demonstrably agitated at the the innocent Wild fan that Rypien attacked in Minnesota.

Rypien was totally at fault, the Wild fan did nothing but probably beak, and Rypien put his hands on a fan,, and Malhotra was completley wrong to blame anyone else but his teammate.

Although you'd expect he should have had eye exams regularly, you wonder how much or how long he was pretending to be better than he was. That said, only now that he's still struggling and Kesler is ready, has it come up again...for a 4th line getting 4th line minutes, not sure what they were expecting out of him.

Is the reasoning is the eye, which is probably as good as it was when he returned or at least the end of last season...so why let him on the ice in the first place a month ago outside of being a placeholder for someone else.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by browna

Although maybe its taboo to talk about now, I do recall Malhotra being the most demonstrably agitated at the the innocent Wild fan that Rypien attacked in Minnesota.

Rypien was totally at fault, the Wild fan did nothing but probably beak, and Rypien put his hands on a fan,, and Malhotra was completley wrong to blame anyone else but his teammate.

Seriously?

Watch the video. Malhotra has his back to the crowd when Rypien started it all and by the time he turns around all he saw was two fans grabbing his teammate. His reaction (if you can call it that given that all he did was say a few words to them) was perfectly fine based on what he saw in that split second.

Although you'd expect he should have had eye exams regularly, you wonder how much or how long he was pretending to be better than he was. That said, only now that he's still struggling and Kesler is ready, has it come up again...for a 4th line getting 4th line minutes, not sure what they were expecting out of him.

Is the reasoning is the eye, which is probably as good as it was when he returned or at least the end of last season...so why let him on the ice in the first place a month ago outside of being a placeholder for someone else.

Because Malhotra wanted to play through an injury and the Canucks gave him over a year to try to. Now that Kesler is returning they need to make some lineup decisions. I'm sure it was a very tough decision to sideline Malhotra for the year so it only makes sense they held off as long as possible.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by browna

Although maybe its taboo to talk about now, I do recall Malhotra being the most demonstrably agitated at the the innocent Wild fan that Rypien attacked in Minnesota.

Rypien was totally at fault, the Wild fan did nothing but probably beak, and Rypien put his hands on a fan,, and Malhotra was completley wrong to blame anyone else but his teammate.

I think it is just as likely that Malholtra had an inclination that there was something not mentally right with Rypien as was acting as a good team mate should and deflecting as much of the attention as was possible from Rypien. That being said I really don't see how the statement that the fan was too involved is related at all.

Although you'd expect he should have had eye exams regularly, you wonder how much or how long he was pretending to be better than he was. That said, only now that he's still struggling and Kesler is ready, has it come up again...for a 4th line getting 4th line minutes, not sure what they were expecting out of him.

Is the reasoning is the eye, which is probably as good as it was when he returned or at least the end of last season...so why let him on the ice in the first place a month ago outside of being a placeholder for someone else.

Yeah the optics of the situation are bad but at the end of the day if his eyesight is getting worse and it is interfering with his play then the Canucks have the obligation to put him on the IR

[Joborule]

Damn, sucks to hear it couldn't fully recover. Wish the best for him, if this is the end or he comes back.

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Originally Posted by calumniate

Shouldn't it be up to the doctors for clearance to play just like kesler has been? Gillis is a doctor now? This is strange. I wonder what manny thinks

A player's eligibility to be added to IR has to be attested to by the team physician and a team executive. I assume Gillis has that part in order.

[Galakanokis]

The scuttle butt around the bowels of GM place is that the vision has really affected how fast he can play the game basically the speed at which he can operate. He was fine for faceoffs but once the speed picked up his lack of vision or vision imbalance almost made for a sort of vertigo and disorientation. It was also rumoured that it took him a few extra moments to recover from hits compared to normal players.

Either way it is a legit problem and a damn shame. I remember really wanting him on the Flames when the Canucks got him.