Thanks to Mirtle for the link to an article from the Ottawa Citizen:
“We went out and threw the ball around playing baseball because it was a nice day,” said Emery. “I guess I’m not in baseball shape. I always make fun of baseball players because I don’t think they have to do much, but now that I’ve got a kink in my back, I guess I will have to stop.”
When Emery showed up at Scotiabank Place to do an off-ice workout before practice Monday, he re-aggravated the back.
“I was working out (Monday) morning and I kind of felt a little tightening back there,” he said. “I was limping around a bit and I kind of stretched it out quite a bit. … It’s not fun hobbling around, but I don’t expect it to (linger.)”
As a result of the back pain, Emery was barely going through the motions during practice. After a short talk with Paddock, Emery left for the dressing room.
This is, as Mirtle says, yet another piece to a poor year for the Sens’ starter thus far. What’s interesting to note is just how important it is that Martin Gerber is playing well enough to make this injury reasonably irrelevant for the Sens. Ottawa has lost just a pair of games, and sits atop the league despite having played one less game than Detroit, who is trailing by a single point. Without Gerber’s brilliant play, they wouldn’t be anywhere near this level. Not one of their top three players is in the top five list for scoring in the league, and defensively they’ve given up more shots than any team with their defense corps should.
Don’t get me wrong — the Sens have been a very strong team all-round. But the 14-2-0 record they boast is only that high because of Gerber’s .943 save percentage. They’ve let up368 shots against him in his 12 starts, which averages out to just over thirty shots against in a game. Compare that to the Wings, who have let up only 23 per game against current starter Chris Osgoode, and one can see why Gerber has become just so integral to his team’s success.
Trading away Emery might be premature. But to lessen the financial load should they want to pick up another forward for the playoffs, one of the goalies would presumably be on the trading block. The longer Emery goes without proving himself a bona-fide superstar, the more it seems that if the Sens get the right offer, even Gerber’s dubious playoff record may not be enough to stop them from looking to him for some post-season magic instead of Emery!
