Sullivan's back still a pain in the...

by Dirk Hoag on Aug 16, 2007 11:34 AM EDT

Steve Sullivan is still recuperating from offseason back surgery up in Vancouver, and in this morning's Tennessean John Glennon reports that "he might not be at 100 percent when training camp begins Sept. 13", although the team is confident that he'll be ready at some point soon.

The Predators need to give Sullivan all the time he needs to fully recover, regardless of time missed in training camp, or even some games in the early weeks of the regular season. His back injury this year and groin trouble in 2006 left the Preds without one of their most potent offensive weapons during the last two playoffs, both of which resulted in disappointing first-round losses to the San Jose Sharks. Given the issues around this team in terms of attendance and financial performance, making a deeper postseason run is critical to the long-term success of the team.

At this stage of his career, it's not imperative for him to go through training camp, anyway. Surely there will be some on-ice adjustments due to roster turnover, but he's an experienced veteran who has played 150 games under Barry Trotz in Nashville, so he knows how this team works. He's currently skating up in Vancouver under the watchful eye of his medical team, so conditioning shouldn't be an issue.

And frankly, it might do some good for more of the offensive burden to be placed on the shoulders of J.P. Dumont, Martin Erat, and Alexander Radulov in the early going, to see which of these players is ready to assume a more dominant role. If the Predators are going to continue their incremental year-on-year progress, it will be because one of those three breaks out into a major goal-scoring force.

So don't rush it, Sully - when you come back to the team, they'll need you to be ready for the long grind ahead.

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Comments

I hadn't seen those reports yet.

I couldn't agree more. Sullivan is going to be key to our success through the end of this season. JP, Erat, and Radulov must step up regardless, but without Sullivan (and to some degree Arnott) providing some sort of reliable, stable force, we will be hurting.

But if they can be there as a reliable, stable force - we're in remarkably good shape.

I still wonder how Gelinas is going to work in to all this...

by Paul Nicholson on Aug 16, 2007 12:58 PM EDT reply actions

I see Gelinas a "glue" guy up front just like DeVries will be on the blue line. He won't be the focus, but he'll provide versatility and dependability in a variety of roles. He could fill in on the second line while someone's out with an injury, or work hard in a shut-down role with the grinders.

by The Forechecker on Aug 16, 2007 5:20 PM EDT reply actions