Sheldon Souray #44 of the Edmonton Oilers watches the face-off during a game against the Nashville Predators at Rexall Place on January 12, 2010 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Andy Devlin
What, you may ask yourself, was Sheldon Souray, doing in a fight, during his stay in minor-league limbo with the Hershey Bears last weekend? And what were the odds that Souray would break his hand again - the same hand he broke in a fight with the Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla last winter that effectively ended his season and his career with the Edmonton Oilers?
And if you're asking those questions, you can be sure Souray's nominal boss, Edmonton GM Steve Tambellini, was asking them as well. On Tuesday morning, Tambellini had more questions than answers as the news of Souray's injury drifted up to the NHL from the AHL, where Souray is in minor-league exile, ever since the Oilers determined they didn't want him on their 23-man roster. Souray was assigned to Hershey in the hopes that he would play well enough to attract the attention of an NHL team that needed a power-play quarterback - and might be prepared to absorb a contract that counts $5.4-million against the salary cap, but pays him $4.5-million in real dollars.
Souray's injury is reportedly not as bad as the one he suffered last year; and Tambellini said the Oilers' medical people would be gathering information as to its extent later Tuesday. Still, even if Souray's break is minor and he gets back playing by mid-November, you'd have to think that yet another injury would cause teams to be even more cautious when exploring a possible trade for his rights, just one more red flag on a player that has a hard time staying healthy.
As to the question on everybody's mind - could the Oilers have simply instructed Souray not to fight - Tambellini answered: "How do you do that in a hockey game? It's an emotional game. Regardless if you're a player who's used to fighting or not fighting, sometimes it just happens. You can't control that."
The NHL is in its usual state of early-season roster paralysis now, so maybe Souray's injury wouldn't have helped the Oilers to expedite his exit anyway. Still, Tambellini suggested that things may not be as quiet on the trade front as you think.
"Player movement is difficult whether it's the trade deadline, or July 1 - it's hard to do," said Tambellini. "But managers seem to be talking a little more than they were the last couple of weeks anyway. But I'll believe it when I see it."