Monday, February 12, 2007

"I can safely say that it didn't look good" . . . And that, dear friends, is that it?

Tarik El-Bashir reports in his Capitals Insider blog that Olaf Kolzig was injured in practice today. It will be officially described as a "lower-body injury," no doubt, but El-Bashir noted that "it appeared to be a groin injury."

If true, and if it is as serious as El-Bahir's entry suggests, then whatever faint playoff hopes the Caps might have had could very likely be extinguished (with apologies to Brent Johnson, who has just come back from his own injury) for this season.

The fear all along was that this club could not endure a significant injury and lost playing time to any of its marquee players (of which there are arguably two). That the club was picked to death by comparative gnat bites to defensemen not thought to be critical to the Caps' fortunes showed how brittle the club was. One hopes that with three days remaining in the five day hiatus between games that Kolzig will be able to recouperate before the game in Tampa on Thursday or the Penguin game on Sunday.

But commentary that "it didn't look good" doesn't give a fan a warm and fuzzy feeling . . .