Simmer Back

From Craig Custance:

Injured Atlanta Thrashers forward Jon Sim returned to practice Tuesday morning after having being cleared by team doctors to return to the lineup.

Sim, out since March 22 after his orbital bone was broken during a fight, won’t play on Wednesday at home against Washington but hopes to return by the weekend.

“Today was like playing a game, I was excited to get out with the guys,” Sim said. “Especially this time of year.”

Sim will wear a full cage to protect his orbital bone, one strengthened by a metal plate and screws inserted during surgery.

Coach Bob Hartley said he wasn’t sure when he’d get Sim back in the lineup, only confirming that doctors had cleared him to play.

Sim’s Recovery

From Craig Custance:

Thrashers forward Jon Sim, who broke his orbital bone last Thursday during a fight with San Jose’s Mark Bell and had surgery Saturday to put a plate and screws in his head, was back at the team’s practice facility Monday, antsy to get back at it. He begged to be allowed to join the team in Florida.

He called Philadelphia’s Mike Knuble, who suffered a similar injury after a collision with New York’s Brendan Shanahan earlier this year, and the news wasn’t good. It took nearly a month for Knuble to return.

Meanwhile, his spirits are up, and for those who know Sim well, it’s no surprise. Neither is the fact he took on a much bigger opponent.

Sim is 5-foot-10. Bell is 6-4.

“I couldn’t find any smaller guys out there; they’re all 6-4,” Sim said, laughing.

“I said, ‘Bellsy, you wanna fight?’ ” Sim recalled. “He said, ‘Are you serious?’ I was like, ‘I have to do something.’ “

Hartley said he appreciated the effort from Sim, as did his teammates, but felt like the linesman could have prevented the injury with better judgment.

“I thought the linesman could and should have stopped it earlier,” Hartley said.

Johnson Sprung a ‘Lik

I came up with that title after Holik’s goal in hopes that he would score some more, but he didn’t. Those of you who were at the game know why I would be thinking of headlines after such a goal. Holik scored the best goal I have ever seen live and didn’t even get one of the three stars of the game. I guess it goes to show you how well everyone else played. Eric Boulton definately deserved the first star with two assists and his first multi-point game ever. He is definately fighting hard for a regular spot in the line-up. Slater is going to have to fight even harder if he wants to earn his spot back after last night.

The other two stars of the game were Kari and Alex Ovechkin, in that order. I guess you can’t deny Alex his third star when he had both opposing goals. Kari deserved second star as well facing more than one situation in which our defense couldn’t keep up with AO and Semin, and they got some nice shots off (a few posts).

The four Thrashers goals were scored by Kozlov, Holik, Tkachuk, and Kovalchuk. It is great to see so many players stepping up and playing so well. Sim played well again getting a point last night with an assist to Kovalchuk’s goal. Hossa kept up his point streak (11 games) with an assist to Kozlov’s goal. Overall, he seemed to be having a hard time last night and couldn’t seem to hold on to the puck. I don’t think it is as much a reflection on him as it is a reflection of the respect other teams’ defense have for Hossa’s abilities. They know they have to shut him down which in the past might have shut down the Thrashers offense, but not any more.

I almost forgot to congratulate Slava on his 300th goal and 700th career point.

Panthers and Sim

I can’t say much about last night’s loss to the Florida Panthers because I couldn’t watch it since it was only on NHL Center Ice. I will leave game analysis to those who actually saw the action rather than just kept up with the score. I do have one thing to say, that it doesn’t surprise me that Florida came ready to play having beaten them six times this season prior to last night’s game. And so we were knocked from the top again, but I am confident that we will retake the division, even if comes down to that last game against Tampa Bay.

The reason this post also mentions Sim is that I had to link to Jon Cooper’s article about Sim. I really enjoyed reading this article and those of you who have seen Jon Sim play many times and have come to enjoy his bouts in front of the goal will undoubtedly enjoy reading this article. Here is a small quote:

“He talks a lot on the ice, he talks a lot in [the locker room], he talks a lot everywhere,” said de Vries, with a laugh. “He’s definitely a little pest. He’s a guy that probably has a history with just about everybody on the ice, every team. He’s in your face and he doesn’t back away. He talks to everybody.”(more…)