Gagne, Voynov injury updates

Well, this is different… Darryl Sutter actually used the word “concussion’’ to described Simon Gagne’s…concussion. For three-plus years under Terry Murray, we were subjected to “upper-body injury’’ as a description of a player’s obvious head injury. I’m still not sure what that accomplished, but it’s nice to get a bit of transparency. Anyway, to the relevant matter, Gagne will miss his fourth consecutive game tonight and has been off the ice for a week. For a player with a long history of concussions, that’s not a good sign. Neither is the fact that Sutter was unable to offer any real update on Gagne’s progress.

SUTTER: “He’s got a concussion. You guys know the protocol just as well as I do. There’s progress, but it’s not really a daily thing. He will see the doctors again tonight at the game if he’s there. It was good to see him at the game (Saturday) and talk to him, because it happened right before we went on the trip and I didn’t get to see him. So it was just good to see him. There’s no medical update.’’

Sutter was a hard-nosed forward who played 406 NHL games. No doubt, he suffered a concussion or two in his day, but at that point, it was a “headache’’ or “getting your bell rung.’’ Now, of course, the attention paid to concussions, and the treatment received, has advanced significantly.

SUTTER: “You know what, I’m sure we all did [had concussions]. It’s just like anything. They continue to gather information so they have a better read on it. With players like Gagne, who have had a history of it, it becomes even more of an issue. There’s no way of telling. I really believe that one of the worst things you can do is keep asking him. It’s a negative. A lot of it is just feeling better about yourself, then you feel better.’’

As for Slava Voynov, as noted earlier, he won’t play tonight and will be replaced by Alec Martinez, but Voynov’s issue isn’t believed to be head-related.

VOYNOV: “He got banged up again. He got hit two games in a row. We don’t play for two more days. He’s better today than he was yesterday, and he keeps getting better.’’