The answer to the two biggest questions in Fantasy Hockey were just revealed: Luongo and Sundin will skate this week. New Canuck Mats Sundin is expected to practice with the team on Tuesday the 30th of December, while injured Goalie Roberto Luongo is expected to return to the ice on Wednesday, 12.31.08, as part of his injury rehab.
Roberto Luongo injured his groin vs. the Penguins back on November 22nd and then re-injured it on December 10th, keeping him off the ice ever since. The Canucks have professed how they will take it slower this time, so the news that he'll be back on the ice wednesday should be taken with a grain of salt. Last time around, Luongo was facing shots within a week of hitting the ice, but don't count on anything CLOSE that happening again. While there is no timetable, as the above link notes, if the Canucks target their first game after the All-Star break (Jan 28th vs. Nashville at home) it would give Luongo 4 solid weeks of slow, strength building rehab. A definite possibility, as Luongo probably won't be back any sooner than 3 weeks from now and an extra week of training could be the difference between suffering a relapse, or carrying the team to the playoffs.
Vancouver beat out the New York Rangers and signed Sundin to a 1-year $10M pro-rated deal (worth $5M cap wise) on December 18th and the 37-year old Center was expected to join the team yesterday. Instead, travel delays will keep him from hitting the ice with his new teammates until Tuesday. When Sundin finally plays depends on his conditioning, but the Vancouver Province's sources say Mats is 7-10 days from game shape, which would put his debut either on January 7th in Edmonton or the 9th when the Canucks take on the Bluesin Vancouver. This scenario makes sense as it would give Sundin an away game to get his legs under him, another day of practice and then his home debut against a weak St. Louis squad. Fantasy wise, keep him on your bench, or scoop him up if he's available on the waiver wire - as we've said before, he's worth he risk, even just as trade bait.
UPDATE 12.30.08:
The Vancouver Sun concurs that Mats Sundin is likely to play Jan. 7th at the earliest.
Meanwhile, TSN agrees and also reports that Roberto Luongo Skated today for the first time since leaving the ice on Dec. 10th. The Sun has more on Luongo here, including the fact that he won't face pucks for a few more days at least.
"It was a good day today and I was happy I was able to get on the ice and it felt great,'' Luongo said. “It’s a matter of really being cautious this time and not setting a timeline that I want to try to follow. The most important thing is to be ready for the last stretch and the playoffs. Right now I want to make sure once I do get back its for the rest of the year."
Like we said above, it'll be awhile before the Canucks announce Roberto Luongo is returning to game action.
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