Star Trib Reports: Foster's Larynx may be broken...an MVN Article

[LemaireisGOD]

http://wild.mostvaluablenetwork.com/...-from-houston/

Star Tribune Reports Wild defenseman, Kurtis Foster’s larynx may be broken; Wild call up Shawn Belle from Houston

~ Derek Felska MVN Staff Writer

In one of those incidents that happen real fast, and at first seem rather innocent during the Wild’s game against the Sharks Wednesday night, innocence can quickly turn into something scary. In the first period Kim Johnsson attempted to the clear the puck and it flew into the Wild’s bench area where it struck Foster in the throat. Foster clearly in pain went back into the Wild’s lockeroom and never returned. The Minneapolis Star Tribue reported that Wild Assistant General Manager Tom Lynn confirmed “There’s a fracture in the cartilage. Mostly, they’re worried about his breathing. ” No expected time of return has been announced but Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire said it will be a “long rest.” Foster’s injury puts an already banged up team further behind it scrambles to find someone to fill his spot. With Marian Gaborik with groin issues, Pavol Demitra dealing with concussion issues, Wes Walz nursing a hip flexor injury, and enforcer Derek Boogaard reportedly suffering from a broken leg the Wild have had more than their share of bad news on the injury front. Gaborik is reported to be skating, but the team has been very hesitant and downright evasive when it comes to predicting his return to the lineup.

In response to Foster’s injury the Wild have called up Shawn Belle from the team’s AHL affiliate in Houston. The 6′1″ 230lbs Belle is a decent-sized, strong, and silky smooth skating defenseman the team hopes will step up to the challenge of the NHL. Belle’s call up though puts the Wild in a serious bind. His $924,000 salary puts the Wild a mere $40,000 underneath the $44 million salary cap. Whether Belle ends up being a short-term solution or a long-term fix remains to be seen but his salary basically puts the Wild at the proverbial salary ceiling. One possible option is to place one of the Wild’s injured players on Long-Term-Injury status in order to sort of take that player’s salary off of the cap allowing them to use that salary amount to bring in help. A player must be out at least 24 days before they can be put on LTI. Jason Morgan; who is recovering after surgery to his thigh is a likely candidate but he would only free up $450,000 in cap space.

On the bright side, Belle has been solid for the Houston Aeros this season with 1 goal and 8 assists in 21 games for the Aeros. He has excellent speed and is very strong on the puck. The injuries have really left the Wild with very little room to manuever and never in its 6 season history has it had to deal with so many injuries at the same time. Hopefully some of the injured players come back soon. Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire even gave two players; Todd White and Pierre-Marc Bouchard the day off of practice yesterday to have them fresh for tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Lemaire is not prone to making things easier for his players, and for him to give time off demonstrates how leary this team is of creating more roster issues by having players play at less than 100%. Hopefully the rest pays off!

[Socodawgs]

Man this sucks and it has got to hurt! Hope he gets well soon, we need him on the ice.

[LemaireisGOD]

I am not a big Foster fan, but I'd rather have him out there than that pylon Skoula. GO WILD!!!