When The Levee Breaks...

"Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
Now, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good,
When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move."
- Led Zeppelin, When The Levee Breaks

Nothing can shake up a team's chemistry and aspirations like an injury to a star player. If that injury happens to hit a team in an area they are already weak, the consequences could be even more severe.

The first ten days of the season have already seen their fair share of black and blues. Perhaps the biggest three fatalities are those of Andrei Markov (torn ACL), Daniel Sedin (broken foot), and Johan Franzen (torn ACL).

These injuries could have dire ramifications for Montreal, Vancouver, and Detroit. Who will be able to perservere? Who will be unable to rebound?

The Resilient
Detroit Red Wings
- Detroit lost Marian Hossa, Jiri Hudler, and Mikael Samuelsson in the off-season. Add the '08-'09 goal totals of those three to Franzen's, who is out for somewhere around four months, and you're talking 116 goals. Yikes! While losing your top returning goal-scorer from the year prior in addition to the fire-power the Wings have already lost may seem insurmountable on the surface, the Wings should be able to stay strong. Guys like Ville Leino and Valtteri Filppula are deserving of the bigger offensive roles they will now assume. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are perfectly capable of elevating their games. Last night's game against the Capitals was a reminder to the rest of the league that when Datsyuk and Zetterberg are on the same line, you're number one line is destined for an uneventful offensive night. Detroit has the leadership, and still has enough offensive depth to stay strong even in Franzen's absence.

The Downtrodden
Montreal Canadiens
- Andrei Markov has been the Habs' "Mr. Everything." Of their returning players, he's their leading scorer. He is their best defenseman. He runs the power-play. He's a team leader. Well, for the next four or so months, I'll have as many points for the Habs as he will. The Canadiens were already weak at defense before the loss of Markov. To compound matters even further, Ryan O'Byrne is also out due to injury. A defensive corps of Hal Gill, Paul Mara, Jaroslav Spacek, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik, Marc-Andre Bergeron, and Yannick Weber is....ugh. If the Canadiens are going to overcome the Markov injury, they will need a handful of things to fall into place. For one, Carey Price will need to play like Patrick Roy. Second, they will need offensive production anywhere they can get it from the back-line - no one man can fill Markov's shoes, but as a group they have some offensive potential. To me, Markov's loss makes the Habs an after-thought in the East. If they can just manage to stay in the playoff picture until his return, that will be a victory in and of itself.

The Questionable
Vancouver Canucks
- As if starting 1-3-0 wasn't bad enough, the Canucks were just dealt another blow. Today the team annouced that leading goal-scorer Daniel Sedin will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. The Canucks offensive group was already weak, and something I felt would prevent them from being a contender out west. Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows shouldn't be the third and fourth best forwards on an NHL team. Now they are the second and third best. The reason the Canucks aren't as bad off as the Canadiens is because A) Sedin is out 4-6 weeks, not four months like Markov, and B) if Roberto Luongo can get hot he can steal games like nobody else can. But, how will Henrik Sedin fare without Daniel? What will their power-play look like without one of the twins? The secondary scoring will need to find a way to chip in. Bottom line - if Luongo can elevate his game, the next 4-6 weeks might not seem so long in Vancouver.