Sim Out For Season

For the past week, news on the status of Islanders forward Jon Sim has been sketchy. I knew for sure he was injured in the home opener against Buffalo for two reasons, for one in the post game Press Conference the Isles VP of media relations Chris Botta addressed the room as a whole and said “Just so everyone knows, Jon Sim sprained his knee and will be re-evaluated sometime during the week”. While this may have been a shock to some, I saw the play on which Sim got caught in a rut and fell awkwardly – as a hockey player, I know that cant ever be a good thing.

There was speculation during the week by a normally reliable source on Hockeybuzz – Andy Strickland, who claimed Sim would likely miss the year. At that point Sim had yet to even get a second opinion. The rumor was shot down through an article by Greg Logan the next afternoon and even on the Islanders telecast from Toronto by FSN broadcaster Howie Rose if you happened to catch it.

Today however, the mystery is no more – as Greg Logan confirmed in a story on Sim today that he will miss the entire season with blown anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligaments in his left knee. With a recovery time of up to 9 weeks, not including therapy – Greg states that we likely won’t see him until training camp next year.

With players like Bates almost completely healed and Simon now eligible to play again, there are no shortages of players – but many in Islanders country were anticipating what Sim could bring to the team. He is a gritty player who wasn’t afraid to grind in the corners, he had playmaking ability, he was vocal, and he had some offensive upside. In my view – he was a more offensive version of Asham, so in a way it could potentially be a big loss to the team.

One thing is for certain, it appears the organization has started to take injuries more seriously and allow players to heal. Between Yashin’s knee and DiPietro’s concussions last year – this is an extremely important sign.