FINLAND. TPS has the best defence in the SM-Liiga. Well at the sick bay anyway. The start of the season hasn’t been rosy for the reigning champions, the warning signs of a tough season were looming before the team started on ice training. Ilari Filppula left for Detroit via Jokerit, head coach Kai Suikkanen moved to Siberia for the call of the KHL and goalie David Leggio returned to the new continent. TPS had some big boots to fill and managed to do an admirable job at it, but even before the season started, the blue liners were dropping like flies; Players like Aki-Petteri Berg (who used to play for the Maple Leafs and LA Kings), Garret Raboin, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Markus Nordlund and Miika Huzckowski are all out. For Raboin and Huzckowski, the wait to return to the ice is a long one, Raboin and Berg have been out since the first exhibition game of the season. Raboin notably with a broken ankle and Huzckowski is said to be out two to three months with an undisclosed injury. TPS’s defensive core is undoubtedly quite thin at the moment and another notable injury happened to Oulun Karpat, well sort of; Oulun Karpat recently signed former Colorado Avalanche forward Tom Preissing. As part of the agreement Preissing was to spend a month in the KHL getting game experience and get familiarised with the European rink size before reporting to Karpat. The one thing Karpat didn’t bank on was Preissing winding up on the injured reserve – Big time! After his first game in the KHL, it was reported that Preissing will be sidelined indefinitely with a severe knee injury. Preissing was due to undergo an MRI this week to determine the severity of the injury, worst case scenario for Karpat though their star import will not ice for them in a single game this season. Preissing and knee injuries have met before, last season he missed the entire training camp and the start of the season due to a knee injury. Contact: janne.virtanen@prohockeynews.com
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