So I was reading about Sheldon Souray today, who is now out for the season, and it made me think of the endless common-sense platitudes uttered on most sports broadcasts. Stuff like “turnovers could hurt you” and “they need to do the little things right.” Stuff you say when you can’t really think of anything intelligent.

Now that we’re about two months away from the start of the playoffs, those freak injuries can really jack up teams in a big way. What if Joe cracked an orbital bone by getting hit in the face with that stick? What if the Sharks actually got Souray? Notice I’m not mentioning Marleau’s groin, because to be honest, I’m not convinced that’s a horrible thing to happen for the Sharks. Marleau seems to have 2nd-line tenure regardless of his quality of play, and I wouldn’t mind seeing guys like Pavelski and Mitchell get some PP time.

But the Sharks dodged a bullet, and Joe should be in the lineup tonight. Of course the Sharks are still missing a big piece in Ryane Clowe, and his injury is so bad that maybe he should be on the shelf for the playoffs too. It sounds heartless, but that might help the Sharks sign him for less that he normally would have gotten.

A final thought about injuries. Now that we know that Boyle has had a serious wrist injury, should the Sharks go after Campbell over Boyle? Campbell is younger and not as good (yet), but the Sharks could get into a Souray-type situation if Boyle comes here, gets his paid-in-the-Escalade dough, and gets hurt again.

See you all at the game tonight. Before the game, I’ll be collecting my winning Super Bowl bet from grier- free dinner, including beers, at Cluck U Chicken (now disappointingly called University Chicken).  Of course I took the points.  But I was nervous about it.