MacInnis Joins Hatcher In The All-Star Defenseman Infirmary

The St. Louis Blues are assuming that Al MacInnis "won't be back this season" after the all star defenseman underwent eye surgery yesterday. MacInnis had retinal damage in both eyes, and Blues' GM Larry Pleau says recovery could take four or five months. As far as anyone knows, the problem was not triggered by a recent on-ice incident. MacInnis missed 23 games after taking a stick in the left eye in January of 2001, and has worn a visor and contact lens ever since. With Bryce Salvador, Matt Walker, Alex Khavanov and Christian Laflamme also laid up, defense is a new problem for a team that began the season full of question marks. In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Pleau carefully avoided the suggestion that MacInnis might have played his last game. But when a guy is 40 years old, and the issue is quality of life as much as quality of play, you have to wonder.