TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Halpern Suffers Knee Injury

ADVERTISEMENT

By ERIK ERLENDSSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 7, 2008

The black cloud that hovered over the Lightning throughout a good portion of the regular season struck once again, nearly a month after the team finished off a last-place season.

This time, veteran center Jeff Halpern was the bearer of the teams bad luck when he suffered a ruptured tendon to his right knee that will require reconstructive surgery and keep him out of the lineup at least through December.

The 32-year-old native of Potomac, Md., injured his right knee Tuesday while representing the United States at the World Hockey Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the third period of a 5-4 loss to Canada. After flying to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Halpern was diagnosed with a ruptured ACL tendon along with a Grade III sprain of his MCL tendon and a slight tear to the lateral meniscus.

After being examined by Washington Capitals team physician Benjamin Shaffer, who performed surgery to Halperns left knee in 2002 when he tore the ACL while playing with the Capitals, it was determined that Halpern needs 4-to-6 weeks to recover from the MCL sprain before having reconstructive surgery done on his ruptured ACL.

Once the ACL is operated on, Halpern will require 5-6 months of recovery and rehab before he is able to return to the Lightning lineup.

Neither Halpern nor Lightning general manager Jay Feaster was available for comment.

Halpern, who was serving as captain for Team USA for the tournament under head coach John Tortorella, was injured late in the third period Tuesday. With the game tied with around three minutes left, Halpern was carrying the puck through the neutral zone when he was sandwiched by Canadian forward Rick Nash and defenseman Brent Burns. Halpern's right skate blade got caught in the ice as Burns delivered a hip check to Halperns side with Nash backchecking on the play.

Halpern made an immediate impact on the ice and in the locker room after being acquired from the Dallas Stars, along with goaltender Mike Smith and forward Jussi Jokinen, on Feb. 26. In 19 games to close out the season, Halpern had 10 goals and 18 points while establishing his presence in the locker room.

He was expected to anchor the third-line center role heading into next season while providing leadership in the locker room for a team in transition after finishing at the bottom of the league standings.

Halpern becomes the seventh Lightning player since late September to incur an injury that required major surgery. Defenseman Dan Boyle needed two surgeries to his left wrist to repair three severed tendons after a skate fell from above his locker stall, the second after only one tendon correctly reattached to the bone.

Left winger Ryan Craig missed the final 59 games of the season following surgery on his left knee. Center Chris Gratton missed the final 19 games following hip surgery while defenseman Brad Lukowich flew to Germany for sports hernia surgery in February that forced him to miss 21 games.

In addition, center Vinny Lecavalier and defenseman Paul Ranger each underwent shoulder surgery last month to repair a torn labrum. Ranger suffered a separated shoulder March 19 at Buffalo while Lecavalier separated his shoulder when he collided with Washingtons Matt Cooke in the next-to-last game of the season. Both require 12-15 weeks of recovery time before being cleared for full activities.

Along with Halpern, Tampa Bay has four other players participating in the World Championships: Marty St. Louis (Canada), Filip Kuba (Czech Republic) and Karri Ramo and Jokinen (Finland).

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835 or eerlendsson@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT