WINNIPEG — Jacob Trouba knows exactly how close he was to having his life change forever in the blink of eye.
“I got lucky,” said Trouba about his awkward fall into the boards during a game against the St. Louis Blues Oct. 18, which injured his neck. “It could have been a lot worse. I’m pretty fortunate for what it was.”
The Winnipeg Jets defenceman is now on the mend and although there’s still no clear timetable for his return, Trouba is getting closer and closer to being game ready.
“I feel fine,” said Trouba. “It’s fine day-to-day. It’s stiff in the morning when I wake up. The big risk is when I can get hit. The first big hit is really going be the first test for it.”
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The Jets’ blueline is thin as of late with injuries to Trouba, Mark Stuart, Zach Bogosian and Paul Postma. Despite the small numbers on defence, Trouba is not being hurried back to the lineup since there’s a risk he could tear the ligament in his neck if he comes back too soon.
“If they tear again, we’ve got a much bigger problem on our hands,” said Trouba. “So we’re just kind of playing it safe I guess.”
The reason the Jets are playing it so safe is because any more damage to Trouba’s neck ligament could require a complicated spinal fusion surgery to stabilize his vertebrae — a potentially career-ending operation.
“When he went into that extension, obviously he would tear some of his ligaments, which would then render these vertebrae unstable underneath,” said Glen Bergeron, the chair of the department of kinesiology and applied health at the University of Winnipeg. “That would mean one of the vertebrae could shift forward.”
Even with the seriousness of this type of injury, Trouba doesn’t seem too concerned about the long-term implications.
“There’s always a risk playing hockey,” said the rookie. “Why not add a little more to it!”
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