Bo Byram out tonight, and the worry is it’s another concussion

Well, so much for that story we all wrote yesterday, the one about Bo Byram escaping serious injury from that elbow to the head from Bo Horvat the other night. A day after participating in a full practice, a day after taking the elbow, Byram woke up “not feeling well”, coach Jared Bednar said, and will not play tonight against the San Jose Sharks.

Ryan Murray will take his spot in the lineup, and Byram is in a concussion protocol for the time being. If it is a real concussion, as it appears, it would be Byram’s second within the last eight months.

It’s a damn shame is what it is. Byram was playing so well, having an all-star kind of season, with eight points in 10 games and playing very well in his own end with the puck. And now, because of a cheap-shot, unpenalized elbow, he’s out again for who knows how long.

That’s the sneaky, awful thing about concussions. The symptoms sometimes don’t start presenting until a couple days later. More often than not, the symptoms will last longer than the previous one, too. It’s just a bad, bad deal. Now, Byram is probably going to have to do nothing except rest at home, with no heavy physical exertion and have to see a bunch of doctors and undergo a bunch of tests. Then, whenever the symptoms clear, the arduous process of getting back into shape, all the while hoping the symptoms don’t come back. It’s arguably the worst type of injury you can have as an athlete, because you just don’t know when you’ll get better again.

Of course, Horvat got nothing from the NHL Department of Player Safety, which is becoming more of an oxymoron with each passing day.

“Even though yesterday went great, this morning he was not having a good day,” Bednar said.

About the lack of discipline for Horvat, and other instances where DoPS figured to have gotten involved regarding stuff against the Avs, Bednar said, “I’m beyond trying to figure that out.”

Said Alex Newhook, who was taken in the same 2019 first round by the Avs as Byram, “It’s sad stuff. It’s scary stuff. For a guy that I’m close with and a guy I’ve spent a lot of time with, I’m just hoping for the best with him. Hoping he can get better quick.

The Avs will try to get over the .500 mark with a win against the Sharks. Darcy Kuemper will start in net. These look like the lines and pairings:

Landeskog-Compher-Rantanen

Nichushkin-Kadri-Burakovsky

Jost-Newhook-O’Connor

Helm-Megna-Sherwood

D

Toews-Makar

Murray-Girard

J. Johnson-E. Johnson

Kuemper