Some very surprising news just broke right now, courtesy of Jim Cerny, that Marc Staal, Wojtek Wolski and Mike Rupp are all traveling with the Rangers to Florida today as they prepare to take on the Panthers tomorrow night. Wolski (groin) and Rupp (knee) are both still several weeks away from returning, but the status of Marc Staal (concussion) is completely up in the air. Larry Brooks reported late last week that Staal had just recently been cleared to resume light workouts, though the Rangers have not given any official update on Marc Staal since the end of training camp.
This has to be looked at as a huge step forward for Marc Staal's recovery from his concussion. We really have no concrete information on how his recovery has gone so far, but the very fact that the Rangers would allow him to fly is a huge deal. Teams typically do not allow a player suffering from a concussion to fly unless he is cleared of all symptoms and is no longer experiencing headaches.
Does this mean Marc Staal is even further along than we thought? It sure seems that way, but right now this is all speculation. Dan Rosen of NHL.com speculated that Staal might be just getting antsy and wants to be around the team since he's been away from the boys for so long. Even if that's the case, the Rangers would still have to deem him fit to fly no matter what the case is. It's interesting to note that the Rangers have a game tomorrow in Florida and a game against the Capitals in Washington on Friday before returning for a two-game homestand at the Garden. It really wouldn't make sense to have Staal traveling with the team on a brief two-game road trip if he wasn't closer to playing than perhaps we all thought.
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