Thrashers’ Reasoner recalls worst injury

There are injuries – and then there are hockey injuries.

Mix sharpened skates, sticks, a surface as hard as ice is and a frozen piece of rubber that can travel over 100 miles per hour and there is potential for serious damage to the human body.

Thrashers center Marty Reasoner recounts his worst injury, suffered while playing for the Oilers during the 2005-06 season:

“The year after the lockout I fractured my skull. I went down to block a shot, and I got hit right in the chest. I was spitting up blood and I spent the night in the hospital. Then we had a week off for All-Star break and I came back and played like two games. Chris Pronger, he was on my team, took a shot from the point, and I was in front of the net. There was nothing I could do. It was right in front of my face. All I could do was just turn and I turned my head and it hit me right in the side, split my ear and fractured my skull. I had like 31 stitches in my head. I came back and played like two games later.

“I had to wrap my head with gauze. I looked like I was in the Civil War. I had this wrap around my head with my hair sticking out. I’d take my helmet off for the National Anthem and people in the crowd were looking at me like ‘What is wrong with this guy?’ I played two games and every time my heart rate got up I would spit out blood. They couldn’t figure out what was going on so I got all these tests done. It was the day before the trade deadline. I had gone in to talk to the coach and he said get tested and make sure everything is OK.”

Reasoner stayed behind to see doctors and then caught up with the team in San Jose, only to find out he had been traded to Boston at the deadline.

Around the Thrashers

• Former Thrashers No. 1 pick Kari Lehtonen on his trade to the Stars: “I had a feeling something might happen in Atlanta,” he told reporters in Dallas. “I didn’t know who of the three goalies in Atlanta it might be, but when it happened [Tuesday] it was quite a big shock. I am really happy right now, and I am grateful to the Stars that they want to give me a chance.”

• With Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Avalanche, the Thrashers dropped to 11-0-2 when leading after two periods.

• When the Thrashers outshot the Avalanche, it marked the first time all season they had more shots on goal than the opposition in four straight games.

Around the NHL

• The NHL will open the 2010-11 season with six teams playing in three European cities.

The Hurricanes and Wild will play two regular-season games in Helsinki, Finland on Oct. 7 and 8. The Blue Jackets and Sharks will play twice in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 8 and 9. The Bruins and Coyotes will play twice in Prague, Czech Republic, on Oct. 9 and 10.

Sixteen of the 30 NHL teams have opened the season in Europe since the league began the annual event in 2007-08.