Marc Staal Injury: Good News, But Still No Timetable

New York Rangers fans got some good news before last night's game when both Eric and Jordan Staal gave the world a pretty good update as to the status of Marc Staal.

Per team policy, the Rangers haven't released much information on the Staal eye injury. And that's OK. I agree that the team (and John Tortorella) don't need to tell the world everything about their players. Injury information is often perceived as "need to know" data in this new social media world, but it's really not.

Anyway, let's get to what the duo had to say about their brother, using quotes from the always reliable Andrew Gross.

Eric Staal:

On Marc Staal's vision: "It's obviously not 100 percent yet. It's going to take some time. I think he's still going through the appointments and they're telling him good things and that's the only way you can go about it.

Jordan Staal:

On Marc Staal's appearance: "It does look good so it's good to see. Everything looks pretty good. Obviously, the scar has healed up nice and hopefully he's on the right track."

On a timetable for Marc Staal's return: "Not really sure, I think he has obviously a few fractures and some stuff to heal so it will take some time, I'm sure."

The main thing you should take from those series of answers? Staal is improving and obviously the damage wasn't what we all initially feared it would be (a complete loss of vision from his eye). His vision isn't where it needs to be for him to play right now, and one of the two even said there's hope he plays again this year, but that's still up in the air.

The good news is that Staal will be back. At some point. Even if it's not this year, he will be back.

That's awesome news from a non-hockey perspective (which is what's most important). The Rangers do miss him (which has been evident with some of their defensive lapses) but it's far more important that he gets healthy than rushing back to help the team.

Thoughts?