Comments / New

Injury update: Jarret Stoll practices for first time after concussion, isn’t expected back for Game 6

The Kings had welcome news on the injury front today: Jarret Stoll participated in his first light team practice since suffering a concussion in Game 1 against the Sharks.

After skating for the first time yesterday, Stoll joined the group wearing a no-contact jersey and took some shots.

Sutter, who had been a bit cagey about Stoll’s injury prior to this, talked openly about the slow pace of recovery brain injuries require.

“You know what, when he gets hurt, then symptoms – concussion symptoms – seven or eight symptoms, which basically tell you whether it’s a concussion or not. Obviously he was symptomatic, so symptoms subside. Then you do your baseline tests. Then you do light activity. Then you do light activity with a group, see if there’s any other symptoms, and then you have to by symptom-free again, which basically is the next day. Right? So it’s still a- [Reporter: A ways.] Yeah.” – LA Kings Insider

The day after Stoll was injured, Sutter implied that he expected Stoll to miss at least the rest of the series. This explains why.

A concussion diagnosis is reason for extreme caution. Stoll had already suffered one severe concussion earlier in his career, which caused him to miss the last 30 games of the 2006-07 regular season.

Slow and steady progress

Here’s the timeline for Stoll’s recovery process so far.

  • May 14 – Suffers concussion
  • May 22 – Rides bike after eight days of inactivity
    May 23 – Rides bike again
  • May 24 – Skates for 15 minutes
  • May 25 – Light practice with the team for roughly 50 minutes /

Obviously, Stoll has passed baseline tests if he’s permitted to practice even in a limited way. These are encouraging signs so far, but we must wait and see if he can handle more strenuous workouts without any setbacks. So long as symptoms don’t recur, they will gradually increase his activity.

Given the nature of concussions, we can’t project a definite time frame for recovery. But even if Stoll continues to make good progress, it still looks likely he’ll be out for the rest of the second round. Game 6 is tomorrow; Game 7, if necessary, would be on the 28th.

We wish Stoll all the best in his recovery.

Talking Points