Injury Bothered Gagne As Far Back As Last Season

Simon Gagne answered questions about his decision to undergo surgery on Tuesday. He also said the injury has been “bothering me for a long time,” dating back to last season:

“It’s hard, it’s hard to take because surgery you usually try and stay away from during the season. The off-season is there for that. At the same time there’s never good timing in the season to have surgery, but it’s still early in the season. I’ll miss close to two months and I’ll have time to get back in shape and get my game back and feeling 100 percent when I’m skating. That’s something I wasn’t able to do right now. That’s why I think the decision was made to go ahead and do the surgery. After that I’ll be ready to have a strong end of the season and be 100 percent, then I’ll be healthy. But to be 100 percent and ready for the playoffs, I think it’s the right decision. It’s something that’s been kind of bothering me for a long time, not only this year, but from last season. I think we made the right decision to go ahead and fix everything. After that, like I said, I’ll get on a special program that a lot of others have had and had no problems in their career that followed. If I follow that and get the surgery I should be good. I want to stay away from that type of injury in the future.”