TORONTO -
Following weeks of attempted rehabilitation on his injured shoulder, Mike Komisarek has officially ended his debut season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, opting for surgery that will also prevent him from playing in the Vancouver Olympics.
The 28-year-old defenceman is set to undergo a procedure in Alabama next week for the injury that has kept him on the sidelines since a game in Calgary on Jan. 2. Komisarek had resumed skating within a week of the injury, and had been trying hard not to dwell on the possibility that has become a reality.
"It's definitely tough news when you find out you're not going to be playing hockey for four-to-six months," Komisarek said while teammates practised Thursday. "It's been a tough little while here, the last couple of weeks, trying to figure out one way or the other whether surgery is going to be needed."
Komisarek signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Leafs last summer, agreeing to a five-year contract reported to be worth US$22.5-million. He collected four assists in the 34 games he played before the injury.
Injuries have become a recurring theme over the last couple of seasons for Komisarek, who had still managed to play in more than 70 games in three of his first four full seasons in the NHL. He missed a handful of games with a leg injury earlier this season, after missing more than a dozen games with another upper body injury last season in Montreal.
He refused to elaborate on the specific nature of the injury.
His absence will be another blow for the U.S. Olympic team, which learned Monday that it would be without the services of veteran New Jersey defenceman Paul Martin, who is sidelined with a broken forearm. Martin has been out since October.
"Obviously, having a chance to represent your country in the Olympics is a huge honour, and you want to be a part of that," Komisarek said. "But I knew that it wouldn't be fair to go and play in the Olympics and have to shut my season down after I come back from Vancouver and miss the rest of the year.
"Obviously, the sooner I get something like that done -- the surgery -- the quicker I'll be able to start my rehab and be ready for next season."
