Concussion makes Tanabe's future tenuous

Hurricanes could buy out defender

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes don't expect defenseman David Tanabe, who has been out since December with a concussion, to play again this NHL season. Whether he ever plays for them again is very much in doubt.

Tanabe hasn't been on the ice for two months and wasn't even at the RBC Center for the team picture last week. The Canes may even be forced to consider buying out the final year of his contract this summer.

Efforts to reach Tanabe's agent, Neil Sheehy, were unsuccessful Monday. Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford was unavailable for comment, but described Tanabe earlier this month as "week-to-week."

Tanabe, 27, was originally injured during the first period of a 3-2 victory in overtime over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 18. He remained in the game initially, leaving midway through the second period. He hasn't been back since, missing 36 games.

He was last seen on the ice on Jan. 2, when he went through the morning skate before a home game against the Atlanta Thrashers. At the time, he said he went through a 10-day stretch in which he couldn't see straight and that his parents were chauffeuring him around.

He called being on the ice with the team "a small victory." Since then, he's been out of action. The team moved him to the injured-reserve list the next day.

"He was responding pretty well to conservative-type measures until about the middle of January, his exercise tolerance and stuff like that," Hurricanes trainer Pete Friesen said. "But after that, he couldn't get over some residual symptoms that seemed to be plaguing him to this day -- headaches, some visual disturbances."

Because the Hurricanes believe Tanabe had only one prior concussion, and his original symptoms were so mild, his trouble recovering has been baffling.

"Those post-concussive guys usually have a history of some concussions, repetitive ones," Friesen said. "It's just been a strange one altogether."

Tanabe, the team's first-round pick in 1999, has played 329 games for Carolina in two separate stints with the team. He played for the Hurricanes in 2006-07 but remained a free agent when this season began.

He re-signed with the Canes in October after going to training camp with the St. Louis Blues and is under contract for $900,000 next season. The Hurricanes can buy him out this summer for $600,000.

With current long-term injuries to Tanabe, Justin Williams (knee), Chad LaRose (broken leg) and Rod Brind'Amour (knee) as well as earlier injuries to Andrew Ladd (ankle) and Scott Walker (chest), the Hurricanes have lost 276 man-games to injury this season.