Simek Being Extra Careful With 2nd Concussion This Season

Radim Simek wants to make sure he is 110 percent before returning to the line-up.

On New Year’s Eve, the San Jose Sharks defenseman collided with Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment, suffering a concussion.

Radim Simek shaken up here.
Worry about another concussion this season. pic.twitter.com/etM8nFxuSj

— JD Young (@MyFryHole) January 1, 2023

“[He is a] big guy. He did a good move for him, bad move for me. That’s all I can say,” Simek said on Tuesday.

Simek has skated the last three days at the end of practice, among his first trips back on the ice since that reverse hit. So he is progressing.

But it’s his second concussion this season, after a Mason Shaw cheapshot in November.

SJHN Daily: Simek Says Shaw Hit ‘Dirty’

“Like one day you can feel like good, you know? You can do hard stuff in the gym and on the bike,” Simek explained of his current plight. “But the next day, sometimes I was like [feeling it] more than the day before.”

San Jose Sharks head coach David Quinn also addressed the media on Tuesday about Simek’s process to return to the lineup.

“He’s dying to get back in there. We’re dying to get him in there,” Quinn said. “We’re just gonna have to let the healing process run its course.”

Both Quinn and Simek want to play it even more cautiously than they did the last time.

Simek told San Jose Hockey Now that he feels that this concussion is lasting longer because it is the second one he’s had this season.

“Maybe I could’ve stayed [out like] two more games, but I was 100 percent,” Simek said of his Nov. 25 return from Shaw’s Nov. 13 high hit.

So Simek wants to be better than 100 percent in his next return.

Without a proper timetable to return, Simek has begun to feel the mental effects of being away from the team.

“It’s tough. I’ve [been out] two weeks already,” Simek said. “Hopefully, I will stay with the team soon, and I will play soon. It’s a hard time for me now.”