Both teams have had to deal with injuries, so their preparations have been impacted
And Chock & Bates, Hawayek & Baker, and Fukase & Tateno as well. Feels like a lot for dance--three of the top ten heading into the season. (Also two of the top ten from Junior Worlds with Lagouge & Rahier and the Greens not able to skate the JGP). We do usually see some teams pushing back debuts in order to be ready after summer injuries and/or surgery so perhaps it just seems unusually high because the injuries come in addition to all the retirements and splits during a post-Olympic season?