The first week of the NHL season has been a nightmare for a few clubs with injuries cutting into depth and promise of the campaign to come.
This week the Pittsburgh Penguins reported the loss of Evgeni Malkin to a long-term injury. The Pens suggested that Malkin’s lower body injury was not season-ending.
“Whenever players go down, it always provides an opportunity for someone else to step up,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s just the nature of our business. Fortunately, we have some guys that we can put into the center-ice position that have familiarity and a comfort level there.”
Malkin went into the boards awkwardly after avoiding one of his teammates in the neutral zone.
Nick Bjugstad sustained a lower body injury in the same game, a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The two join Bryan Rust on the sidelines; Rust was injured in the preseason after taking shot off the hand.
In Dallas, the Stars have gotten off to an 0-3-0 record so far, and the MASH unit is needed there as well.
Blake Comeau (2-4 weeks), Jason Dickinson (undetermined),and Roman Polak (undetermined) were klnocled out of their game on 2 October.
“It’s tough, obviously,” Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. “The good thing is I don’t know what happened, what kind of injury it is, but if it’s the neck, it’s a good thing he stayed still. I think obviously, we didn’t want to think about it there after it happened. We’ve got to get back playing again. It’s tough to see a teammate go down like that.”
Polak sustained a fractured sternum in an altercation with the boards.
“The good news is Roman has full use of his extremities,” coach Jim Montgomery said after the game. “We hear he’s feeling pretty good at the hospital, but we don’t have results yet.”
Corey Perry (two weeks), Martin Hanzal (undetermined), and Stephen Johns (undetermined) are all on the sidelines for the Stars.
Cody Eakin and Nate Schmidt were placed on injured reserve by the Vegas Golden Knights this week.
They join Alex Tuch on long-term injury reserve.
You must be logged in to post a comment.