Kings left winger Marian Gaborik suffered a leg injury in Sunday’s Team Europe victory over Sweden at the World Cup of Hockey and left practice today on crutches, head coach Ralph Krueger told reporters, including Postmedia’s Michael Traikos. GM Dean Lombardi told Helene Elliott of the LA Times that Gaborik is expected to miss eight weeks as a result of the injury.
Gaborik has a pair of goals in four games so far at the tournament, ranking him fourth on Europe’s team in scoring. He is no stranger to the injury bug, missing considerable time over the years with various ailments and has only completed a full 82-game season once in his 15 year career.
Last season, the 34 year old played in 54 games with Los Angeles, scoring 12 goals while adding 10 assists; his 22 points were a career low as was his average ice time which came in at 14:57 per game. He missed 28 games due to a knee injury at the end of the year, one that also caused him to miss the beginning of the playoffs.
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Gaborik has five years remaining on his current contract with a cap hit of $4.875MM and is expected to be a top six forward for the Kings when he’s able to return to their lineup.