Injury updates around the NHL during tonight’s busy slate of games:
- Washington Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky will miss the rest of tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, reports the NHL’s Tom Gulitti. The Capitals’ young forward went down with an upper body injury after blocking a Detroit slapshot around the midsection that may have injured his hand. Burakovsky has 11G and 18A in 51 games this season, and is on pace for a career-high in points.
- Tom Gulitti also reports that Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson will also miss the rest of that Washington-Detroit game. Ericsson suffered an upper body injury during a hit by Washington’s Niklas Backstrom. Ericsson has 1G and 8A in 50 games this season and averages 19:29 minutes a night on Detroit’s second defensive pairing.
- AZCentral’s Sarah McLellan reports that pending unrestricted free agent Martin Hanzal did not participate in the Arizona Coyotes’ pregame skate this evening, meaning that Hanzal will miss tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Scouts attending the game will surely be disappointed as Hanzal is a hot commodity for teams looking for a playoff-run rental. Hanzal has 10G and 9A in 43 games so far this season.