The Bruins have not had much in the way of good luck when it comes to injuries, particularly on their back end. They can add Zdeno Chara to the list of the walking wounded after he sustained a lower-body injury on Wednesday night and the team has sent him back to Boston for testing. It doesn’t appear any help is on the immediate horizon either; Matt Porter of the Boston Globe notes that of their injured defensemen (which also includes Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller, Brandon Carlo, and Urho Vaakanainen), Miller is the only one that is somewhat close to a return but isn’t expected to be ready to play for a few more games. As a result, they project to have a pretty inexperienced unit when they face off against Dallas on Friday night.
More injury notes from what has been a particularly rough day around the league:
- Kings prospect center Gabriel Vilardi has been cleared to participate in full practices, GM Rob Blake told Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). He is expected to be re-evaluated in two weeks where the team will determine the next step. Although Vilardi can’t play full-time for their AHL affiliate in Ontario, he can go down on a conditioning loan while the Canadian World Junior training camp is roughly one month away and will also be an option for the 19-year-old given his performance at the OHL level last season.
- Sharks winger Tomas Hertl is dealing with a lower-body injury, notes Kevin Kurz of The Athletic (Twitter link). Head coach Peter DeBoer stated that no surgery is needed and that he won’t be out for weeks so fortunately for San Jose, it appears to be a somewhat minor issue. The 25-year-old is off to a very strong start to his season, collecting 16 points (5-11-16) in 16 games and sits fourth on the team in scoring despite missing three games earlier this month with a head injury.
- In his first game back after spending two games as a healthy scratch, Blues forward Patrick Maroon suffered an upper-body injury. The team announced that they have sent him back to St. Louis for testing and have ruled him out of the final three games on their current road trip. The veteran got off to a good start to his first season in his hometown with six assists in his first nine games but has just one in five contests since then.
Vilardi is only 19 and he already has a reputation of being made out of glass. I hope he can turn it around and stay healthy. LA needs him to succeed.