Nikolaj Ehlers Undergoes Surgery

Nov 23: Ehlers underwent surgery today in Detroit, according to Sean Reynolds of Sportsnet. Team reporter Sara Orlesky tweets that the expected recovery period is between six and eight weeks. Even that timeline seems optimistic, and sports hernia surgeries are notorious for affecting hockey performance long after a player is medically cleared.

Nov 19: It has been a tough year so far for Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers.  He suffered an injury in the second game of the season and hasn’t played since then, missing a month.  It’ll be quite a while before he’s back as head coach Rick Bowness told reporters, including Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun that Ehlers will undergo sports hernia surgery next week with no timetable for his return.  However, he is expected to return at some point this season.

The 26-year-old has been a key part of Winnipeg’s attack for several years now and was coming off arguably his best season in 2021-22 when he had 28 goals and 27 assists in 62 games.  He was even productive in his lone two appearances with a trio of assists this year.  Unsurprisingly, his absence has been a blow to the Jets’ offense this season as they enter play today sitting 28th in the league in goals scored although strong goaltending has helped lead them to a 10-4-1 record.  Ehlers had taken part in a skate with the team back on Wednesday in the hopes of returning but clearly, something didn’t go as planned.

Winnipeg is one of only nine teams with at least $1MM in cap space at the moment, per CapFriendly which gives them at least a little bit of flexibility to work with.  They’re currently carrying eight defensemen and could move out one of those to free up a bit more space to add a replacement forward beyond a recall from AHL Manitoba which is how they’ve managed so far even with forwards Morgan Barron and Mason Appleton out after undergoing wrist surgeries.  While GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was likely wanting to hold onto his cap space to maximize his options at the trade deadline, a prolonged absence for one of his top forwards might be enough to force his hand sooner than he’d have liked to.