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Injury

Zdeno Chara Out Four To Six Weeks

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The news is in for Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara when it comes to how long he’ll miss due to his knee injury.  Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that the captain will be out of Boston’s lineup for the next four to six weeks.  The injury occurred early in their game on Wednesday against Colorado.

That’s yet another big blow to their back end which has been decimated by injuries in the early going this season to the point where they’ve had three rookies make their NHL debuts in the last three weeks.  While Chara isn’t a number one blueliner like he once was, he still can log significant minutes as he’s averaging 21:30 per night in 18 games while chipping in with four points.

The injury won’t affect Chara’s games played bonuses in his contract as he has already played enough games (ten) to qualify for his $1.25MM bonus.

With Connor Clifton up on an emergency basis, the Bruins now have a dozen defensemen up with them at the moment with half of those dealing with injuries of some sort.  Of those, only John Moore and Kevan Miller appear to be somewhat close to returning.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them look to add a depth defender in the days to come that could at the very least supplement their options in the minors.  They have just three more defensemen on an NHL contract left in AHL Providence and of those, Cody Goloubef suffered a lower-body injury last night in their game against Lehigh Valley.

Trevor Lewis Out Week-To-Week With Broken Foot

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The hits keep coming for the Los Angeles Kings, who today lost another player to a relatively long-term injury. Veteran forward Trevor Lewis broke hit foot today at morning skate when he was hit with the puck and is out on a week-to-week basis. The team also announced that Cole Kehler has been recalled given the illness that struck Peter Budaj, but the veteran goaltender is backing up Cal Petersen anyway. For now Kehler will serve as insurance should either get injured or be unable to suit up.

The big news though is Lewis, who while still not a dominating offensive presence is one of the Kings key forwards nonetheless. Averaging just under 14 minutes a night, the 31-year old Lewis had been one of the team’s regular penalty killers and was actually recording positive possession statistics this season. He had just three points in 17 games, but part of that was due to his low shooting percentage—a skill he’s never been particularly good at. Still very effective in his own end, he could be relied on by new head coach Willie Desjardins in tough situations.

Even though this seems as though someone is just beating an already defeated Kings team, perhaps this is an injury that can come with some upside. The big-bodied forward is perhaps a perfect example of how the Kings have deteriorated, as his style isn’t well suited to the new up tempo NHL game. Lewis isn’t an extremely talented skater and doesn’t possess high end puck skills, making him part of the perceived problem in Los Angeles, not the solution. His penalty killing role can immediately be taken over by newcomer Carl Hagelin, though it’s not clear who will get a increased opportunity up front with his absence.

Still, even if Lewis isn’t a world beater at this point the Kings are starting to be stretched extremely thin. Their goaltending situation is extremely troubling, and their forward group simply can’t score enough to keep them in games. Hopefully an injury like this and the recent trade of Tanner Pearson means they can inject some youth and excitement into the lineup, because if not this could end up being a very long year for Kings fans.

Jason Demers Expected To Miss Remainder Of Season With Knee Injury

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If you’re a defenseman in Boston or Arizona, stay safe. Both the Boston Bruins and Arizona Coyotes have been ravaged by injuries to their back end this season, with the latest victim being Jason Demers. John Gambadoro and Matt Layman of AZ Sports are reporting that Demers will miss the entire season with a knee injury suffered Thursday night. The Coyotes had already placed Jakob Chychrun back on injured reserve where he joined Alex Goligoski, and recalled Robbie Russo from Tucson.

Demers has never been a huge point producer, but is nevertheless one of the most important defenseman on the Coyotes. Acquired from the Florida Panthers before last season, he logged more than 21 minutes a night in 2017-18 while recording his usual solid possession statistics. While that ice time has dropped slightly this season, he’s still an effective right-handed defender that can be used in almost any situation. Even with the Panthers retaining some salary he still costs the Coyotes nearly $4MM per season, a salary that a team like Arizona doesn’t hand out without expecting substantial contributions.

The Coyotes are actually the only team in the Pacific Division with a positive goal differential, but will have a tough time continuing that with such a battered blue line. Players like Russo are not long-term options, which will bring about plenty of speculation about whether the team will go out and try to acquire some more depth. While Chychrun and Goligoski are expected to return before long, losing a player like Demers will continue to put stress on that blue line all season. For a team trying to compete for a playoff spot, there might have to be a change in the near future.

John Moore Out, Bruins To Debut Two Rookie Defensemen

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When GM Don Sweeney and the Boston Bruins front office were looking ahead to this season, they were anticipating a strong starting six on defense with veteran depth and promising rookies in reserve. A quarter of the way through the season, the Bruins have yet to play a game with all six of their projected starters: Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo, Kevan Miller, and free agent addition John Moore. Instead, the team has rotated through ten different defensemen due to continuous injury issues. Tonight, they’ll add two more.

In the Bruins’ Wednesday night game against the Colorado Avalanche, they lost captain Chara to an apparent knee injury. He joined McAvoy (concussion), Carlo (upper-body), Miller (hand), and rookie Urho Vaakanainen (concussion) on the shelf. Then today, Moore was unexpectedly absent from morning skate and the team announced that he was day-to-day with a lower-body injury of his own. The loss leaves the Bruins with just one starter – Krug – in the lineup and missing all of their regular right-side defenders. Krug and Matt Grzelcyk are the only active defensemen who played a game for Boston last season.

When the Bruins take on the Dallas Stars tonight – and likely Saturday at the Arizona Coyotes as well – they will roll out a defensive corps that includes three rookies. Jeremy Lauzon has skated in six games with Boston already and the team announced that Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton will make their NHL debuts tonight. Zboril, 21, is a 2015 first-round pick who has been slow to develop but has been a capable shutdown defender in the AHL. Clifton, 23, was a college free agent out of Quinnipiac University who signed with the Providence Bruins last year and earned an NHL contract with his play. While all three rookies have shown promise, they hardly seem equipped to play the roles expected of them early on in their NHL careers. The current Bruins defensive figuration has just 667 career NHL games to their credit and just 262 not counting Krug. Boston needs some luck and strong outings by Tuukka Rask tonight and Jaroslav Halak tomorrow to survive this unbelievable injury bug.

Andrei Vasilevskiy Suffers Serious Foot Injury, Out Four To Six Weeks

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11/16: Tampa Bay has updated the situation, confirming that Vasilevskiy did indeed suffer a left foot fracture. The Lightning announced that their starting goalie is expected to miss four to six weeks while he recovers. The timeline leaves open the possibility that Vasilevsky could return to the Tampa net by the middle of next month, possibly in time for a divisional clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 13th. However, on the other end of the spectrum, Vasilevskiy may have already played his final game of the 2018 calendar year.

11/15: The Tampa Bay Lightning lost their last game at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres 2-1, but may have suffered a loss even bigger just a few days prior. Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has suffered a broken left foot, while Joe Smith of The Athletic confirms that he’s going in for evaluation later today. The last game Vasilevskiy had played was a 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on the weekend. Louis Domingue will now likely take over the full-time starting duties for the Lightning as they deal with this situation, and Eddie Pasquale has been recalled from the Syracuse Crunch.

Vasilevskiy apparently injured the foot at practice while making a save, and has been sent back to Tampa Bay to have further testing done. In the meantime the team has already placed him on injured reserve, meaning they know that he’ll be out for at least a week. If it turns into a long-term issue, the Lightning have to be concerned about their precarious lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division, given Domingue’s lack of experience as a true starter.

Since being drafted in 2010, the 26-year old Domingue has just 101 NHL games under his belt and has never played more than 39 in a single season. Even that was several years ago with the Arizona Coyotes, and since Pasquale has still yet to make an appearance at the NHL level the Lightning don’t have a ton of experience in the crease right now. Domingue did perform well after coming over to the Lightning last season and earned himself a two-year extension with the team. He’ll have to earn every penny of that paycheck now, as the Lightning will have to rely on him for the foreseeable future.

Arizona Coyotes’ Jakob Chychrun Returns To IR

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The excitement surrounding young Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun and his return to the lineup was short-lived. After missing 32 games last season with a knee injury and the beginning of this campaign due to off-season surgery, Chychrun finally got back into to the ’Yotes lineup on Tuesday night. He even celebrated his return by signing a six-year extension just hours before the game. However, Chychrun was held out of last night’s game, listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury suffered in just his first game back. His bad luck got worse today, as CapFriendly reports that Chychrun has been placed on injured reserve with the upper-body condition and is set to miss even more time.

Chychrun, 20, was the 16th overall pick in 2016 and has shown a well-rounded arsenal of ability even in his limited 119 games over two plus seasons. However, the same concerns expressed when he signed his long-term, $26.7MM contract this week are now amplified even further. Chychrun would be far from the first NHL player to show incredible talent, but simply struggle to stay on the ice. Granted, an injured Chychrun can be placed on IR and does not affect the cap calculations of the Coyotes, a low-budget team anyway. However, if the composition of the team moving forward is built around a dependence on Chychrun’s availability, that could be trouble for GM John Chayka and company. There is also the possibility that reoccurring injuries begin to toll on the style and intensity of Chychrun’s game, especially since the young rearguard has shown a propensity for toughness and grit early on. There is substantial risk in Chycrhun’s new extension and yet another injury only exasperates it.

With Chychrun out, joining Alex Goligoski on the IR, as well as concerns over the availability of Jason Demers, who left last night’s game with a lower-body injury, the Arizona defensive corps is beat up right now. The team recalled Robbie Russo earlier this morning and fortunately still have Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niklas Hjalmarsson at 100%. Still, the likes of Kevin Connauton, Jordan Oesterle, and Ilya Lyubushkin will be asked to step up while the team works its way back to full health on the blue line.

Brian Elliott Out Two Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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When the Philadelphia Flyers recalled Alex Lyon from the AHL this morning, it was an indication that every was not alright with starter Brian Elliott. Elliott left the Flyers’ game against the New Jersey Devils last night after appearing to overextend himself going post-to-post in the third period. Elliott was then absent from practice today. While the exact ailment remains unclear, the team announced after practice that he suffered a lower-body injury and will be out approximately two weeks.

Neither Elliott nor the Flyers are strangers to injury. Elliott, 33, has missed more than 50 games due to injury in his NHL career, including 29 games last season alone. In his second year in Philadelphia, injuries have been a reoccurring issue for Elliott, particularly of the lower-body variety. Between Elliott missing time and Anthony Stolarz missing the whole 2017-18 season, Philadelphia was forced to lean on backup Michal Neuvirth, the rookie Lyon, and trade acquisition Petr Mrazek. A season later, only the names and roles have changed. This year it has been Neuvirth limited to just one game due to injury, Lyon hampered with injuries early on, and now another absence from Elliott, while preseason waiver pickup Calvin Pickard has had to stand in as the backup and now starter. With Stolarz and promising rookie Carter Hart also available, the Flyers continue to be saved by their depth these past two seasons, but would enjoy a stretch of health from their starter and primary backup at some point this season.

Through 14 appearances this season, Elliot is 6-7-0 with a .911 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average and he has improved as the season has worn on. His numbers are solid, but look incredible compared to the paltry performance of Pickard thus far. Pickard will have to step up over the next two weeks or more if the Flyers are to survive this stretch, or else Lyon will have to have another miraculous run like last season. Flyers beat writer Bill Meltzer also reports that Neuvirth skated yesterday and may potentially be able to return while Elliott remains sidelined. Whoever is able to take the reins in net in Philadelphia could be one of the team’s heroes this season. With a .500 record thus far, two weeks of poor goalie play could sink the team as they approach the one-third mark of the season.

Minor Transactions: 11/16/18

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Friday night in the NHL brings six games across the league including several Eastern Conference teams travelling west. Tyler Seguin will welcome in his former team when Boston comes to Dallas, while Tyler Myers will do the same in Winnipeg when Jack Eichel and the Sabres come to town. As teams prepare, we’ll be here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • Alex Lyon is back up with the Philadelphia Flyers after Brian Elliott suffered another injury, continuing what has become a trend for the club this season. Lyon didn’t get onto the ice during his earlier recall, meaning he’s still looking to make his 2018-19 debut at the NHL level. The 25-year old goaltender is 2-2-0 with a .910 save percentage in the minor leagues this season.
  • With Zdeno Chara flying back to Boston to be evaluated for his latest injury, the Bruins have recalled Connor Clifton for the first time. The former Quinnipiac University captain is in his second professional season and has four points through 14 games with the Providence Bruins. Clifton signed his first NHL contract in May, after finding just an AHL deal coming out of college.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets needed some help from the minors while they dealt with the flu yesterday, but apparently are feeling better. Zac Dalpe and Jean-Francois Berube have been returned to the AHL while the team recalled Gabriel Carlsson once again. Columbus managed a win even without Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky in the lineup, something Blue Jackets fans will be happy to see given their current contract situations.
  • After Jason Demers left with a lower-body injury last night, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled defenseman Robbie Russo from the minor leagues. Russo played 19 games for the Detroit Red Wings in 2016-17, but spent all of last season at the minor league level and has only played for the Tucson Roadrunners this year. The 25-year old defenseman can move the puck quickly, but hasn’t shown he can be a legitimate NHL option so far in his career.
  • The Washington Capitals won’t need to dress an emergency backup again tonight. The team has recalled rookie Ilya Samsonov from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to serve as the backup to now-starter Pheonix Copley. Samsonov, 21, is in his first season in North America and already making his first NHL call-up. The 2015 first-round pick has actually struggled in the AHL thus far, but nevertheless got the call over Hershey starter Vitek Vanecek. Samsonov flew to Denver to meet the team ahead of their game against the Colorado Avalanche. Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was the on-paper demotion to make room for Samsonov, but will remain with the team through their current road trip.

Injury Updates: Bruins, Vilardi, Hertl, Maroon

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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.

Snapshots: Team Canada, Rieder, Vesalainen

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The World Junior Championship is just over a month away, and the selection camp for Team Canada will begin on December 10th in Victoria, British Columbia. That camp will decide who takes part in the top junior tournament in the world, and there are already projections being made on who will be attending. Sam Cosentino of Sportsnet breaks down who he believes will be there battling for roster spots, and the group includes plenty of already drafted NHL prospects. Evan Bouchard (Oilers), Noah Dobson (Islanders) and Ty Smith (Devils) highlight an impressive blue line, while Alex Formenton (Senators), Cody Glass (Golden Knights) and Morgan Frost (Flyers) appear in a forward group that is going to have to cut some extremely talented prospects.

Perhaps most notably is the appearance of Alexis Lafreniere, who isn’t eligible for selection until 2020 but is the early favorite to go first overall. Even though he only turned 17 last month, Lafreniere already has 54 goals and 116 points in 81 regular season QMJHL games. Players as young as him often get left out of tournaments like this given they’ll have other chances in the future, but the Canadian brain trust may just have to bring him along like they have other exceptional talents in the past.

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