Injury Updates: Knyzhov, Wild, Anderson
When Sharks defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov was expected to miss eight to ten weeks after undergoing surgery for a lower-body injury, it appears he’s well behind schedule in his recovery. The early point of that timeline would have had him returning now but Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News mentions that the blueliner is still very early in the rehab stage and doesn’t appear to be close to returning. Knyzhov very quietly played in all 56 games for San Jose last season, collecting 10 points while logging nearly 17 minutes a night on the back end. This slow recovery will make it tough for them to rely on his return in the second half which means the team may need to look to the trade market to try to add some low-cost depth.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- While a firm diagnosis on Joel Eriksson Ek’s injury isn’t yet known, Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribute notes that the Wild center was spotted postgame in a sling which suggests he’ll be out for a little while at least. That would be a big blow to Minnesota’s attack with the 24-year-old on pace for career highs offensively as he currently has 11 goals and nine assists in 30 games. Minnesota should have winger Jordan Greenway back for their next game on Monday after he missed yesterday’s contest due to a lower-body injury.
- Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson is making progress as he works his way back from his upper-body injury with GM Kevyn Adams expressing optimism that he’d be back this season, relays Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. Harrington notes that the injury is believed to be a head or neck issue which would help explain the uncertain timeline; he started off as day-to-day before being re-classified as month-to-month. Anderson was off to a nice start before the injury, posting a 2.50 GAA with .921 SV% in his first six starts.
Injury Notes: Wilson, Stone, Boyle
According to The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, the Washington Capitals placed right wing Tom Wilson on injured reserve, although the move is retroactive to December 10. He hasn’t played the last week as he deals with an upper-body injury. Due to the retroactive nature of the move, he can be activated at any time. The team needed to free up roster space for Garnet Hathaway, though, who came off COVID protocol today, and moving Wilson to injured reserve accomplished that. Wilson’s day-to-day status hasn’t changed. He has nine goals and 15 assists in 27 games this season, on pace for a career-high in points.
More injury notes from around the league:
- Many Vegas Golden Knights fans were concerned when captain Mark Stone missed today’s game with an upper-body injury due to his lengthy absence earlier in the season. However, head coach Peter DeBoer said after the game today that he doesn’t expect Stone to be out long-term. That’s great news for a Vegas team that’s finally getting on a roll after a nightmarish season in terms of health. The team now sits atop the Pacific Division, the place many expected them to be before an injury bug bit the team hard. The captain’s been red-hot recently, scoring four goals and 17 assists in 18 games.
- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Brian Boyle is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and won’t play tonight against the New Jersey Devils, head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed. Pittsburgh somewhat unexpectedly added Boyle, who didn’t play at all in 2020-21, to the roster prior to training camp with injuries to both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin limiting them down the middle. Boyle’s gotten into 19 of Pittsburgh’s 29 games, scoring three goals and providing a good defensive game.
Winnipeg Places Blake Wheeler On Long-Term Injured Reserve
The Winnipeg Jets have been missing captain Blake Wheeler for more than a week with an undisclosed lower-body injury, but there had been no update on the club as to how long he might remain out. Context has now arrived, as the team has announced that Wheeler has been placed on Long-Term Injured Reserve. The Jets have recalled forwards Kristian Reichel and C.J. Suess to help backfill the forward corps in Wheeler’s absence.
Wheeler was initially injured on December 10 against the Vancouver Canucks in a collision in front of the net. Wheeler went down holding his knee and in obvious pain. The initial belief was that Wheeler could miss multiple weeks with the undisclosed injury and the move to LTIR would back that up that timeline, if not extend it.
Although Wheeler has only one goal on the season, far from normal for the experienced scorer, he still has 17 points in 22 games, making him the third-best per-game scorer for a Jets team that is struggling to meet expectations this season. Currently sitting in sixth in the Central Division and outside of the playoff picture, Winnipeg will be hard-pressed to turn their season around with Wheeler sidelined and will be hoping for a speedy recovery.
Blackhawks’ Brett Connolly To Face Player Safety Hearing
It was a scary scene in Dallas on Saturday night as forward Tanner Kero had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher early in the first period following a vicious collision along the boards. Kero was unconscious when he left the ice, surrounded by the entire Stars roster, but fortunately the team announced shortly thereafter that he was “conscious, alert, and responsive.” Kero was transported to an area hospital for further evaluation and treatment. There has been no further update from the team.
The guilty party in the incident was Blackhawks forward Brett Connolly. The physical winger hit Kero along the boards as the puck was being cleared out of the Stars’ defensive zone. Though the puck was near Kero, he did not have a reasonable opportunity to play it. Connolly’s check was unexpected and blindsided Kero (video). Connolly received a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct as a result.
However, that may not be the end of his discipline. The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Connolly will face a hearing today to further evaluate the play in question. While Connolly did already serve essentially a full-game suspension, having been handed a game misconduct just a few minutes into the contest, there is reason to believe that an actual suspension could still be coming. The severity of Kero’s injury could be taken into account, as could the optics of the interference call – hitting a defenseless player. The counter argument is that Connolly has no history with Player Safety. A decision should arrive later today.
Canadiens Add Lehkonen To Protocol, Place Armia, Perreault On Injured Reserve
The Montreal Canadiens made a slew of roster moves today, adding Artturi Lehkonen to the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol and placing Joel Armia and Mathieu Perreault on injured reserve, per a team tweet.
Armia is out with an undisclosed injury after being a game-time decision on Thursday. He’s been in and out of the lineup this month with an undisclosed ailment and has just five points in 29 games this year. He signed a four-year extension worth $3.4MM with the team this past offseason.
Perreault was classified as day-to-day with a lower-body injury on Thursday. He has three goals (a hat-trick) and an assist in 14 games this year, battling an eye injury early in the season.
Both Armia and Perreault are ineligible to play until after the holiday break.
Lehkonen is the only Canadien officially on COVID protocol. Through all 31 games this year, he had four goals and seven assists.
Montreal will likely have to make some recalls, as these transactions leave them with just 10 active forwards on the roster.
Nikita Zaitsev To Miss A Month
The Senators have been hit quite hard with the injury bug this season and they’ve now lost another veteran. NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman relays (Twitter link) that defenseman Nikita Zaitsev will miss the next four weeks due to a heel injury. The injury was sustained in Thursday’s game against Tampa and he was seen on crutches following the game.
The 30-year-old has had a more limited role than he has been accustomed to this season. After logging more than 22 minutes a night in four of his first five seasons (including both years with Ottawa), Zaitsev is down to a career-low 18:32 per night. As a result, his offensive production has tapered off as well as he has just a goal and an assist in 22 contests so far this season although he’s once again averaging close to two hits and blocks per game.
Zaitsev’s absence should provide an opportunity for the recently-recalled Jacob Bernard-Docker to get into the lineup. When the team waived Michael Del Zotto earlier this month, part of the logic was to create a roster spot for Bernard-Docker to rejoin the big club but he has been a healthy scratch since being brought up on December 9th. As he’s one of now only six healthy blueliners on the active roster, that should change.
Meanwhile, Zaitsev joins fellow blueliners Josh Brown and Erik Brannstrom plus centers Colin White and Shane Pinto on injured reserve. Of that group, Brannstrom appears to be the closest to returning with the Senators hoping he’ll be able to resume skating after the holiday break. Brannstrom has been out for a little more than a month with a broken hand.
Devils Place P.K. Subban In COVID Protocol, MacKenzie Blackwood Injured
The bad news just keeps on coming for the Devils. The team made a pair of announcements, revealing that goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is dealing with a neck injury and will not be accompanying the team to Detroit for their game tonight while defenseman P.K. Subban has been placed in COVID protocol.
The Devils haven’t had a lot of good luck on the injury front when it comes to their goaltending. When they were healthy, they wound up losing Scott Wedgewood on waivers to Arizona last month. Earlier this month, Jonathan Bernier suffered a hip injury, one that could be a longer-term issue. First-year pros Nico Daws and Akira Schmid have both seen action (Schmid’s coming this week) and New Jersey recently acquired Jon Gillies from the Blues, a player that had just signed an NHL contract days earlier. Now, Blackwood’s absence – one that carries a day-to-day designation – means that Schmid and Gillies will serve as their tandem for the time being.
As for Subban, he is now the fifth Devil to enter COVID protocol, joining blueliners Ryan Graves and Christian Jaros plus forwards Nico Hischier and Jesper Boqvist. Subban had been held out of their game against Vegas on Thursday for precautionary measures but that won’t count as time spent in protocol; he will still need to miss at least ten days unless follow-up testing reveals a false positive.
Drew Doughty Placed In COVID Protocol
A seemingly never-ending stream of COVID-19 news this week continues, as the Los Angeles Kings announced today that defenseman Drew Doughty entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. Additionally, the team placed Andreas Athanasiou on injured reserve retroactive to December 14.
It’s been a tough season health-wise for Doughty, but when he’s been in the lineup, he’s having one of his best seasons in recent memory. Limited to only 11 games this season after a knee injury early in the year, Doughty had 13 points in 11 games, the best scoring pace of his career. He now joins Mikey Anderson, Alexander Edler, and Sean Walker as the unavailable defensemen for the Kings.
The Kings are scheduled to play Florida tonight, who’s facing COVID issues as well.
Athanasiou is out with a lower-body injury, continuing what’s been a successful but injury-riddled campaign for him as well. When in the lineup, he’s been a productive depth piece for the team with six points in 11 games. He’ll miss at least the next five days due to the retroactive nature of the injured reserve placement.
Buffalo’s Robert Hagg Out Month-To-Month With Lower-Body Injury
The Buffalo Sabres announced in today’s injury report that defenseman Robert Hagg is out month-to-month with a lower-body injury. Hagg was injured in the second period of the team’s last game on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, playing 16 shifts and 11:30 before leaving.
Hagg is in his first season with the Sabres after the team acquired him from the Philadelphia Flyers this summer in the Rasmus Ristolainen trade. He’s put up results consistent with the rest of his career in a slightly increased role, seeing his highest ice time average since his rookie season in 2017-18.
Through 25 games, Hagg has a goal and four assists for five points and a -12 rating.
He’d most recently been playing on his off-side on a pairing with Jacob Bryson. Colin Miller, who’s seen some time in the press box recently despite putting up a respectable 11 points in 26 games (while averaging 20:01 per game), will slot back into the lineup.
It’s not all bad news on the injury front for the Sabres, however. New acquisition Alex Tuch is now listed as week-to-week and is no longer practicing in a non-contact jersey. He could look to make his Sabres debut before the New Year after having shoulder surgery last offseason.
Christian Dvorak Out Indefinitely With Lower-Body Injury
The Montreal Canadiens continue to plod their way through a disastrous season and now will have to do it without the help of a prized offseason acquisition. Christian Dvorak is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury and will be evaluated daily. Dvorak has already missed three games since exiting last week’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team has also announced that Brendan Gallagher and Sami Niku have exited the COVID protocol, but will not practice with the main group yet as they build their conditioning back up. They are expected to rejoin the team later in the week.
Dvorak, acquired from the Arizona Coyotes after the Carolina Hurricanes signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet, had 12 points in 27 games before going down to injury. The 25-year-old center was playing more than 18 minutes a night, but still scoring at a pace right around his career average. That could be considered a disappointment, given the fact that he told Montreal media he had “more to prove offensively” after leaving the desert. Should this injury force him out for a good chunk of the season, it seems unlikely that he’ll break his career-high of 18 goals or 38 points, both set in the 2019-20 season.
Perhaps more importantly though is that Dvorak was brought in to solidify the center ice position after Phillip Danault‘s departure, a position that will once again be in question with him out. That could probably be said about every spot on the ice with the long list of absences Montreal is dealing with, which also includes key players like Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson, Joel Edmundson, and Carey Price.
It’s a lost season for the Canadiens, who are now 6-21-3 on the season and ahead of only the Coyotes league-wide. A silver lining? The Carolina Hurricanes are in a solid playoff position, meaning the first-round pick Montreal owes Arizona for Dvorak won’t be their own.