Don’t get hurt.
It’s the rallying cry for veterans during the NHL pre-season. And certainly the hope of coaches and GMs. But it has been a rough fall to date in the National Hockey League.
While we await official news on the extent of what Scott Arniel described as the freak injury that forced top-four defenceman Dylan Samberg to leave Saturday’s 4-2 win over Calgary early in the second period, the Jets are not alone by any measure when it comes to costly personnel losses in the lead-up to the regular season.
At the very top of that list would be two-time defending Stanley Cup champs, the Florida Panthers, who have lost the services of Sasha Barkov for what amounts to the entire 82-game schedule, based on a seven-to-nine month recovery period from a knee injury suffered during a training camp practice. Barkov is arguably the NHL’s best all-around player — so good luck to the Panthers in dealing with that crushing blow.
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Another team captain, Jamie Benn of Dallas, has a collapsed lung and will be re-evaluated in late October, according to the Stars.
Montreal rookie defenceman David Reinbacher and Seattle power forward Kaapo Kakko will each miss time with broken hands.
The list goes on, and practically every team around the league has their own tale of woe.
If Samberg does have to miss any considerable length of time, it’s not ideal for the Jets. But as coach Arniel and some of his players have been saying before and during training camp, this might be the deepest collection of talent this team has ever had.
And it could wind up being put to the test a lot sooner than was wanted. So Logan Stanley, Ville Heinola and Kale Clague — this could be the opportunity you’ve been preparing for.
Let’s see who among that trio of depth left-shot defenders is ready to take the puck and go with it.
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