Injury quick hits
Puck Pedia: Have heard that Los Angeles Kings defenseman Sean Walker will have surgery on his nose and is expected to be out for two to four weeks.
Last Thursday he took a Matt Dumba slapshot to the face.
Kristen Shilton: Toronto Maple Leafs Rasmus Sandin left practice early after he took a puck to the face.
Samantha Pell: Washington Capitals Lars Eller (upper body), Justin Schultz (upper body), Conor Sheary (lower body), Evgeny Kuznetsov (covid-19 list), Ilya Samsonov (covid-19 list) weren’t at practice yesterday.
Bertuzzi didn’t travel with the Red Wings
Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News: Detroit Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi has an upper-body injury and didn’t travel with the team. It’s likely that he’ll miss all of their six-game road trip.
Mrazek has surgery
Canes PR: Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Petr Mrazek underwent surgery to repair his right thumb. Timeline for his recovery will be determined over the next few days.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on the injury to Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Petr Mrazek.
“At first, the Carolina Hurricanes thought goaltender Petr Mrazek would be gone up to two months with that thumb injury, but, in fact, after speaking to a number of specialists the Hurricanes were told that Mrazek could be back in a couple of weeks. The goaltender is actually getting on a plane Wednesday to go see a specialist to take care of it. The Hurricanes believe they’ve avoided a major injury to their No. 1 netminder in a season in which they expect to contend for the Stanley Cup.”
Tarasenko still a ways away
Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post Dispatch: St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong on Vladimir Tarasenko.
“He’s on the ice, he’s skating now,” Armstrong said. “The mileposts that you go through on this stuff, you have the surgery, you start the rehab, you need to get back to the doctors that perform the surgery to check off on the next fence post in your rehabilitation. All of those have been checked off now so he’s on the ice, he’s conditioning, the shoulder is certainly not 100 percent right now but it’s at a point where the safety mechanisms are in place that we think he can skate. He can receive passes, make passes, shoot to a level of his comfort. He’s still a ways away. We won’t see him for a number of weeks but he’s certainly on the right track.”
When Tarasenko is ready to come off the LTIR, the Blues will need to make some moves to get back under the salary cap.
Lundqvist updates his status
I was not sure what to expect the first month after surgery. 4 weeks today and I feel strong, both body and mind filled with positive energy. Recovery is going well💪🏻😎 pic.twitter.com/62V7yGc958
— Henrik Lundqvist (@hlundqvist35) February 3, 2021