Anaheim Ducks defenseman Clayton Stoner will not play tonight against the Arizona Coyotes. According to the AP, this roster move may be yet another case of mumps.
The Ducks announced during warmups that Stoner has symptoms similar to mumps. The Ducks say that he is not confirmed to have the virus.
Stoner will undergo further evaluation to determine whether he has mumps. The Ducks are no strangers to the mumps as Corey Perry and Francois Beauchemin have been afflicted with the virus in recent weeks.
Perry and Beauchemin each missed five games with the virus.
Beauchemin just returned to the lineup in the past couple of days.
The symptoms include: swelling of salivary glands and flu-like symptoms, including fever and aches.
You'll recall that the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues also have had players diagnosed with mumps following games against the Ducks at Honda Center in October.
Stoner has appeared in 20 games this season with no points, a minus-4 rating and 16 penalty minutes.
The Ducks can ill afford to lose another D-man this season. Between the mumps outbreak and long term injuries to Ben Lovejoy and Mark Fistric, the Ducks have been playing with a very vulnerable back end. To compound their defensive woes, they traded away stay at home D Bryan Allen to the Montreal Canadiens for sometimes power forward Rene Bourque earlier this week.
When you factor in injuries to their goalies Frederik Anderson and John Gibson and you can see why the Ducks (12-4-5, 29 points) are only +5 in terms of goal differential. The Ducks have scored 58 goals while allowing 53 goals against. The Ducks are fourth overall in the NHL right now despite their near-even goal differential.
Look for Bob Murray to step up his pursuit for a trade partner to deliver him a top 4 D in the next couple of weeks.
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