From all-star to IR in the span of 24 hours.
Tanner Pearson was thought to have suffered a broken ankle last night in the second period of the Kings shootout loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Tanner Pearson has a broken ankle.
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) January 11, 2015As the forward crashed hard to the net to pick up a rebound of Hutchinson, he was cleared out of the way by the Jets defenseman and lost his footing. Pearson slid awkwardly into the boards and it appeared his ankle turned unnaturally to the side as he made contact. He was unable to put any weight on it as he went to the bench.
Here is a quick screen grab from the incident, and as you can see his leg is definitely turned in an unnatural fashion.
Here is the play at full speed.
Pearson has been placed on IR and is listed as out indefinitely.
Nothing official, but Pearson will go to IR, Nick Shore will be recalled at some point, likely today.
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) January 11, 2015The good news in that last tweet is that the AHL phenom, Nick Shore, is on the way.
The Kings are having to deal with a few injuries as of late, as Regehr continues his recovery, McNabb has reportedly been "Banged up", and Tyler Toffoli suffers with mono.
Shore, 22, currently has 20 goals and 41 points for the Monarchs this year in 37 games. The former 2011 third round selection has been a godsend for Stothers and co., who have had to deal with the departure of Vey, Kozun, Pearson and Toffoli from this year to last.
Whether or not Shore sees a substantial amount of ice time under Darryl Sutter remains to be seen. He is a solid two-way player who is primarily a center, but is capable of playing wing. Some unfortunate circumstances are at hand in him getting called up, but the former University of Denver standout has been tremendous in the minors this season and was likely getting a cup of coffee at some point anyways.
Depending on the severity of the injury to Pearson, it would seem likely that his year is potentially done.
While broken ankle recovery time generally takes 8 to 12 weeks, which would keep the young forward out until at least April, a fractured fibula can be as little as 6 weeks. Keep in mind, sometimes athletes heal and an exceptional rate given the world class staff surrounding them.
Nonetheless this is a terrible break for the Kings and their young forward.
Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL
++++I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ADVERTISERS! If you, or anyone you know would be interested in placing an ad on the blog here at HockeyBuzz then send me a PM!+++++