Bill Peters hasn't coached his first official game in the NHL yet and he's got a high level of anxiety right now. Peters lost his power center Jordan Staal to a broken leg in a meaningless 2-0 exhibition game loss in Buffalo on Tuesday night. The injury occurred in the third period when Sabres D-man Josh Gorges collided with Staal in front of the Buffalo bench. The two players tumbled to the ice. I believe that Staal's leg was underneath him when Gorges fell on top of him. There was no TV coverage for this game and there was no in house replay on the video board.
I saw Staal walking on crutches from the medical room to the Canes locker room after the game. His right ankle was elevated. He could not apply weight to the ankle while being assisted to the Canes room by two teammates after the collision had occurred.
After the game, Peters addressed the media and said that Staal would be flown back to Raleigh so that he could be evaluated by team doctors.
At approximately 1:00 am EDT, the team issues this statement to confirm the worst possible news regarding Staal.
NEWS: Jordan Staal suffers broken bone in leg during #Canes preseason game. Details: http://t.co/XVVIVFFkZT pic.twitter.com/KXietSMxAM
— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) September 24, 2014Ron Francis, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, tonight announced that center Jordan Staal suffered a broken bone in the lower portion of his right leg during the team’s preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres.Staal, 26, was injured during the third period when he got tangled up with Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges in the third period of Carolina’s 2-0 exhibition loss. Staal will return to Raleigh with the team on Wednesday and will be evaluated by team doctors on Thursday. A timetable for his recovery has yet to be determined
Peters is relying heavily upon Staal who is an integral part of the Canes' offense and defense. Losing the talented two-way centerman (6'4" 225lbs.) will create a huge void for Peters and his coaching staff to have to fill. The Canes don't have another player in their system who can replace Jordan Staal's faceoff prowess, 5 on 5 play, PP and PK. Rookie Elias Lindholm is a nice prospect, however, the kid is still very green. Eric Staal is still recovering from offseason surgery and is slowly rounding back into form. Life without one or two Staals will make Peters' job all the more difficult this season. The doesn't have a farm loaded with offensive players. Jeff Skinner will become the go-to guy now. Alex Semin is a sniper, however, he's nowhere near the player that Jordan or Eric Staal is. Nathan Gerbe is a nice complimentary player, however, he's not a 26 minute per game centerman who can shut down the opponent best center.
Their season hasn't even begun and the Canes are in trouble right off the hop. Losing Staal could put the Canes in an unsurmountable hole from Day 1. Before too long, hey may find themselves a favorite in the Connor McDavid-Jack Eichel arms race.
Francis has a budget and a salary cap to abide by. Replacing Jordan Staal will be extremely hard to do.
Staal played in all of his team's games the past two seasons. He played 82 games last season and played in all 48 games during the truncated lockout season. He missed 20 games while with the Penguins in 2011-12, and missed 42 games 2010-11. When the Pens won the Stanley Cup in 2009 he played all 82 games. He also played in all 82 games in 2009-10.
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More to come.
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The Sabres lost a player of their own to injury in the 2-0 win over the Canes. D-man Mark Pysysk was injured in his first shift of the game . He skated only:54 in the win. He was credited with one block shot. Midway through the third period, word began circulating through the press box that Pysyk may have suffered an upper body injury. There was no office statement from the team. The injury is not believed to be serious in nature.
Pysyk is locked into a serious battle for one of the seven D slots on the Buffalo blue line.
Tyler Myers, Josh Gorges, Andrej Meszaros, Andre Benoit, Rasmus Ristolainen, and Mikle Weber appear to be starting six right now with Pysyk battling with Jake McCabe, Nikita Zadorov, and Chad Ruhwedel for the seventh spot.
More on the injury when it become available.
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Pat Kaleta played a solid first game back to the Buffalo lineup. Kaleta suffered a season ending knee injury while playing in AHL Rochester last fall.
Kaleta skated on a line with Brendan Lemieux and Mikhail Grigorenko.
After the game he told me that he liked the way he played.
Kaleta on his performance: "Ive still got more to give but it's a good start"
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) September 24, 2014
Spoke with Kaleta. He was very happy with the way his knee responded in game situations. He likes the effort he saw from the team
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) September 24, 2014
Kaleta skated 7:31 TOI and was credited with two hits. Unofficially, he and Lemieux combined chirped the Canes 1,023 times during the game.
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