Dallas Stars fans knew Patrik Nemeth’s injury was bad the minute it happened in Saturday night’s overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, when R.J. Umberger’s skate came off the ice and and essentially stabbed Nemeth in the right wrist.
Lindy Ruff’s initial assessment was that Nemeth would be out “a good period of time” with the injury. The team announced just how long that would be after Monday’s practice, when it was revealed he will be out for the rest of the regular season.
Patrik Nemeth out for regular season with arm laceration.
— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) October 20, 2014
No word on if Nemeth needed surgery to repair the damage caused by the skate, though with this sort of recovery time you’d assume something like that came into play. There is lots of important stuff on the soft side of the wrist – tendons, ligaments, veins, arteries and muscles. None of it stands up well to a sharpened skate blade.
Per Stepneski, Stars coach Lindy Ruff did add Nemeth may be able to return if the Stars make the postseason.
If you want to see a GIF of the injury (it’s not graphic, but it is painful to look at), you can find that in the post from Saturday night.
Jyrki Jokipakka was called up Sunday to fill the roster spot left by his absence, though it appears Jamie Oleksiak will get the ice time on Tuesday.
This is a terrible break for Nemeth, who was playing very solid hockey to start the season. A few other Stars in years past have suffered similar injuries – Brenden Morrow with a cut to the back of the wrist and Mike Modano (during the year with the Red Wings that may or may not have happened) at the very end of his career. They are always brutal.
Best of luck with recovery to Nemeth.