There is no known actual diagnoses on the nature of any of the injuries suffered by the Dallas Stars on Friday, although coach Lindy Ruff did provide some updates regarding Tyler Seguin, Ales Hemsky and Patrick Eaves after the 2-0 win over the Florida Panthers.
The most concerning was the injury suffered by Patrick Eaves, who took a hard shot to the head on the power play late in the third period. Eaves was down on the ice for quite some time and had to be gingerly helped to the tunnel, and it was obvious he had suffered a significant injury that would require additional attention.
“Eaves is on the way to the hospital to get X rays,” said Ruff. “He took a pretty good shot there to the head. He has had a previous injury there, so we’re fairly concerned with him. First, just health-wise.”
Eaves has dealt with concussion issues in the past, and given the nature of the injury there’s definitely going to be some precautionary measures taken to ensure it’s not more serious. Let’s hope that all tests come back negative tonight for Eaves…
Regarding Tyler Seguin and Ales Hemsky, the news wasn’t much better.
“Tyler is going to be re-evaluated (Saturday),” said Ruff. “We’ll have probably a better idea, but it looks like he’s going to miss some time too.”
“Hemsky’s going to stay back too. He’s going to miss some time. It’s been a tough night on the injury front.”
What “some time” means is up for debate, although Ruff usually leaves that prognosis for the more serious injuries. He’s used it before when discussing Patrik Nemeth’s injury, but also when Erik Cole was injured — and he missed just about a week or so.
For Seguin, the Stars likely need to wait for any swelling in the knee to go down before running more tests on Saturday. Given the nature of the hit, and how it’s known that Seguin will at the very least be missing time, it seems that at the very least the Stars leading scorer will be dealing with a sprain — and let’s hope that’s all there is.
The season must continue and after tonight’s win, the Stars are still right in the thick of the playoff race and face a very important game in Colorado on Saturday night. With three of the top six forwards for the Stars suddenly injured, Ruff stated that the Stars will recall two players from the Texas Stars and will also get Curtis McKenzie on the ice as well.
Ruff wouldn’t speculate on who is coming, although it’s more likely a combination of Travis Morin, Brett Ritchie and Justin Dowling — Ritchie has been dealing with an injury of his own, and this could be the chance for Dowling to earn his own NHL debut.
We’ll have more tomorrow.