Pittsburgh Penguins' Jordan Staal to miss five to six weeks of NHL season
The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that forward Jordan Staal will miss the first five to six weeks of
the upcoming NHL season following a recent procedure performed on his right foot. Staal was injured on 30 April when the skate blade of Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban came down on his foot.
Penguins’ physician Charles Burke went into more detail about the most recent procedure.
“Jordan was bothered by a localized recurrent infection in the tissue area near the tendon repair. This has required treatment with both antibiotics and several repeat debridements(clean-outs)
to remove infected tissue. We are confident the situation has been resolved.”
The incident took place during the opening game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Staal had this to say about the injury,
“It was a freak accident. I went to the bench and looked down. It wasn’t looking good. I went to the room and took the skate off. I knew it wasn’t just a cut. I went straight to the hospital
after, had surgery, went home and had a good sleep.”
The surgery that was performed repaired damage to a tendon. Staal returned to game play in less than a week. After the Canadiens eliminated the Penguins Staal had two additional procedures
on the foot in order to remove damaged tissue.
Penguins’ general manager Ray Shero addressed the news by saying “the most important thing now is that the infection has been addressed and Jordan is on the road to recovery. While we
know he is disappointed that he will miss the start of the season, he will now be able to make a full recovery and get back on the ice early in the season.
Staal was expected to start the upcoming season as centre on the team’s second offensive unit. The Penguins had planned to move Evgeni Malkin to the wing on Staal’s line.
Staal, spent much of last season as the Penguins third line centre, accumulating 21 goals and 28 assists while leading the team with a plus 19 ranking.
Tags: