Marian Hossa To Miss Some Time With Injury

The Chicago Blackhawks figure to be without star Right Winger Marian Hossa for a period of time. Hossa suffered what is being called a lower-body injury after a hip-check from Anaheim Ducks defender Hampus Lindholm sent Hossa awkwardly into the boards during Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss in Chicago.

Hossa carried the puck into the Anaheim zone when Lindholm cut him off with a hip-to-thigh check which sent Hossa spinning to the ice and into the corner. He stayed down on the ice for a while before being helped assisted off the ice by members of the Blackhawks’ medical team.

The NHL has come out and said that Lindholm will not face any discipline for the hit as it was deemed clean.

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Hossa injury not expected to be long-term

The Blackhawks have had to deal with injuries to Hossa before that have kept him out for extended periods of time. Head Coach Joel Quenneville said after the game though, that Hossa’s injury doesn’t seem the be a long-term case.

With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching in just over two weeks, the Blackhawks have been rumored to be in the mix for potential trades involving Winnipeg Jets Captain Andrew Ladd and Toronto Maple Leafs Winger James van Riemsdyk, Blackhawks defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk‘s older brother.

Quenneville didn’t think that Hossa’s injury would cause him to be out long enough to be placed on the long-term injured reserve and put the team in a situation like Patrick Kane‘s injury did last season, where Chicago was given cap space to work with by placing Kane on LTIR, and make moves to acquire Antoine Vermette, Andrew Desjardins, and Kimmo Timonen. 

Injury leaves big hole in Chicago’s top-six

Hossa, 37, has 10 goals and 18 assists in 54 games this season. He is four goals away from 500 for his career, and although he isn’t the 30+ goal scoring threat that he once was, his two-way abilities make him an asset to the Blackhawks in special teams situations.

Hossa averages just over 17 minutes of ice-time per game while playing on Chicago’s top line with Captain Jonathan Toews and a rotation of Left Wingers (Andrew Shaw, Teuvo Teravainen, Richard Panik, among others). He also is a key figure on both the power-play unit and the penalty killing teams for Chicago.

The injury gives many Blackhawks players the opportunity to step up in Hossa’s place and make a big impression on Quenneville. One player in particular is Teravainen, who has just one goal in his past 26 games.

At the start of Saturday night’s game, the former first-round selection found himself centering Chicago’s fourth-line. After Hossa left with his injury, Teravainen was moved up into the second-line Right Wing spot to replace Kane, who had taken Hossa’s spot on the top-line.

The Blackhawks do not practice today, so the extent of Hossa’s injury won’t be known until later today or into the week, but it does seem certain that Hossa will at least miss Chicago’s next game at home on Monday night against the Maple Leafs.

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