Defenseman Nick Leddy will miss the rest of the San Jose Sharks’ road trip and possibly beyond with an upper-body injury he sustained in the first period of the team’s game against the New York Rangers.
Leddy was injured on a hit by Rangers forward Will Cuylle behind the Sharks’ net just over three minutes into Thursday’s game at Madison Square Garden. Leddy immediately left the ice, went back to the Sharks’ dressing room, and did not return. The Sharks played the rest of the game with five defensemen and won the game 6-5 in overtime on a goal by Will Smith.
The Sharks finish the road trip with games against the New Jersey Devils on Friday and the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Leddy will be reevaluated after the team returns to San Jose following Sunday’s game. The Sharks face the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday to begin a four-game homestand.
Warsofsky said the Sharks were still not “totally sure” whether Leddy would be out long term, and that the team would learn more early next week.
Leddy, 34, is in his 16th NHL season. He spent the last three-plus years with St. Louis but was claimed by the Sharks after the Blues placed him on waivers in July. So far this season with San Jose, Leddy is averaging just over 17 minutes in ice time and has two assists in seven games.
Without Leddy, Warsofsky will reinsert Sam Dickinson, the team’s only other healthy defenseman, into the lineup for Friday’s game. He will play alongside Vincent Desharnais as the Sharks look for back-to-back wins for the first time since March 22 and 27 of last season, when they beat the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. The win over the Leafs marked San Jose’s last victory of last season, and the Sharks ended an overall 17-game losing streak by beating the Rangers.
The Sharks are only carrying six healthy defensemen right now as John Klingberg remains out with a lower-body injury, and Shakir Mukhamadullin (upper body) will be on injured reserve until at least early next week.
Warsofsky said there’s a chance Klingberg, who was injured in the Sharks’ game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 14, could return for Sunday’s game in Minnesota.
Also for Friday’s game, the Sharks are replacing Michael Misa in the lineup with Philipp Kurashev, who will center the third line with Collin Graf and Adam Gaudette on the wings. Kurashev had been a healthy scratch the last two games, with Warsofsky saying the Sharks had previously planned to keep Misa out of the lineup on back-to-back games.
Yaroslav Askarov, who had a 0-2-1 record and a .838 save percentage through his first three games, will get the start in net for the Sharks.
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