Lightning lose Matt Carle for up to two months
The Tampa Bay Lightning held their first family fan carnival on Sunday, which was goofy fun for all, especially if you like playing NHL coaches in ice air hockey. It was a nice break from the sometimes grim realities of the regular season.
On Monday, it was time to deal with the aforementioned grim realities: Matt Carle, one of the team’s most important defenseman, was told by a specialist that his torn abductor muscle in his abdomen will require surgery, putting him on the shelf for 6-8 weeks.
He saw his streak of 347 consecutive regular season games played on Saturday.
Carle is averaging 20:34 in average ice time this season in 46 games, ranking behind only the top pairing of Anton Stralman and Victor Hedman. He kills penalties and sees a bit of power-play time. He helps drive possession (55.2 percent Corsi at 5-on-5) on one of the better possession teams in the game.
So that’s Carle down for two months and Radko Gudas and his beard are out for the rest of the regular season after knee surgery. The first option for the Lightning will be to fill the void with a combination of Luke Witkowski and Nikita Nesterov.
But as Eric Erlendsson reports, GM Steve Yzerman has been on the lookout for a defenseman since December. That doesn’t mean a deal is immediate, but it does mean the gears are in motion for one.
Knowing Yzerman, it won’t be a tweak; it’ll be substantial. Zbynek Michalek of the Arizona Coyotes, Bryce Salvador of the New Jersey Devils (if he ever plays again), Marc Methot of the Ottawa Senators and Andrej Sekera of the Carolina Hurricanes are all pending UFAs on also-ran teams, for the record. And then there’s that whole Jeff Petry thing with the Edmonton Oilers…
