Tyler Myers faces lengthy recovery from hip, knee injuries
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Tyler Myers is facing a significant recovery time for injuries to his knee and hip.
The team announced Myers had a knee procedure Thursday morning. He will later have hip surgery that will require a 16-20 week recovery period. The 26-year-old Myers was acquired by the Jets last season along with forward Drew Stafford as part of a blockbuster deal that sent forward Evander Kane to the Buffalo Sabres.
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Myers will finish his first full season with the Jets with nine goals and 18 assists in 73 games played while averaging 22:37 per-contest.
The 6-foot-8 Myers hasn’t been the most durable of players during his career. Since 2009-10, his first full season in the NHL, Myers has played 80-or-more games twice. Myers has missed prolonged periods of time with a broken leg and a broken wrist amongst other injuries
Jets coach Paul Maurice told reporters the team knew Myers would need hip surgery after the season, but the knee issue was a more recent development and needed to be fixed now so Myers could have a better chance to be ready for the start of next season. The Jets have 66 points – tied for the third worst total in the NHL.
"If we waited until the end of the season, did the knee, it would push the hip closer to May which now gets into October gets into the regular season before he is back kinda on the ice playing which would be a true miss of training camp for us," Maurice said. "Tyler had his knee done this morning. He is done for the rest of the season. At the appropriate time when there is enough healing on the knee then he will have the hip done. Timing out hopefully that means mid August to September month that he will be cleared to get back to full training.”
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
