The news gets worse and worse these days around Washington, doesn’t it? On the hockey side of things, the Capitals made an announcement late Tuesday afternoon on the status of Andre Burakovsky’s fractured left thumb.
This morning, Burakovsky was placed on injured reserve. Not long-term IR like Matt Niskanen, just regular IR (more on the difference between that on the site later). But the news got worse later on in the day. While Burakovsky had a successful surgery on the thumb, it was still an injury severe enough to cause him to miss significant time. Burakovsky will miss six to eight weeks.
FROM THE CAPITALS
Washington Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky underwent a successful surgery on his fractured left thumb Tuesday. Burakovsky sustained the injury during the third period against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 21. Based on the nature of this procedure, Burakovsky is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks.
Last season, Andre Burakovsky missed 15 games after injuring his hand on the night of his birthday back in February. For a team that was mostly healthy last season, that injury was the biggest one among the team. According to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com, the Capitals lost an NHL-low 48 games to injury.
Caps lost NHL-low 48 games to injury/illness last season. Niskanen, Burakovsky, Graovac already injured this season.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 24, 2017
Before the procedure, Barry Trotz addressed the media and did hint that he was going to miss significant time. The Capitals bench boss also feels bad for Burakovsky, who was expected to contribute big time this season.
“He finally broke through, got a goal (against the Red Wings Friday night). and we were hoping he was going to get some traction. Then he got hurt and that was sort of a bit like last year,” Trotz said. “He’s got that unfortunate gift of traction and getting hurt.”
Being sidelined 6-8 weeks means he could return as early as the beginning of December. The Caps have a home game December 4 against the Sharks while the latest he could return is a road game in Dallas on the 18th of that month.
By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo
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Poor Burky can’t catch a break. Not that he was producing much, but still a key player in the lineup. Hopefully he can recover without any problems and come back firing!
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