The injuries continue to pile up for the Predators, who were dealt a massive blow on Tuesday when first-line center Ryan Johansen exited Nashville's game against the Canucks with a lower right leg injury.
Although the nature of the injury hasn't yet been revealed, Johansen had emergency surgery on Wednesday, per The Tennessean's Paul Skrbina.
Johansen dropped his gloves and stick to the ice, struggling to make it to the bench after appearing to take a blade to the leg toward the end of the second period. He was subsequently helped to the locker room and did not return.
Nashville coach John Hynes indicated that it was "possible" that Johansen's injury was severe. However, he hadn't yet communicated with training staff to figure it out.
"I don't know," Hynes said. "I didn't look at it. I know he got cut. Other than that I have not had a chance to talk to trainers yet."
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Johansen's injury puts yet another spanner in the works for Nashville's playoff hopes. The Preds find themselves seven points behind the eighth-seeded Wild in the Western Conference standings entering Wednesday's games. They do have two games in hand, however.
The 30-year-old center is among Nashville's most important forwards, racking up 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in 55 games. Hynes' squad was already stretched, having lost leading goal-scorer Filip Forsberg to an upper-body injury.
How long is Ryan Johansen out for?
Johansen successfully completed surgery on his right leg Wednesday afternoon. The Predators announced on Thursday that the center would miss about 12 weeks as he recovers from the operation.
Update: Ryan Johansen will miss an estimated 12 weeks following surgery on his right leg Wednesday afternoon.
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) February 23, 2023
Johansen is going to miss the rest of the regular season with the injury.
Ryan Johansen injury history
Johansen has tended to keep a clean bill of health over the course of his 12-year NHL career. However, Wednesday's operation won't be the first one he's experienced.
The Vancouver native was knocked out of the 2017 playoffs after taking a crunching hit to the left leg during Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
The injury, described by Nashville as an "acute compartment syndrome of the left thigh," worsened shortly after Johansen left the ice. By the time he had finished his post-game shower, he "couldn't walk."
"I had to get one of the guys to grab a trainer and come back and help me to the medical room," Johansen said, per NHL.com. "And then the docs looked at it again, and the swelling increased by like triple it seemed in those 20 minutes when I was walking around and getting ready to go home.
The Preds overcame Johansen's ailment to make it to the Stanley Cup Final. However, lacking their leading regular-season scorer (and second-highest scorer in the playoffs), Nashville faltered, falling to the Penguins, 4-2.
Johansen ended up making a full recovery, playing in 79 and 80 games, respectively, in the next two seasons.
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Ryan Johansen Predators replacement
With Johansen seemingly destined for a lengthy spell on the shelf, expect Cody Glass to get first-line ice time going forward. The 6-foot-3 center isn't quite the faceoff ace like Johansen (48.6 percent vs. Johansen's 59.2 percent). However, the pair have a similar build, perhaps easing the adjustment for Hynes' system.
Also don't be surprised to see 25-year-old Tommy Novak get some bump. The River Falls, Wis., native has put up an impressive 17 points in 24 games despite playing mostly on bottom-six lines.
