The preseason is a time for being too invested in meaningless games, for winning shootouts that will elude you during the regular season, and for watching Michael Mersch score goals (which he did again yesterday).
Unfortunately, the preseason is also a time for watching players suffer injuries that are even more frustrating than they are during the season. That happened in yesterday’s 2-1 Kings win. Take it away, Jon Rosen!
Jake Muzzin and Matt Greene suffered what were described by Kings public relations as “upper-body” injuries during Los Angeles’ 2-1 preseason shootout win over Colorado Sunday night in Denver.
Remember when the Kings were certain that they could keep Drew Doughty at about 25 minutes per game, and when Jake Muzzin had worked on his game with Doughty to make sure that time was well-utilized? Hit the brakes.
Of course, we don’t know much about either injury, except that Muzzin’s came after a big hit in the first and Greene’s was sustained some time during the second.
Comeau gets hit hard along the boards. Gets up and delivers his own blow on Muzzin.
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) September 28, 2015
Greene stayed on the bench for the remainder of the game after he left, so I’d think that his knock should be less severe. And of course, Muzzin’s removal from the game could absolutely be more precautionary than necessary. But if either injury turns out to require a little more recovery, we’re into Derek Forbort and Jamie McBain territory. (Christian Ehrhoff played 30 minutes last night, by the way; he’d probably get a huge boost in responsibility.) So are we thinking Drew Doughty with Brayden McNabb and Christian Ehrhoff with Alec Martinez in the absence of both guys? That’s what I’m thinking.
Oh, and Tanner Pearson and Dustin Brown scored on Semyon Varlamov in the shootout last night. So there was a bright side.
Greene is set to be re-evaluated today at Toyota Sports Center, but there’s no definitive word on Jake Muzzin. Hopefully we’ll find out more today at practice.