Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Marc Staal will reportedly be sidelined four to six weeks after suffering some sort of upper-body injury. The report was initially released by Anthony Di Marco, and it was confirmed by Charlie O’Connor.
Of course, these are the times when it would be nice to know a more detailed description of the injury, but the NHL will adhere to its policies.
Staal was very clearly hurting when he took a hard fall into the boards early into the second period of Thursday night’s game. Staal was awkwardly tied up with Edmonton’s Warren Foegele who dragged Staal to the ice without any penalty being called. Staal got up holding an arm, or a shoulder, or something in the upper body region (of course), though a review of the fall didn’t appear to be all that brutal.
Staal has played in all four games this year, recording no points while averaging 15:34 minutes of playing time per game. He hasn’t looked great, but he also hasn’t been much of a liability. His absence will undoubtedly allow another youngster some playing time. Who will step up to fill the role? That is to be determined.
