The Arizona Coyotes will be without the services of their captain, Oliver Ekman-Larsson who will be day-to-day with a lower-body injury. He was hurt in the second period of the game against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.
OEL is listed as day to day with a lower-body injury. Lyubushkin is ill.
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) February 2, 2020
Oliver Ekman-Larsson Injured
Ekman-Larsson had a knee-to-knee collision with the Kings Dustin Brown causing OEL to leave the game. According to head coach Rick Tocchet, their captain would be a game-time decision for their game against the Chicago Blackhawks. He was not in the starting lineup, so the Coyotes called up Kyle Capobianco from their AHL affiliate Tucson Roadrunners who are just a two hour drive away.
It was also announced that Ilya Lyubushkin was ill, so that has really shortened the options on the Coyotes blueline for their game with the Blackhawks.
Thus far this season the iron-man defenceman of the Coyotes has tallied six goals, 16 assists in 53 games. He has averaged 23:04 minutes of ice time which will be difficult to replace.
The 28-year-old rearguard who hails from Karlskrona, Sweden has played his entire career for the Arizona club. He was the sixth overall selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. His career statistics are impressive with 122 goals, 234 assists in 710 games. He has also collected 52 power play goals to his resume.
What This Means Going Forward
The Arizona Coyotes are on a bit of a downward trends going just 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and with OEL down this is not good news. They hope to have their starting goalie Darcy Kuemper back soon and that will certainly help. Still, the leadership and playmaking abilities of OEL are almost impossible to replace. They need him back on the blueline to guide them going forward.
The team is in dogfight for a playoff berth in the Pacific Division where the parity is beginning to show. Not having Ekman-Larsson out there is like a cog missing on their wheel. The team’s next game after tonight will be on Tuesday night, February 4th. Perhaps over that period of time both OEL and Kuemper can be back in the lineup.
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