The Dallas Stars have announced that centerman Jason Spezza could miss anywhere from one week to two weeks with an upper-body injury which he sustained in Thursday’s match-up against the Winnipeg Jets when he was hit by Jets’ forward Adam Lowry. Though the injury is indeed an upper-body one, it has been confirmed that it is not a concussion. The bad news is that this injury may go on longer for more than a couple of weeks, but the exact timetable for return is unknown.
Jason Spezza could be out a couple of weeks, maybe longer. Upper body injury. Not a concussion.
— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) February 3, 2017
The injury occurred in the third period of the game, as Spezza was stick handling his way through the neutral zone. As Spezza was crossing the blue line and heading into the Winnipeg end, Lowry skated up and punished Spezza. Spezza landed on his left hip and elbow. Since the injury is considered upper-body and is not a concussion, it can possibly be a rib, shoulder, or back injury. The hit was deemed as clean and no penalty was assessed on the play. When asked post-game about the hit and regarding Spezza’s status, Stars head coach Lindy Ruff stated, “He’s going to miss some time. It’s probably more than days but until I can find out more, I’ll give it to you then.” Quote via Yahoo Sports.
spezza gets rocked by lowry pic.twitter.com/lkbVbyoX6C
— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) February 3, 2017
The Stars have not had an easy year when it comes to injuries, and now with Spezza out, their situation worsens. Spezza is one of the Stars top point producers and without him, the team’s offense takes a major blow. Spezza, who usually plays in the top-six and on lines with offensive powerhouses Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, has scored eight goals this season and has added 23 assists for a total of 31 points in 45 games played.
Due to the lack of an exact timetable for return, it is unknown when Spezza will return, but if it is two weeks, expect him to come back mid-February.
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