The New York Islanders Johnny Boychuk has been injured. The veteran defender was hurt in a game against the Montreal Canadiens. There was an awkward series of pushes that led to Artturi Lehkonen‘s skate coming up and hitting Boychuk in the face. He was removed for the remainder of the game.
Here’s the incident between Artturi Lehkonen and Johnny Boychuk. Boychuk rushed off the ice in a panic. pic.twitter.com/35Ab12TB1V
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) March 4, 2020
Johnny Boychuk Injured by Skate
Boychuk is slowly declining as he moves through his late-30s but is still contributing at 36-years-old. He has two goals and 11 points in 64 games this season. His offence has declined almost every season since 2014-15 but Boychuk is still one of the league’s better physical defenders. His 135 hits and 128 blocks are second on the team in both categories.
Boychuk remains the team’s emotional leader on defence as well. He has been with the team since his best year in 2014-15. His contract runs through 2021-22, so do not expect this facial injury to impact his ability to finish his career strong in Long Island.
What This Means for the Future
Boychuk is averaging just 17:17 of ice time this season. He wasn’t playing much on the power-play and his even-strength metrics are in decline as well. Boychuk is currently third among Islanders defenders in short-handed ice time but trade acquisition Andy Greene will help cover his penalty kill minutes.
This is not the first injury this season caused by an errant skate. Ilya Mikheyev was seriously hurt late in 2019 when a skate severed an artery and several tendons in his wrist. The league will likely review the protection players have against skate blades. Avoiding an injury like Boychuk’s is hard to avoid given the chaotic nature of how it happened but players and fans do not want to see blood on the ice. It is unlikely NHL players will adapt a college-style face cage but more protections to vital body parts could be coming after this latest incident.
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