Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist says injury left him at risk of stroke
Henrik Lundqvist revealed that he suffered a sprained blood vessel after getting hit in the throat with a puck on Jan. 31. The injury left him at risk for stroke if he continued playing.
By
Chris Peters
•
2 min read
New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is out for at least the next three weeks, but the vascular injury he sustained proved to be far more dangerous than initially feared. On Sunday, Lundqvist addressed the media for the first time since being shelved and revealed the severity of the injury he sustained after being hit in the throat with a shot Jan. 31.
Lundqvist, who remained in that game against the Carolina Hurricanes and played the following game against the Florida Panthers Monday, said that scans revealed he had suffered a sprained blood vessel. He also said that if he continued playing, he would have been at risk of stroke.
So how did this not get caught immediately? Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News filled in that blank from Lundqvist’s news conference:
Lundqvist said docs did two scans and many docs cleared him on 1st but a specialist saw something, they ran a 2nd scan, and caught it
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) February 8, 2015
Lundqvist says he feels great, but has been resting and taking aspirin. He will be reevaluated in two to three weeks before a decision about his return can be made.
These revelations are certainly troubling, considering Lundqvist stayed in the game and played another one before being properly diagnosed, but the good news is that they caught it before it could get worse. Now the question becomes how long this will keep Lundqvist out.
The Rangers probably won’t have a more definitive timeline for his recovery until Lundqvist is reevaluated by doctors, but this is an injury that obviously won’t be taken lightly. When a player talks about being at risk of stroke, that becomes a lot more of a life-and-death matter than a win-or-lose matter.
Lundqvist will be spelled by Cam Talbot for now, but given the severity of the injury, you have to wonder if the Rangers will explore options for an additional backup goaltender as a stop gap, considering the organizational depth takes a pretty big dip after Talbot. There’s not much NHL experience behind him.
Hopefully Lundqvist will be back in action soon after this ordeal, but now knowing just how scary it all was, hopefully he won’t come back too soon.
Lundqvist has a 25-11-3 record in 39 appearances this year, with a .922 save percentage, 2.25 goals-against average and five shutouts. The Rangers currently hold the first wild card spot with a 30-16-4 record.
