In unfortunate news for both player and team, after leaving Thursday night’s game with an apparent upper-body injury, the outlook on Barrett Hayton’s status does not appear to be positive. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that Hayton will likely need surgery for his injury, and the Arizona Coyotes will be without the forward for the next four to six weeks.
Although centering the top forward line for the Coyotes, Hayton has had an incredibly unlucky start to the 2023-24 season. His scoring has picked up as of late, scoring two goals in his last five games. However, over 16 games to start the year, Hayton only has two goals and two assists overall.
Averaging over 18 and a half minutes of ice time per game, Hayton is only shooting at a 5.9% success rate, all while maintaining an above-average CF% of 55.1% and a decent xGF of 9.1 while on the ice. Now, if his one ice production wasn’t bad enough, Hayton is set to miss at least the next month with his injury.
Nevertheless, if there is any positive for Arizona through this injury, it’s that this might create an opportunity for Logan Cooley on the team’s first line. Averaging just over 16 minutes of ice time per night, Cooley is already showing off his playmaking abilities with 10 assists on the year already, with eight of those coming on the Coyotes’ powerplay.
In the meantime, Morgan indicates that Arizona will be recalling Jan Jenik from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. In the AHL this year, Jenik has scored two goals and three assists in nine games for the Roadrunners.
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