The New Jersey Devils’ injury luck has been absolutely brutal this season. Learning that Jack Hughes was injured enough to miss Saturday’s contest against brother, Quinn, and the Vancouver Canucks was devastating enough. Yet, the hockey gods kicked the Devils while they were down by losing veteran defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on the same night. A doctor weighed in on (formerly Twitter), giving his opinion on the minimum timeline for the Devils defenseman’s recovery.
Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek can certainly grip it and rip it. He’s on record scoring a goal this season that was registered at 107.9 miles per hour, the hardest-ever shot recorded by NHL tracking technology.
That kind of power was very much on display Saturday against the Devils when Siegenthaler blocked one of Hronek’s shots that broke his foot.
Siegenthaler did all he could to tough out the remainder of the shift, however, it ended in J.T. Miller scoring Vancouver’s second goal of the game.
Erik Haula and a trainer helped the Devils defenseman off the ice, unable to put pressure on his left foot. Head coach Lindy Ruff explained after the game that Siegenthaler broke his foot and “is going to miss some time.” What we still don’t know is how much time, but we have a relative idea of the minimum timeframe.
Dr. Harjas Grewal has made a name for himself on social media by predicting sports injury timelines. Following the Devils’ Friday night tilt when Brendan Smith injured Connor Bedard with a clean hit and Nick Foligno in a retaliatory fight, Grewal predicted each to miss six weeks and four-plus weeks respectively. Although, he did admit Bedard’s broken jaw is a bit harder to predict.
As for Siegenthaler, Grewal predicts Siegenthaler’s minimum recovery timeline for the broken foot is four weeks.
Fortunately, the All-Star break falls between now and then. As a result, it appears to be a minimum of nine games that the Devils will be without their veteran defenseman. If the four-week timeline holds up, Siegenthaler’s return could be on February 6th at home vs. the Colorado Avalanche.
If so, Siegenthaler can return a little over a month before the March 8th NHL Trade Deadline. Regardless, the Devils will likely still need to add a defenseman to help solidify their blue line. After all, making the playoffs is still the goal, and the Devils struggle to keep the puck out of their net.
More must-reads: