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Drew Doughty suffers gnarly leg injury and doctor speculates the worst

Originally posted on Hockey Unplugged | By Axel Williams | Last updated Sep 26, 2024 11:59 AM ET

Drew Doughty has been a legendary player for the Los Angeles Kings, however, an injury sustained last night has put his season in jeopardy.

As you can see in the video below, Doughty was taking part in a preseason game against the Las Vegas Golden Knight. Doughty was chasing after a puck and went hard into the boards. He went into those boards awkwardly and was immediately left favoring his leg.

Following the incident, Dr. Harjas Grewal took to Twitter with his views on the situation. Essentially, he believes that Doughty either has a broken ankle or a torn Achilles. As you know, the recovery times for both injuries are vastly different.

'That's a broken ankle and/or torn Achilles for Doughty
Kings fans will remember Byfield broke his ankle with a similar mechanism

I've never seen a torn Achilles happen in this fashion (typically a non-contact injury) but you can see how he can move his ankle up but not down.

Broken ankle is minimum 6 weeks

Torn Achilles is season ending

Both diagnoses can be evaluated tonight as there's likely an X-ray machine in the arena to evaluate the bones and the Achilles tendon can be assessed with ultrasound + physical exam (Thompson Test, see below)'

Hopefully, the injury isn't as severe as Dr. Grewal is suggesting. Otherwise, this could be a huge detriment to the Los Angeles Kings season. They were going to be promising, but if Doughty is done for the year, then they can kiss their hopes goodbye.

Source: Sportsnet
Kings defenceman Drew Doughty leaves pre-season game with leg injury

This article first appeared on Hockey Unplugged and was syndicated with permission.

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