Ontario Reign: Jacob Doty and Akil Thomas are out indefinitely

On Friday afternoon, Reign insider Jared Shafran reported that both Jacob Doty and Akil Thomas will be out indefinitely with upper-body injuries and will need surgery. Doty has missed the last five games, while Thomas has missed the last two. Doty plays on the fourth line and brings a physical presence that will be missed. It’s unclear when Doty’s injury occurred as his last game was November 10th against San Jose. The AHL is tight-lipped when it comes to injuries so it’s often hard to point out when and how they occurred.

That wasn’t the case with Akil Thomas as his injury was noticeable. In the game against Henderson on November 19th, Thomas got into a scrum after the whistle at the 12:15 mark of the third period. No big deal, right? Unfortunately, Thomas got knocked down and would get up favoring his right arm and headed to the Ontario Reign dressing room and wouldn’t return the rest of the game.

Last year, Thomas missed nearly the first two months of the season with double shoulder surgery in the offseason. The injury news is just another unfortunate setback for him. Thomas is currently tied for first in goals for the Reign with five and fifth in points with eight. I thought he would get his cup of coffee with the Kings at some point this year given how good he looked early on. That time will have to wait.

Here is what the Reign lineup looked like on Wednesday without Doty and Thomas and one we could see going forward: