Arber Xhekaj’s injury: Juraj Slafkovsky is saddened

Earlier today, we learned that Arber Xhekaj’s season was well and truly over. We knew he was in bad shape, but not that he was going to have shoulder surgery.

We did know, however, that something was up, since seeing him off to the United States suggested that he wasn’t going there to sightsee, but now it’s done.

The good news here, if there is any good news, is that his right (operated) shoulder has held up. It’s the shoulder that caused him to miss the end of the 2022-2023 season last year.

However, we can also look at the whole thing and say that a youngster of his age having both shoulders operated on in the space of a year and a bit isn’t exactly a good sign.

According to Martin St-Louis, it’s the build-up to the season that’s forcing the big defender to undergo surgery, not any particular event.

We don’t know what this means for his future(my colleague Maxime Truman doesn’t seem to think he’s guaranteed to stay in town long term), but in the short term, it means he won’t be making the final trip of the season.

And that makes Juraj Slafkovsky sad. Was he planning on going out with WiFi in New York tomorrow night, like? Unless Ottawa and Detroit were his destinations of choice, hehe…

It’s worth remembering that Slaf also found it difficult to see Kirby Dach go down fighting at the start of the season. He’s not shy about saying so, when he finds a situation like that flat.

In gusts

– Too bad.

– Of note for tonight.

– Also for tonight.

– We’ll believe it when we see it.