A clearing attempt from teammate Dan Hamhuis caught Alex Burrows up in the face in their game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, which turned out to break his jaw. Burrows played the remainder of the game after the injury, but it wasn't until after was it determined that his jaw was broken and that it would need surgery to repair it. The Canucks coaching staff have now suggested that his expected timetable for a return is about four weeks.
Burrows had already missed 12 games earlier in the year after blocking a shot and suffering a badly bruised foot, injured in the first game of the season. From there on, since his return, Burrows was unable to get his game going, as he failed to score a goal and only added 3 assists in 17 games played.
The Canucks will now scramble their lines, not like they haven't been already, to find some more offense to make up for the loss of Burrows. Vancouver doesn't sit in a playoff spot, as of Tuesday afternoon, so they will need to find something somewhere to help themselves lift into a Wild Card spot and hold on. The next month could be a rough one.
And if times were not rough enough for Tony D. with the loss of Zetterberg in the post below, he takes a loss in Burrows. Despite Burrows' weak scoring numbers, Tony decided to stick with Burrows through the Waiver Draft, likely figuring that his luck was to turn eventually and that he would return to his scoring ways. Now with the loss of two big forwards on his team, he will have a hard time staying a float, as he sits in the middle of the standings today.
Tony was doing quite well, staying healthy among all of his skaters, as he had collected 306 games from his forwards and defense (average is 290, through Monday). The loss of Zetterberg and Burrows will quickly drop that number below, as the injuries begin to mount again in the pool.
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