The Nashville Predators have finished their early evaluation of their number one goalie, Pekka Rinne, and his lower-body injury will keep him out for at least until the end of the All-Star break, where the team will re-evaluate his condition.
This means that Rinne won't be available for Friday's game at home to Washington, Saturday, away to Detroit or Tuesday, away to Montreal. Rinne will also not be participating in the All-Star festivities in Columbus, as he was named to the team in the initial squad after the starters. Any further time needed for his recovery will be determined after the break.
Rinne leaves active duty as the best player in pool scoring, thanks to 29 wins, 3 shutouts and an assist for 65 points this season and the Predators are the number one team in the NHL, assuming the lead with the first tie-breaker in hand against the Anaheim Ducks.
Missing out on a week's worth of action won't harm Kristy & Don's security of their lead right away, but if this lower-body injury is worse than a week's worth of action, then the lead may begin to be picked away at by teams below, but for the most part, their side has been healthy enough and playing well enough to stay afloat with much consequence.
If the All-Star Game was a paid competition, this would mean that Kristy & Don would be down to one player at the competition, as they would be left with Alex Ovechkin going to the show, until the other injury replacements are named.
UPDATE: It turns out that a second opinion revealed a longer lead time for the Finnish netminder to be out of the lineup, as the details announced suggest that Rinne will be out of the lineup anywhere between 3-to-5 weeks. This could have a pretty big effect on Kristy & Don's team.
An updated list of injuries can be found here.
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