Cleary Lost for Eight Weeks

The Detroit Red Wings did not enjoy Hockey Day in Canada as much as they would have liked in Toronto. They had lost their game against the Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime and then they lost a key part of their forward ranks now for the better part of the remainder of the season.

Dan Cleary (John B.) took a shot to the face on Saturday afternoon and the initial report from the hospital is that Cleary suffered a broken jaw. This injury should keep Cleary out of the line-up between 6 to 8 weeks. A fairly big blow to a secondary scorer that the Red Wings have enjoyed some success with.

Cleary will leave the line-up after playing 57 games and registering 40 points (20G, 20A). He was on pace for one of his better career years.

This comes at a poor time in the week as the Waiver Draft has already concluded for John, who had passed on both of his picks. He will only see 2 to 4 weeks of action through the rest of the season, which may help down the stretch, but the rest of the squad will have to pick it up. Cleary had averaged 2 points a week this season.

Now that this has happened on Saturday, after the picks were done, the way the Waiver Draft is done may need to be re-evaluated for a more healthy team after the week of drafting.

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