Doughty Leaves With Injury

On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Kings lost the services of their number one defenseman Drew Doughty to an upper-body injury after a collision with the Hurricanes' Erik Cole (I have attached a link to the video clip on NHL.com here).  Doughty left the game in the 1st period and did not return to action.

There is a definite suspicion that Doughty may have suffered a concussion on this play and he is already ruled out of the Kings' next game, which goes Thursday night in Phoenix.

The hit itself may find itself under review to make sure it does or doesn't fall into the blindside/hit to the head category, but we will have to wait to see what the league rules there.

It has been a fairly slow start for Doughty, who only has 1 assist in five games for the Kings this season, but with the Kings starting to heat up on the scoresheet, you get the feeling that it isn't going to be too long before the Norris Trophy candidate starts picking up the pace again.

Also of note from the Kings camp, Brayden Schenn has found himself a victim of some early season jitters, working his way up to the press box for a game.  Schenn was scratched from the game against the Hurricanes and may find himself back on the bubble if his play doesn't improve here in the next little while.

It hasn't been an easy start for Ryan in the draft this year, as he keeps finding some players hopping on and off the injury list early on. Ryan has had a good jump in Week Three to climb out of the basement, but if the long-term prognosis for Doughty isn't positive, his 3rd round pick may take a pretty big hit.  He is currently in the running for Mover and Shaker for Week Three, so here's hoping that the damage isn't too severe.

Schenn, on the other hand, was one of the few Box 9 forwards left in the NHL after taking a bath with most of the young stars in that box.  It would be pretty tough to find points from this box if Schenn happens to be demoted.

Link to the Injury/News Page