Broken Hand for Datsyuk

Of course, not long after I finished the post, waiting for the update, I found an update for Pavel Datsyuk and his 'upper-body' injury.  Apparently, not long after the game had concluded, the Red Wings did announce that Datsyuk will be sidelined for about a month with a broken hand.  This likely will come as a pretty big blow to the team, but you wouldn't have known it from the 2+ periods he missed against the Canucks on Wednesday night, since the team fought hard for an overtime victory.

Datsyuk has been having quite the season before his broken hand, scoring 12 goals and adding 27 assists for 39 points in 33 games.  That total is currently good for 11th in pool scoring, but the injury will cause him to fall drastically, since it is such a tight race, as we near the midpoint of the season.

Datsyuk was on pace to crush last year's totals of only 70 points in 80 games, but a month away from the game will cost him anywhere between 10 to 16 games, which would put his pace at around 78 points at the worst case scenario.

This does come as a significant blow to Stacey's draft team, as he has now lost his 1st round pick (17th overall) and his highest scoring player thus far (39 points) for the next month or so.  At the time of the injury in Week Twelve, he was 11th place (tied for 10th, but losing on goals) and 27 points out of the money.  In the second segment of the season, he was tied for 13th in the race for the second jersey, but four weeks without Datsyuk will likely cost him a chance at that prize as well.

Link to the Injury/News Page