Enstrom Out With Fractured Finger

Bad news for the Atlanta Thrashers and the All-Star Game festivities, as Tobias Enstrom has now been diagnosed with a fractured finger and he has now been placed on the shelf for the next 2-to-4 weeks, thus removing him from any of the fun activities that will be going on in Raleigh, NC and a few games during the regular season after the fact.

Enstrom was injured blocking a shot with his hand over the weekend, which was outlined in the Newsletter this week, and was re-evaluated on Tuesday, giving him the bad news.

Enstrom has been very deserving of his All-Star nod this year with the Thrashers, tied for 3rd among all NHL defensemen in scoring with 41 points (8 goals and 33 assists) in 50 games with the Thrashers, ranking 48th in league scoring thus far.

The Thrashers currently hold the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, going into Tuesday night's action, but will definitely miss the young defender for at least the next couple of weeks.  Enstrom, if he is out for the full four weeks, will be scheduled to return on February 23rd, away to Buffalo, missing out on nine games in the schedule.

Thankfully for Benson G., the All-Star break will give one of his star defensemen a guilt-less bit of time off, but missing games after the break won't help Benson climb any further to the top of the standings.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Benson currently sits in the final money position, 4th place, 22 points back of 3rd place and only 7 points up on 5th.  Missing out on Enstrom could be pretty hard on his team, since he has been scoring at a very good pace, for a defenseman.

Link to the Injury/News Page