Not even a minute into Saturday night's contest between the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, the fireworks went off and the Kings were left down a man. Only 20 seconds into the game, Drew Doughty carried the puck into the Flyers' zone, weaving through a couple defenders with his head down and he was caught, shoulder-to-shoulder, by tough guy Zac Rinaldo and it forced the All-Star defenseman out of the game.
The initial report is that the injury is to the upper-body and is not concussion related, which is a small silver lining to the situation. The Kings expect to be without Doughty for the next 7-to-10 days with the injury.
In four games this season, Doughty has only recorded 1 assist. By some scoring standards, that would likely be thought as a slow start, but the European start for the Kings and the lack of training camp could definitely be factored in to this start. With a week off, Doughty might be able to get his game back on track, especially if the injury is minor enough that he can somehow stay on the ice.
Another tough break for the last place team in the draft, as Ryan M. needs all hands on deck to dig himself out of an early hole. Doughty is now Ryan's third player on the injury/news page, which doesn't add up very well for his team. Ryan's team is currently in the middle of the pack for games played for his skaters and minutes played for his goaltenders, so he isn't in dire straits there, but he isn't getting much out of his games played (0.42 points per skater game) and he still hasn't seen a point from his goalies yet.
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