On Saturday afternoon, Winnipeg Jets defenceman Haydn Fleury suffered a lower body injury after blocking a shot from Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe.
Fleury left the ice in the second period and did not return to the game, eventually taking a twirl on the ice following the second intermission, but did not come back out on the ice with his teammates for the third period.
Head coach Scott Arniel spoke after the game, indicating that Kempe’s shot hit Fleury in the knee.
“Yeah, he got hit with that shot. He’s pretty sore,” Arniel said. “It caught him on the side of the knee cap. He’ll wake up (Sunday) and we’ll see how he is, see how he’s doing.”
Unfortunately, Sunday did not seem to bring much relief, as Fleury was absent from the Jets’ skate. In a corresponding move, Winnipeg recalled fellow blueliner Kale Clague from the Manitoba Moose.
This move will likely serve as a precautionary one for the sake of the team’s seventh defender – to which Clague will surely slot in.
Colin Miller – who sat out the first two games as the No. 7 defenceman – is expected to pair with fellow veteran blueliner Luke Schenn on the team’s third grouping.
Clague, the former Brandon Wheat Kings star, has bounced between the NHL and AHL over the past five years since being drafted in the second round by the Kings in 2016. He signed a one-year deal for the league minimum with Winnipeg this offseason.
Currently down second pair defenceman Dylan Samberg, Winnipeg will now miss Fleury’s smooth skating abilities as he recovers from the knee injury, but will have Clague as an option to fill in on the two game road trip through New York and Philadelphia, should Fleury miss time.
