The news is in for Alex Newhook’s lower-body injury and it’s not ideal as the team announced Saturday that the winger will miss the next 10-12 weeks with a high ankle sprain.
The injury occurred in the third period of Thursday’s loss to Florida when he was tripped up and went feet-first into the side of the Panthers’ net, resulting in him needing to be helped off the ice. He took a hard spill in the first period of that contest which certainly didn’t help either.
Newhook had done relatively well since being moved onto the front line a couple of weeks ago, showing improved chemistry with Nick Suzuki with each game. A late hot stretch moved him into a tie with Cole Caufield for the team lead in goals with seven while he’s tied with Sean Monahan for fourth on the team in points with 13. Now, those numbers won’t be improved upon until close to the trade deadline.
Newhook’s injury has resulted in all four forward lines being shuffled up. Monahan is now on the wing on the top line, creating a spot for Mitchell Stephens to play on the fourth line instead of Michael Pezzetta. The trios in the morning skate were as follows:
Caufield-Suzuki-Monahan
Gallagher-Dvorak-Anderson
Pearson-Evans-Slafkovsky
Armia-Stephens-Ylonen
In other injury news Saturday, both David Savard and Arber Xhekaj took to the ice. Savard skated before the morning skate while Xhekaj took part in some team drills.