Toronto Maple Leafs' Calle Jarnkrok Suffers Significant Injury Setback, Awaits Expert Evaluation
The injury bug keeps biting the Maple Leafs as now Calle Jarnkrok has suffered a severe setback with his hernia injury and needs to see a specialist for evaluation.
Calle Jarnkrok hasn't skated for the Maple Leafs since the preseason, suffering a sports hernia injury and recovering ever since. There were rumblings about his potential return down the road but there was no definitive timeline for the veteran to be back on the ice.
Toronto's been doing fine without him, but as the team starts to drop like flies, it's not a good sign that he wasn't looking close to a return.
Well, this entire season could now be in jeopardy, as The Hockey News' David Alter reported on Twitter that Jarnkrok has suffered a major setback in his recovery and needs to head to the Big Apple to get a specialist consultation:
It's terrible news, especially with Toronto's recent injury woes. Max Pacioretty just landed on the IR and is week-to-week, Auston Matthews has been out for the last three games and is doubtful for Tuesday's game against Ottawa, and Joseph Woll was on the shelf for the first little bit as well.
Jarnkrok is a player who Craig Berube would love to have on the ice, as he is a tough-as-nails two-way forward, who kills penalties, wins faceoffs, plays smart hockey, and doesn't give up on the play. Berube could use him over Nick Robertson; who's shown a bit of fire recently but offers much less versatility than Jarnkrok.
Is This The End For Calle Jarnkrok's Career?
One game shy of 700 for his career, Jarnkrok is an 11-year veteran who made a name for himself as a long-time member of the Nashville Predators as a two-way player with the potential to score 15-20 goals while also doing all the little things right.
He has 301 points in 699 career games and had a stretch of 7 straight seasons with double-digit goals. He even hit the 20-goal benchmark with the Maple Leafs in his first season in Toronto. Jarnkrok would help Toronto's lack of discipline too, as he's not known for taking meaningless penalties; something the team needs help with.
While we can only hope that by some miracle Jarnkrok can return to the ice this season and contribute, perhaps in time for the playoffs. But as of now, it looks like a career-threatening injury that may affect not only his ability to play but his day-to-day well-being.
