A promising Senators prospect faces a lengthy layoff after a serious lower-body injury.
When the Ottawa Senators drafted defencemen Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler in the first round, they knew they weren’t getting a finished prospect like a Matthew Schaefer. Both Sens prospects were always going to need time to further develop at lower levels before making an impact in the NHL.
Of course, plenty of things can stunt a player’s development, and it varies from one prospect to the next, but one thing that universally pauses development is the injury bug.
It struck Yakemchuk earlier this season, causing him to miss 13 games in Belleville, and now it’s come for Hensler.
Last Saturday, in an 8-4 blowout loss to the University of Minnesota, Hensler went in for a body check at the Badgers’ blue line and got tied up awkwardly with his man. As they both fell to the ice, Hensler's left leg buckled beneath him, causing a troubling amount of torque on both his ankle and knee.
He immediately grasped at the leg and required assistance getting off the ice, unable to put any weight on it.
When asked about Hensler's status during his mid-week media availability, Badgers head coach Mike Hastings didn’t sound overly optimistic.
“He won’t be available for a while," Hastings said. "Still going through the evaluation process, but it’s not going to be something that’s short term. It’s a lower-body injury and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that he’s in as good a spot as he can be daily as this turns into weeks here. But it’ll be an injury that’s going to take some time.”
Wisconsin's regular season ends less than a month from now with a pair of games at Penn State on March 5 and 6.
With five games left before the NHL trade deadline, the injury doesn’t necessarily affect Hensler’s stock as a potential asset. Any team that might call GM Steve Staios about Hensler wouldn’t be looking for immediate NHL help anyway.
Hensler is in his second year at Wisconsin and has 12 points in 23 games this season. He represented Team USA at the World Junior Hockey Championship for the second straight year. The Americans had hoped to three-peat as champions this year but fell short of the podium.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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