Doctor’s Take: Potential Devastating Injury Prediction For Devils Jacob Markstrom

NEWARK—All of New Jersey collectively gasped for breath when the New Jersey Devils goaltender was writhing in pain whilst down in his crease on Wednesday night against the Boston Bruins.

UPDATED: Devils Jacob Markstrom Suffers Scary Injury; ‘Will Miss Some Time’

As the scene unfolded following the collision with Justin Brazeau, it got worse before it got better. Markstrom attempted to stand on his own, but couldn’t. Then he tried to use the net for leverage, and almost fell again. Devils forward Stefan Noesen and a trainer began to help him off the ice. Markstrom applied no pressure to his left leg.

Then, about halfway to the bench, Markstrom began to skate off on his own.

After the 5-1 victory over the Bruins, Markstrom’s teammates and head coach explained he was in good spirits, pointing to an optimistic report in terms of the Devils goaltenders injury.

“[Markstrom] is in good spirits,” goaltender Jake Allen explained after he came in for Markstrom’s relief, capturing his first win since Nov. 23rd making stopping all 16 shots he faced.

“Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.”

For a brief moment, Allen provided a glimmer of hope.

However, although head coach Sheldon Keefe echoed Allen’s sentiment regarding Markstrom’s spirits, his update on the 34-year-old goaltender ended with less optimism.

“We’ll take some time before we know the full extent on [Markstrom],” Keefe explained. “I talked to him, he is in good spirits. He’s feeling a lot better than before, so that’s positive. He’s going to miss some time.”

The Devils can ill afford any major losses. They won their first game in their last five Wednesday night, a game that you can point to as a turning point for the second half of their season if they continue an upward trend. Without Markstrom, that reality becomes more difficult to achieve. Fortunately, Allen is one of the better, if not the best backup in the NHL who can handle a starting goaltender’s workload.

Still, the Devils won’t want to be without their No.1 goaltender very long.

Dr. Harjas Grewal explained on X that goaltender injuries are hard to predict. The injury expert provided a few recovery timelines for Markstrom, contingent on the type of injury the Devils’ netminder is dealing with.

Two of the three predictions are potentially devastating.

“Possible knee twist [and] inward stress, so concerns are as follows for Markstrom: MCL sprain (depends on grade, often week-to-week for goalies), Torn Meniscus (4–6 weeks for trim, 4+ months for repair), Torn ACL (5+ months out),” Grewal posted on X Wednesday night.

Any sort of timeline that ends in “months” creeps Markstrom’s recovery timeline into playoffs. Certainly, the Devils and their fans are hoping for the former.

Grewal went on to explain his reasons for optimism that Markstrom.

“I have some optimism that this is short term as his foot wasn’t locked against the post during the entire contact but instead came up and out eventually,” Grewal explained. “However, that brief moment before the leg came up can be enough for a serious injury, it’s just harder to be confident.”

Continued: “All in all, cautiously optimistic Markstrom is on a day-to-day to week-to-week timeline and not headed for surgery but won’t know for sure until after his MRI tomorrow,” Grewal finalized.

Day-to-day or week-to-week is the best case scenario. The Devils have seven games and over a week left before the NHL pauses its regular season for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Devils who aren’t in the tournament will be off for two weeks.

Markstrom was slated to be one of the three goaltenders for Team Sweden in the world tournament. Now, there’s a distinct possibility he doesn’t even play at all.

We’ll see what the official injury report brings, likely as soon as Friday, with the Devils taking the day off on Thursday.

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