The luck goes from bad to worse for the Winnipeg Jets as Paul Maurice announced today that forward Nikolaj Ehlers was out with an upper-body injury until mid-February.
Nik Ehlers will be out until mid February with an upper body injury according to Paul Maurice
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) January 5, 2019
The fact that there is a timeline and not general vagueness can rule out a concussion as the broadcast last night was saying that he had taken a shoulder to the head. That said, based on the in-game events where Ehlers left the ice without play stopping, went to the room, returned and played a shift or two before leaving the game for good leads me to believe that he has suffered a shoulder injury.
This injury has consequences for the Jets. They are already without Dustin Byfuglien and losing Ehlers as well will only hurt them more. One area that they are weaker in than last season is their controlled entries. It seems like there is less times that a player skates the puck into the zone and maintain control for an extended period of time. This might just be my selective eyesight though.
For the time being Jack Roslovic is on the top line with Nic Petan replacing him on the fourth line, but this could change at the drop of a hat.
Ehlers should miss about 15 games.
