Monday, December 11, 2017

Wes' Team Suffers Major Casualties



The Vancouver Canucks announced that forward Sven Baertschi will now be out of the lineup for the next 4-to-6 weeks with a broken jaw, saying that he won't need surgery for any repairs, it'll just be the wait-and-heal process for him moving forward.  Baertschi was hurt in the game against Calgary on Saturday night and leaves a sizeable hole in the lineup, where he had 8 goals and 18 points in the first 30 games this season.

Also capping off the injury-filled weekend, the Winnipeg Jets said that defenseman Dustin Byfuglien will be out on a week-to-week basis with the lower-body injury that he suffered.  There were some reports suggesting that the Jets don't expect him back in their lineup until after Christmas.  Byfuglien, too, was hurt on Saturday against the Lightning and also leaves a gap on the Winnipeg blueline, having 15 assists in 28 games.

So, for Wes, this has not bee a great start to Week Eleven, as that eliminates seven skater games that could be played from this week alone and a couple of big holes for possibly the next month.  Wes' team opens up the week in 22nd place, 14 points clear of 23rd and 42 points clear of 25th.  It seems quite unlikely that his team will be moving up in the standings, since this is his 3rd-best forward and 2nd-best defenseman on the shelf.



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