It took a few days, but the huge worry surrounding Nico Hischier seemed to be valid. The New Jersey Devils released more information about his injury, and he’s going to be out for the foreseeable future with a head injury.
Hischier was hurt in Saturday’s game versus the Washington Capitals when a slap shot by P.K. Subban was deflected into the newly named captain’s face. Head coach Lindy Ruff sounded positive after the injury because it “hit his face shield”, but it turns out Hischier was still injured on the play.
Hischier is now dealing with a sinus fracture and he’s in the concussion protocol. If he was placed in the protocol days after the injury happened, it sounds like he’s at least dealing with symptoms. Now, he’s been placed on injured reserve and his status is considered week to week.
This has been a terrible season for Hischier outside of being named captain. He was dealing with a broken fibula that he suffered in offseason training over in Switzerland. It took him a few weeks into the season to actually get into a game. Without even getting practice in, he was placed on the COVID-19 protocol list while the Devils were dealing with their own outbreak. He was one of the last players to come off the list, and he finally made his season debut on February 20th.
Hischier was finally hitting his stride when the puck hit him in the face. He had a goal and an assist in that game, and he had a goal against the Buffalo Sabres in the previous game. This is after he was kept scoreless in his first three games of the season.
The Devils lineup without Hischier is not great. Devils beat reporter Amanda Stein posted lines from practice on Wednesday, and it did not spark confidence from the fanbase.
Here's how things are looking today at practice. Clearly a lot of shake-ups here for #NJDevils on the forward front. pic.twitter.com/jrxN2EnDgw
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) March 3, 2021
With Hischier out, the Devils have to rely on players like Pavel Zacha and Yegor Sharangovich to keep up scoring momentum. Jack Hughes has tried to do things by himself, but it hasn’t worked much during the Devils’ skid. The team has lost five of its last six games, and the schedule is about to get harder.
It seems like this season is full of bad news, and the Devils’ luck isn’t getting better anytime soon. Hopefully, some good fortune is on the horizon, because this news stinks.