Atlanta Thrashers’ Evander Kane (9)and New York Islanders’ Frans Nielsen fight for the puck in the first period of an NHL hockey game game Thursday, March 4, 2010, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
AP
Evander Kane has, for the most part, been a pleasant surprise in a mostly dismal season for the Atlanta Thrashers. Unfortunately, Kane will need to get a CT scan today to determine the extent of an injury that occurred during a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described Kane’s injury.
Kane injured the foot blocking a shot early in Saturday’s game at Tampa Bay. He left and didn’t return. He missed Sunday’s game against Carolina because of the injury, only the second game he’s missed all season.
Kane is wearing a walking boot and using crutches. The boot is similar to one worn by former teammate Ilya Kovalchuk earlier this season when he suffered a broken foot and missed three weeks.
It’s been a solid if unspectacular season for the 18-year-old player, who has managed 25 points so far this year. It’s unclear if he may have benefited from a little more seasoning in the minors. His scouting report indicates that Evander is the kind of tough player you’d expect to find being that he was named after famous boxer Evander Holyfield (whom he met recently).
“He has power forward qualities from the blue line in. He’s the type of player who doesn’t like being denied access to the net. You can almost see when he’s got the puck he’s going to the net and defying people to stop him. He’ll be a 200-pound forward in the National Hockey League. He plays like he’s 6-2, 6-3, bigger than his size. He’s surprised a lot of people with his strength going to the net.”
Hopefully Kane’s injury is a mere bump in the road for the budding power forward. Also, let’s hope that he doesn’t leave people with the kind of head wounds that earned Holyfield some notoriety. That’s just not good for anyone.
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