Jakob Pelletier is having a nightmare of a season, and on Monday, things got worse.
The young forward missed the Flames’ first 49 games of the season due to a shoulder injury.
Since returning, he’s put up one assist, but during Monday’s matchup with the New York Rangers, he only had two shifts and 0:54 time on the ice before being forced off the game injured after a massive hit from Jacob Trouba.
Trouba, the New York Rangers’ defenseman, is known to be one of the biggest hitters in the NHL, and if an opponent skates with his head down, he will punish you.
Trouba is an expert in the physical game, and Pelletier was the victim of that on Monday.
Pelletier skated through the neutral zone when he collided with the train that is Trouba, and he was buried along the boards.
What’s even worse for Pelletier and the Flames is that he appeared to have injured the shoulder he had surgery for during this summer’s off-season.
Pelletier did jump onto the ice during a TV timeout later in the game, but he still felt discomfort and headed to the locker room.
The Flames later announced he wasn’t returning to the game due to an upper-body injury.
Postgame, head coach Ryan Huska told the media that he didn’t have an update yet, but since he felt the discomfort in the same shoulder that kept him out for so many months, fans have every right to be worried.
But on social media, all the praise came to Trouba for the amazing hit.
”When will people learn? If you have your head down and Trouba is on the ice then that’s on you. Clean hit shoulder to shoulder,” one said.
”Do players not look at who they are playing against? If you are playing Trouba or Zadorov maybe be ready to get smoked,” another said.
”Clean, more players need to pick their heads up nowadays,” a third added.
