Toronto Maple Leafs: Ilya Mikheyev’s Injury Draws Attention to Laceration Safety
By Zoë Mason
Ilya Mikheyev quickly began a fan favourite since coming from the KHL this season, but the Toronto Maple Leafs will be without him for the foreseeable future.
The Russian winger has been providing the equivalent of a low end first liner since signing as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs last summer.
As always with imports, it’s difficult to gauge whether or not a player is worth the hype when he signs.
The NHL is the world’s most competitive hockey, and even players with great stats in solid leagues like the KHL don’t always hold up to the pressures and changes of the North American game.
The top scorer on his team in 2018-19, Mikheyev racked up 23 goals and 22 assists for 45 points across 62 regular season games and tacked on an impressive postseason with 11 points in 13 appearances.
So far, he’s been a solid addition to an already impressive offensive lineup, posting 23 points across 39 games with the Leafs. His broken English and boyish charm have also made him a favourite both in the locker room and in the fan base at large. He has, by all means, lived up to the hype.
Mikheyev’s Injury Hurts the Toronto Maple Leafs
But a frightening injury he sustained during the Toronto Maple Leafs game against New Jersey on Friday night is forcing him to the sidelines on a longterm basis. Although expected to recover fully, fans won’t be getting a clear timeline regarding the winger’s return to the lineup until his reassessment in three months.
The shocking injury, described initially as a “significant laceration to the wrist,” was later revealed to have severed an artery and tendons in Mikheyev’s wrist.
He was taken immediately to University Hospital in New Jersey, where he underwent surgery to repair the damage, according to an injury update on the NHL webpage.
He sustained the laceration when New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt’s skate caught him in the wrist, and the narrow avoidance of catastrophe has reignited discussions about player safety when it comes to skates.
According to Chris Johnston in an article for Sportsnet, the fear of sustaining a similar injury was not lost on Mikheyev’s fellow Leafs: five of them got themselves fitted for Kevlar sleeves just hours after the incident.
Coming just over a week after a similar injury was sustained by the Islander’s Cal Clutterbuck and a few weeks after OHL goaltender Tucker Tynan had an artery severed in his thigh, the topic of laceration safety has become pervasive.
Johnston writes that seven options for cut-resistant gear are currently league approved, with an eighth coming into circulation shortly that aims to protect the neck and throat area.
He also notes that the league’s “Laceration Task Group” convenes during the upcoming All-Star weekend. While they’re likely to discuss these recent incidents, they are unlikely to implement any type of mandate for more protective equipment.
(Stats from nhl.com/stats and https://en.khl.ru/players/17692/).
Injuries like Clutterbuck’s, Tynan’s and Mikheyev’s are always troubling, however the options exist to prevent them. The truth of the matter is that with a game that involves, as John Tavares put it, “blades on your feet,” lacerations are inevitable. While mandatory protection may one day become the norm, it’s a change that we’re unlikely to see for the time being.
Wishing Mikheyev a speedy recovery!