Mitch Marner narrowly escapes career-threatening injury, comments on the incident after the game
In recent years, we have seen a number of gruesome injuries involving players being cut by skate blades. Two of the most serious incidents in recent memory were the wrist lacerations that former Leaf Ilya Mikheyev suffered a couple short seasons ago and the wrist laceration suffered by Evander Kane earlier this season.
During last night's 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Leafs' current points leader, Mitch Marner, narrowly escaped being seriously injured after having his leg stepped on by Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson following a puck race along the boards.
Marner's instant reaction was to reach for his leg, wincing in pain. Anyone watching was immediately concerned that Marner may have suffered a very serious injury that could end his season and possibly his career.
Thankfully, Marner's pants and sock were enough protection to avoid being cut, but we've seen the type of damage that a skate blade can do just with a glancing blow. Having the entire weight of a player coming down on that blade across someone's leg could do a whole lot more. Forget career threatening injuries - that one could have been a life-threatening injury had it caught Marner in the wrong spot.
When asked about the incident and how lucky he is to have escaped a gruesome injury, Marner had this to say:
"Right away it just felt weird. I didn't know, really, what it was ... when I got back I just asked our trainers if there was a cut or anything ... pretty lucky, but definitely a freak, little incident there... Pretty lucky I got the cut-proof stuff on my wrists but not on my legs."
Marner and the Leafs are back at practice today in Toronto before they travel to Boston for a matchup against the Bruins tomorrow night.
POLL |
AVRIL 5 | 227 ANSWERS Mitch Marner narrowly escapes career-threatening injury, comments on the incident after the game Were you concerned that Marner may have suffered a skate laceration last night after being stepped on? |
Yes | 160 | 70.5 % |
No, I knew his pants were protecting him | 67 | 29.5 % |
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