Big hit from Middleton leaves Zach Werenski in bad shape.

The Minnesota Wild made a big acquisition at the trade deadline when they acquired star goaltender Marc Andre Fleury, but on Saturday night the team's other deadline acquisition Jacob Middleton also made his presence known.

With roughly 2 minutes left to go in the opening period of the game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the aforementioned Minnesota Wild, Middleton delivered a big hit to Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski. The hit dropped Werenski down to the ice where he would remain for several long moments, and it seems that the reason behind that was some contact to the head of the Blue Jackets blue liner.

The hit from Middleton appeared to be a good one, delivered through the body, but as the two men collided it looks as though Middleton's helmet may have smashed into Werenski's face. Werenski was clutching at his mouth while down on the ice which appears to be where the helmet struck him as the two men came together, which also leads me to believe that it was Middleton's helmet that did most of the damage here.

A bad sign for the Blue Jackets is the fact that, even after he regained his feet, Werenski appeared to be in very bad shape. He was unable to leave the ice under his own power and quite literally had to be dragged back to the Blue Jackets locker room by a pair of his fellow teammates. Hopefully Werenski is going to be ok, but initial signs certainly do not look good for the Blue Jackets.