Jacob Trouba's heartbreaking comments on Blake Wheeler's injury.

It was hard to watch.

Earlier this week New York Rangers veteran forward Blake Wheeler suffered a terrible looking injury after an awkward fall along the boards caused his leg to buckle in an ugly manner.

We now know of course that Wheeler will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season as a result of that injury, but even that grim prognosis may be overly optimistic.

Recent comments from New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba have now cast an even darker shadow over this injury with Trouba indicating that Wheeler's career in the National Hockey League may be over. To be clear, Trouba did not officially confirm that Wheeler is done in the NHL, but his heartbreaking comments regarding his logn time teammate certainly made it seem like it is a very real possibility.

"Yeah, we need a new RW now, but we lost a friend," said Trouba of Wheeler's injury. "We lost our teammate… I’m not saying this is true, but maybe he played his last hockey game… It’s emotional. It’s something you think about. You don’t take things for granted."

Trouba knows Wheeler better than most in the Rangers' locker room, having played alongside Wheeler from the very first moment the Rangers captain set foot on an NHL ice surface. Trouba began his career with the Winnipeg Jets where Wheeler was already an established star, and played with Wheeler for several years as a member of the Jets before eventually being traded to the Rangers in 2019.