Many NHL regulars suffer significant injuries during the preseason, prompts tough questions for calendar

It’s become a hot topic as many NHL star players have gone down with injuries before the 2024-25 season opener. You have to be asking yourself if the reward is worth the risk when you see players like Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty and Montreal Canadiens’ Patrik Laine getting severely injured in meaningless games.

It’s been trending on social media that many NHL regulars have been ruled out of action for a long time due to significant injury sustained during the preseason. It was announced by the Canadiens on Tuesday that Laine sustained a sprain to his left knee that will not require surgery, and that he is expected to be from two to three months.

Drew Doughty, fractured ankle (month-to-month)
Ryan Lindgren, upper-body (week-to-week)
Patrik Laine, lower-body (months)

Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press asked Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers if preseason games and lenghty training camps are necessary and the player thought it was a “really hard question to answer.”

“Last year was the first time I kind of had to jump right into the regular season. And I was fine,” said Ehlers. who missed camp and all exhibition contests last year. “But it does take at least a game to get into the timing of it all. And the game-like situations, the game conditioning and so on.”

“There’s pros and cons. I do like a game, at least one game, before it gets going,” he said. “You need at least a game – at least I do – to get into the timing and all of that. But you also don’t want to get injured in preseason. But you can get hurt at any time.”

In Montreal, Laine was injured early in the first period of Saturday’s 2-1 preseason loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. In another preseason contest, Doughty sustained a fractured ankle, leaving him sidelined for months. As for Lindgren in New York, he’s out week-to-week with an upper-body injury after sticking up for Filip Chytil and fighting Scott Mayfield in retaliation for his hit on his teammate. It’s unclear if he will be ready to go for the start of the regular season.

No one seems to know what’s best when it comes to the preseason, tough Ehlers has a suggestion.

“Could we shorten it? Sure. But I don’t think there’s a lot of guys in here complaining about the length,” said Ehlers.

What would you do about the preseason?