It appears that the St. Louis Blues will be without defenceman Erik Johnson longer than expected as the team announced the blue liner suffered a tear of both his ACL and MCL.
While the team is saying their standout sophmore will be sidelined indefinitely, sources tell TSN that Johnson could miss the entire season.
"In our business you get a few curveballs," team president John Davidson said Tuesday night before St. Louis played Dallas in a pre-season game. "This is a pretty good curveball."
Johnson suffered the injury while attempting to stop his golf cart to step out and hit his next shot. The 20-year old jammed his right foot between the accelerator and brake and felt a painful tweak in his right knee.
"To say Erik is distraught would be using a kind word," Davidson said. "He feels responsible, but we told him we're still with him. He's still going to be a big part of our team."
Johnson originally underwent an MRI last Wednesday; however the test was inconclusive as the swelling had yet to subside.
Johnson is expected to have surgery within the next three-to-four weeks.
It is likely Johnson will seek the opinion of at least one more specialist before determining surgery is required, however the belief at this point is he will require surgery.
The near month long time-line for surgery is to allow the swelling to subside while also giving Johnson an opportunity to work on flexibility which is supposed to speed up his recovery post-surgery.
The US National development team product enjoyed an excellent rookie season last year with the Blues, scoring five goals and collecting 33 points in 69 games.
"We still have our same goals," Davidson said. "We're going to get up tomorrow and think about winning. You have to be able to adapt."