Last night in the Los Angeles Kings preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the worst possible thing happened to the Kings.
On an innocent backcheck against former teammate Tanner Pearson, Drew Doughty looked to have caught an edge and went into the boards skates first.
As soon as he went down, everyone watching knew that it was serious. Doughty was grabbing his leg while lying on the ice before being helped up and leaving the ice.
The reports today are that the Kings’ defenseman’s injury may be worse than expected.
Doughty Update: Sources say #LAKings defenseman Drew Doughty sustained a left ankle injury. Initial quick x-ray showed a fracture, but he’s scheduled for additional imaging today. Hope is that it is only a fracture and not additional structural damage.
Timeline TBD.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 26, 2024
If Doughty has a leg fracture, he will be out months but could make a comeback later this season. However, if he has structural damage, it’ll likely mean the Kings will be without their best defender for the entire season.
This will be a huge loss to the Kings blue line regardless of the timeline, but it’ll hurt them even more if they don’t have him on their back end until the playoffs, if they can make it.