Eaton Could Miss Balance Of Season

Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins

Dec 24, 12:54 PM | Hype this story!

Mark Eaton received an early Christmas gift yesterday afternoon after being slew-footed by Boston Bruins forward Marco Sturm.

He left the game just a few minutes into the second period and did not return.

Though team officials have not yet commented on Eaton’s injury, Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that it could be season-ending.

“Although the Penguins said there was no official word on the particulars of Eaton’s injury, let alone a prognosis, he is believed to have suffered significant ligament damage,” Molinari wrote in his game story.

There is no word yet on whether the league plans to review the dangerous play for suspension.

The injury is a huge blow to a team already weak at the defense position and playing without its starting goaltender, who also is nursing a severe injury (high ankle sprain).

Eaton, who generally is paired with Sergei Gonchar, arguably is the team’s best defender in his own end.

He has blocked 89 shots, 28 more than Rob Scuderi, who has the second most on the team; he averages 4:12 of shorthanded ice time per game and has logged 151:20 of shorthanded ice time this season, both numbers rank first on the team; and he has given away the puck just seven times, best among defenders on the team.

With this injury, the recently-scratched Brooks Orpik will make his return to the lineup, but his defensive play is nothing in comparison to that of Eaton.

Faceoff Factor will stay close to this story, but with the Christmas holiday, the next report might not come until Wednesday.

Comments

  1. DaBich

    Dec 26, 06:06 AM

    Just another blow to the line-up in the already long list of blows. Our D is severely impaired without Eaton. May as well call it a season.

  2. Matt Bodenschatz

    Dec 26, 12:55 PM

    It sure is a huge blow — but as always, I’ll stay positive. Last year the Penguins played most of the season without Eaton and had an arguably worse defensive squad than this year’s. They managed to get into the playoffs then, so I think it still can happen.

    Also, remember that, when Fleury went down, the mood was doom and gloom as well, but the Penguins have stayed in the hunt, despite getting some poor goaltending from Sabourin.

    Basically what has to happen — and what I think will happen — is that the players will begin to rally around each other to fill in the gaps. The team as a whole will play better defense, and players will be more conscious of aspects of the games they normally neglect.

    If this happens, the team will be just fine. If it doesn’t happen, things will be rough.

    There also is an option of going out and trading for a defenseman. This, to me, seems like a very possible scenario.

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