Cutter Gauthier has an upper-body injury and will not return to tonight's game in Calgary, the Anaheim Ducks announced.
Elliotte Friedman reposted the update, and the club offered no further details on how it happened.
Gauthier came into tonight with 4 points, including 2 power-play goals. He was also in the minus column, so his game hadn't fully clicked yet.
He carries a $13,500,000 cap hit, second only to Leo Carlsson on the Ducks.
Anaheim can survive the rest of tonight without him. A long absence would be a much bigger problem for a team built around its young forwards.
Losing him mid-game is like losing your starting pitcher in the third inning. The bullpen can cover it, but everybody ends up working harder than planned.
It's already been a physical night in Calgary, with Kevin Bahl sitting down Sam Colangelo with a big open-ice check earlier.
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Anaheim announces injury news on star forward Cutter Gauthier
Carlsson leads Anaheim with 7 points, 5 of them power-play assists.
Sennecke has 6 points and 2 power-play goals of his own.
Without Gauthier, the man advantage loses one of its finishers, and that's where the Ducks have done plenty of damage early.
Anaheim had scored 14 goals in four games before tonight, so the offense was humming along nicely.
The Ducks came in at 3-1-0, playing the back half of a back-to-back after a 5-1 win in Winnipeg. Their lone loss came against Edmonton on Wednesday.
Calgary arrived winless through four games after allowing 23 goals, so the Ducks walked into a building desperate for anything positive.
Lukas Dostal came in at an .883 save percentage, while Ville Husso had been perfect across three appearances.
Is Gauthier available Tuesday when these teams meet again in Anaheim?
The Ducks shouldn't rush him back for that one, no matter how much tonight's physical edge makes them want a full lineup.
Joel Quenneville will want clarity before then, and Anaheim also hosts Boston on Friday.
Upper-body injuries can mean a day or a month. Anaheim will find out soon which kind this is.
Should the Ducks hold Cutter Gauthier out of Tuesday's rematch with Calgary?
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