SAN JOSE — San Jose Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic is expected to miss time — perhaps the rest of the season — with an upper-body injury that’s bothered him since training camp.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Thursday morning that Vlasic’s injury is the same one he’s been dealing with since before the start of the season. Vlasic missed the Sharks’ first 40 games before his season debut on Jan. 2 against the Tamps Bay Lightning.
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Vlasic has been a regular presence in the Sharks’ lineup recently, having played each of the last 10 games before Thursday, and he practiced Wednesday morning. But Warsofsky said Vlasic’s injury, which was believed to involve the upper back, became too bothersome.
In October, the 37-year-old Vlasic, now in his 19th NHL season, said that his injury mainly involved his upper back.
“He’s been trying to play through it, and it got to the point, just after the practice yesterday, was probably too much,” Warsofsky said of Vlasic.
Warsofsky said more might be known about the extent of Vlasic’s injury on Friday. Vlasic has played in 17 games this season, including the 1,300th of his NHL career on Jan. 16 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, averaging 15:28 in ice time.
Asked if Vlasic’s season might be in jeopardy, Warsofsky said it was “probably too early to tell.”
The Sharks have 14 games remaining over the season’s final four weeks, including Thursday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt, recalled from the San Jose Barracuda on Wednesday afternoon, will play in Vlasic’s place Thursday night against Brent Burns and the Hurricanes. It unclear how long Schuldt will be with the Sharks.
“He was playing OK,” Warsofsky said of Vlasic. “You could see the injury was really affecting him as of late and I think that’s been the biggest thing. He’s trying to play through it and I’ve got to give him a lot of credit for it, but you can see that the pace of the game and what he’s dealing with is tough to play through.”
Please check back for updates to this story.
