ANAHEIM — As ever, or so it seems, injuries have played a significant role in the Ducks’ lowly circumstances. Top defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson were like ships passing in the night last week, with Lindholm going on injured reserve and Manson returning from it.
Now, Manson is sidelined again.
First, it was a strained oblique that forced him out of the lineup for 20 games. Then, he suffered an unspecified lower body injury Monday that kept him from playing Wednesday. The injuries are not related, according to Ducks coach Dallas Eakins, but it’s uncertain when he’ll play again.
Lindholm is expected to be out for six weeks because of a fractured wrist.
In addition to Lindholm and Manson, the Ducks also were without right wings Carter Rowney (knee) and Troy Terry (lower body) and left wing Sonny Milano (post-concussion syndrome). Rowney and Milano joined Lindholm on injured reserve. Terry’s injury isn’t believed to be as serious.
Josh Mahura was set to replace Manson and Vinni Lettieri was to fill Terry’s spot.
There was no one capable of filling Rowney’s role on the Ducks’ penalty kill, according to Eakins. Rowney and Derek Grant had formed a determined pair of penalty killers on the top unit to start the season as the Ducks were among the league leaders.
Rowney’s absence the past seven games has hurt the Ducks’ success rate, which was down to 79.4% going into Wednesday’s game against the Kings at Honda Center, dropping them from the top-five to 15th overall in the 31-team league.
“Grant and Rowney are as good a pair as there are in the league,” Eakins said. “They’re two excellent penalty killers, so with Carter going out and Grant being out of the lineup a few times, that’s disrupted that pair. Then we had to take from another pair to fill the hole.
“Those are big shoes to fill because there just isn’t anybody on our team other than Grant who is at that level of penalty killing. We’re trying to teach others to do it, but this isn’t like you teach it and they get the exam right. You’ve got to go through the experience. It just takes time.”
JUNIOR ASSIGNMENTS
As much as Ducks general manager Bob Murray would like the option of returning defenseman Jamie Drysdale and right wing Jacob Perreault, his first-round draft picks from 2020, back to their Ontario Hockey League teams, there are currently no plans for the OHL to begin play.
Drysdale, 18, could return to play for the Erie (Pennsylvania) Otters and Perreault, 18, could play for the Sarnia (Ontario) Sting, but they stayed put. Drysdale has been with the Ducks’ taxi squad and Perreault has been with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.
“Jamie’s with us right now,” Murray said. “I’d like to get him into some games. He’s seen the American League. Now he needs to see the National League because there is a big jump. He needs to see it. He got a puck in the face last week, knocked a couple of teeth out.
“He hasn’t eaten. I’d like to get his weight back up first.”
The Ducks returned left wing Brayden Tracey to the Victoria (British Columbia) Royals of the Western Hockey League. Tracey, 19, was the second of the Ducks’ two first-round draft picks in 2019 (29th overall). He was scoreless in 12 games with the Gulls.
Victoria begins its pandemic-delayed season March 26 against Kelowna in Kelowna, one of two hub cities in the realigned British Columbia Division. Tracey began the 1,400-mile drive from Orange County to Kelowna earlier this week.
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