Karlsson Leaves Road Trip With Lower-Body Injury

Erik Karlsson is hurt again.

According to head coach Bob Boughner, Karlsson has left the San Jose Sharks’ current road trip, along with Radim Simek, to get re-evaluated back in San Jose. Both Karlsson and Simek are fending with lower-body injuries.

“This has been a nagging thing since the beginning of the road trip. After Vancouver, [Karlsson] was fine. But he played in Nashville, obviously not 100%. He definitely wasn’t 100% in Chicago. So we had to make that decision,” Boughner said. “At this point in the season, we don’t want to put a guy like Karly in a risk situation where there’s going to be anything more dangerous. It’s more precaution.”

Hopefully, that’s the case.

Last week, Karlsson talked about why it was important to finish this season healthy.

“It’s about setting up the summer and making sure that you enter it with a good mindset and a healthy body. That’s where I’m at this stage in my career,” he said. “You have [nine] games left, it is what it is. It’s not much you can do about it. You show up every day and we play with pride. You try and do the best out of the situation that you’re in. But for me, it’s about making sure that I can go into this off-season and prepare for next year.”

If it is indeed a minor injury, that’s great news for Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks. They need him to start next season like he did this campaign: Karlsson had eight goals and 26 points in his first 33 games through late January.

But then, Karlsson was felled by left forearm surgery, which took him out of action until early March.

Karlsson also missed six games earlier this season because of COVID and two games in mid-January because of an oblique strain.