Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard suffered one of the nastier knee injuries you'll see during his team's game vs. Ottawa on Monday night.
Canucks’ Keith Ballard Suffers Gruesome Knee Injury Monday Night Vs. Senators
Ballard went down hard after a take down by Senators forward Milan Michalek just under three minutes into the first period.
He was clearly in pain as his right knee did something that knees are not supposed to do.
By request, we’ve removed the photo. It’s not a pretty sight, so you’ll have to click through to see it.
He was helped off the ice by trainers after rolling around in pain for at least a minute. He couldn’t put any weight on that right leg, but you knew that already by just looking at the picture.
It's just the latest injury issue on the Canucks blueline this year. Like Spinal Tap was to drummers, so are the Vancouver is to defensemen. Ballard's the third Canucks defenseman to suffer what seems to be a serious injury. Alex Edler (back surgery, out indefinitely) and Sami Salo (torn achilles, has yet to play this season) have spent time on the injured reserve list. Salo, at least, is due back for a conditioning stint soon.
Ballard's knee injury comes just as fellow defensemen Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts returned to the lineup. They had each missed the last eight games. Rookie Lee Sweatt also broke his foot in practice over the weekend.
Head coach Alain Vigneault announced after the game that Ballard will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. We’ll expect a pretty bad diagnosis while hoping this just looks a lot worse than it really is.
Derek Zona contributed to this report. Image via Twitpic.
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