Ducks injury bug comes back to haunt them again as playoffs approach

The Ducks will be without veteran blue liner Kevin Bieksa as he will undergo surgery on Friday to remove scar tissue in his left hand. He is expected to be out for the next 2-5 weeks.

The Anaheim Ducks have fought back from a first half of the season in which they were decimated by injuries to come within a point of the second wild card spot in the logjam that is the Western Conference. They currently sit one point behind Dallas for the second wild card and they sit two behind LA for the third division spot in the Pacific.

They will have to continue fighting through adversity after the news broke on Friday that veteran defensemen Kevin Bieksa would be the next Duck to break a wing.

Bieksa is definitely not as young as he used to be as he approaches 37, but he brings substantial playoff experience to an Anaheim team that is looking to make a run going down the stretch.

The veteran has been to the playoffs in nine of his thirteen seasons since joining the Vancouver Canucks as a full-time roster member in the 2005-06 season. This includes the 2010-11 season in which he went all the way to game seven against the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals. In those nine trips he has totaled:

• 85 games played
• 10 goals
• 20 assists
• 147 penalty minutes

With his play deteriorating in the last portion of the season, it leads to the question of how much this injury has been affecting Bieksa’s play. With the rest of the team playing well, especially goaltender John Gibson, who is coming off of a 32 save shutout against the Canucks on Wednesday, it may bode well for Bieksa to take a break and recover. It is expected that either Marcus Pettersson or Korbinian Holzer will take his place in the lineup until he recovers.

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The Ducks are set to return to action Friday night as they take on the Red Wings at 10:00 p.m. ET.