File this one away under, "Gross/Awesome Hockey News."
Los Angeles Kings defenseman, Alec Martinez, isn't anywhere close to returning to the lineup, and after today's update from coach Darryl Sutter, we now know the disgustingly cool reason why.
The injury he suffered last Thursday to his hand was so serious that he almost lost his finger, the notoriously quirky and often sarcastic Sutter said, according to Helene Elliott of The Los Angeles Times.
"They nearly cut his finger off. So I don't think he can play in a week .... Your fingers do have a pulse in them and it does hurt. And Marty's tough. We've seen him play lots, not with little-finger injuries but with big injuries. It's painful."
Martinez took to the ice today, but only after the rest of his teammates had vacated. Afterwards, Sutter offered his prognosis and said that GM Dean Lombardi's original one-week recovery projection was far too optimistic.
"Put the glove in there and sweat in there and you've got to be careful. You could start losing ground to an infection. We miss him a lot but he can't play at 20%."
Without Martinez and with the continued absence of suspended and recently charged defenseman, Slava Voynov, the Kings have had to mix, match and wholly reconfigure their defensive pairings.
Drew Doughty's time on ice has jumped dramatically to an average of 28 minutes and 56 seconds per game, according to Hockey-Reference.com, second in the league. Doughty has said that he enjoys playing a lot, but at 24, may not be aware of the toll the extra time is taking on his body.
"How old is Drew, 24?" Sutter said, correctly. "I'd rather he was working on his whole game than trying to play the whole game. When you play that much you're not as effective."
Until Voynov's salary is removed from the books either by the league or via trade and Martinez's wound finally heals, the Kings will do their best to make do with what they have.
