During a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night, Tampa Bay Lightning standout forward Brayden Point suffered a gruesome-looking knee injury after scoring a power-play goal early in the second period.<\/p>\n
Flyers defenseman Cam York fell awkwardly on Point\u2019s right leg after he steered home a centering feed for his 11th tally of the season. Point immediately grabbed towards his knee and needed to be helped off the ice by teammate Nikita Kucherov and head athletic trainer Tom Mulligan.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Tuesday\u2019s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said that Point has avoided the \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d with the injury, but he\u2019s still been given a week-to-week prognosis.<\/p>\n
Of course, Cooper isn\u2019t just Point\u2019s coach down in Tampa Bay again this season, as he\u2019s also the bench boss for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, which begin in less than one month. Point was one of six players announced to Canada\u2019s Olympic roster back in June and was a key member of the team that won the 4 Nations Face-Off last February.<\/p>\n
Should Point\u2019s latest injury cause him to miss more than three weeks, then his Olympic roster spot will be in jeopardy. NHL players are set to fly to Milan on Feb. 7, and each country has until Feb. 11, the start of the tournament, to name any injury replacements.<\/p>\n
According to Chris Johnston and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic<\/a>, Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard is among a group of forwards who will be considered as Point\u2019s replacement, should he not be able to participate in the Olympics. The other players, per league sources, are Sam Bennett (Florida), Wyatt Johnston (Dallas), Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg), Seth Jarvis (Carolina), and Travis Konecny (Philadelphia).<\/p>\n Before Bedard returned from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the Blackhawks\u2019 lineup for just under one month, he mentioned to the media that Canada\u2019s GM, Doug Armstrong, already let him know that he will be under consideration for an injury replacement standby.<\/p>\n Another league source mentioned that Point was likely to receive a top-six role for Canada in the tournament and was a top option to play on the first line alongside Connor McDavid. That\u2019s where the two-time Stanley Cup champion was slotted to begin the championship game at the 4 Nations Face-Off.<\/p>\n If the Canadians are looking for a true top-line replacement for Point, rather than adding a depth player to the roster, then Bedard would be a perfect fit. First off, he\u2019s another right-handed shot who can play both center and wing, just like Point. Bedard also could fill in and provide consistent offensive support, as the 20-year-old has tallied 46 points (19G, 27A) in 33 games this season. Despite missing 13 games, he\u2019s still tied for 24th in the league in scoring.<\/p>\n Among all players reportedly in the mix for an injury replacement, Bedard undoubtedly provides the highest offensive ceiling. And while it seemed to have been ignored during the initial roster selection process, he\u2019s also made remarkable strides with his two-way play in his third NHL season. He\u2019s no longer just a one-trick pony; he\u2019s a winning hockey player.<\/p>\n Johnston, another right-handed, offensive-minded player, offers a similar makeup to Bedard and will likely garner interest from the Canadians if Point can\u2019t make the trip across the pond. Bennett, given he\u2019s the reigning Conn Smyth Trophy winner, makes plenty of sense, too. He\u2019s known for elevating his game when it matters most. It\u2019s also worth mentioning that both Jarvis and Konecny were on the team at the 4 Nations.<\/p>\n However, none of those players offer quite the same upside as Bedard. When healthy, he\u2019s looked like one of the best players in the NHL and performed at a superstar level. Bedard can be a game-changer for Canada at the Olympics.<\/p>\n The Canadians likely won\u2019t know whether Point will play or not for another couple of weeks. But if his lower-body injury prevents him from representing his country, then Bedard\u2019s has a decent chance of being named a late addition to the tournament.<\/p>\n For more Blackhawks news, visit Chicago Hockey Now<\/a> and like our Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow us on X:<\/p>\n @chihockeynow<\/a>, @JackBushman2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night, Tampa Bay Lightning standout forward Brayden Point suffered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[49420,51484,521,1332,37,96,5263,508,58,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-408574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-bedard-olympics","9":"tag-bedard-team-canada","10":"tag-blackhawks","11":"tag-brayden-point","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","14":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","15":"tag-connor-bedard","16":"tag-featured","17":"tag-hockey","18":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115897726615467520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}