Carolina Hurricanes Recall Danny Biega, James Wisniewski to Miss 6 Months with ACL Tear
By Brett Finger
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced that James Wisniewski will miss several months with an ACL tear. Danny Biega has been recalled and will play in a seventh defenseman role.
The worst case scenario is a reality for the Carolina Hurricanes and defenseman James Wisniewski. The veteran blue liner is slated to miss 6 months with an ACL tear in his left leg, according team general manager Ron Francis.
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Wisniewski, 31, will undergo surgery to repair the ailment. The date of the surgery has yet to be announced. He had an MRI today in Raleigh.
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The Hurricanes acquired the 552-game NHL veteran via trade from the Anaheim Ducks at the 2015 NHL draft. Wisniewski was injured on just his second shift with the team in Thursday’s opening night loss to the Predators after logging a total of 47 seconds on ice.
For the time being, Danny Biega will serve as the team’s seventh defenseman and Michal Jordan will enter the lineup for Saturday night’s home opener against the Detroit Red Wings.
Ron Francis has said that the team will look for alternative options to fill the massive hole that this injury leaves in the lineup, whether it is through trade, free agent acquisition, or otherwise.
The news about James Wisniewski is incredibly disappointing to hear, both as a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes and a fan of the man that he is.
On the ice, the Canes are losing a proven top-four defenseman that can chip in heavily on the offensive side of the puck. He’s a guy that can step up and play over 20 minutes a night and can do it well.
Carolina Hurricanes
James Wisniewski has also proven over his short time with the Hurricanes that he is a great locker room guy and an awesome figure in the community. He and teammates Justin Faulk and John-Michael Liles joined together to form the “True Defenders” program, a charity that donates hockey equipment amongst other supplies to members of our nation’s military and veterans.
He is a class act off the ice and a very good hockey player on the ice, as he has shown every year since breaking into the league in the 2005-2006 season. He has 274 points in the NHL, making him nearly a .5 point per game defenseman. He tallied a career high 51 points in the 2013-2014 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Danny Biega will step up and play in a seventh defenseman role until another move is made, assuming there will be one. Biega, 24, played his first 10 NHL games at the tail end of the 2014-2015 season, tallying 2 points and recording a -5 rating.
Michal Jordan, a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Nashville Predators, will step into the lineup immediately. He made the team out of training camp, beating out the likes of the aforementioned Danny Biega, Haydn Fleury, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin, and many others.
The Carolina Hurricanes will now look to make the best out of an awful situation as they look to still be optimistic and play with fire as the early stages of the season progress.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to James Wisniewski as he fights through this brutal injury. We hope he hits the ice again for the Hurricanes as soon as possible and makes a full recovery.