Calgary Flames Injury Updates: Sean Monahan required four surgeries

With the season ending and the Calgary Flames cleaning out their lockers, we’ve learned some updates on injuries on some of the players.

As the season was winding down for the Calgary Flames, some players were missing games, since they weren’t important down the stretch. We knew there were injuries, but we didn’t quite know the specifics. We knew that Kris Versteeg, who had hip surgery, somewhat rushed back and was out of the lineup because of that.

But Sean Monahan, TJ Brodie, and Matthew Tkachuk also missed the last couple of weeks. As the players cleaned out their lockers, we learned what those injuries were.

Tkachuk suffered an injury against the New York Islanders on March 11. He confirmed that it was due to a concussion and said that if the games meant something down the line, he would have been in the lineup. Which makes me glad, now, that the Flames weren’t making the playoffs. The fact that he would have been able to play if he wanted to further proves the NHL’s inability to properly assess and deal with head injuries.

I appreciate the heart that Tkachuk has, but rushing back when you have a concussion is one of the worst things you can do.

We also learned that Brodie also suffered a concussion against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 18th when he took a hard hit from Ryan Reaves. He said he also had a neck injury. There’s lots of speculation about whether Brodie will be traded or not, so we may have already seen his last game as a Flame.

Finally, the most significant injury was Sean Monahan. Since being out of the lineup since March 24, we learned that from then until now, he’s had four (FOUR!!?!?!) surgeries. Two hip surgeries, a wrist reconstruction surgery, and surgery on his groin. He also said that he’s been playing through these injuries in the last 35 games, where he still put up 30 points. Some people were wondering what was going on with Monahan because it seemed like he wasn’t quite himself and wasn’t shooting as much. Well, this explains it.

He also said that he lost grip in his hand for a few games and was basically playing with one hand. 13 goals and 17 assists with all those is still incredible.

Next: Flames Roundtable - Late-season collapse

Well, that’s all the injury updates for now! Sean Monahan says to expect a full recovery for him in about three months. The Calgary Flames would definitely not be as successful if they made the playoffs without Monahan.