Catastrophic update on injured Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have just taken another hit and this one is going to be pretty massive. 

On Saturday night the Penguins were facing off against the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues and things started to go bad for the Penguins very early on. In the game's opening minute veteran defenseman Brian Dumoulin went down behind the net and appeared to suffer some form of significant injury. It was difficult to tell at the time how Dumoulin was injured, but based on the body language he was displaying it appeared to be of the lower body variety. Dumoulin was unable to get back to the bench of the Penguins locker room under his own power and in fact needed to be carried by a pair of teammates just to make it back there. 

All of that of course looked bad but no one would have predicted the announcement that has now just come down from the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. According to the official announcement Dumoulin suffered "lacerated tendons" in his left ankle that required immediate attention following last night's game. Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has just revealed that Dumoulin has already undergone a surgical procedure today to repair the damage to his injured ankle, and furthermore has revealed that the blue liner will miss at least the next 8 weeks of action as a result of this injury. 

As per the Penguins the surgery was performed at UPMC Presbyterian by team physician, Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, in collaboration with Dr. MaCalus Hogan and Dr. John Fowler, of UPMC. Hopefully if all goes well Dumoulin will be able to make it back within that 8 week time frame, however to be clear the team is specifically calling it a "minimum" of 8 weeks at this stage. 

Prior to his injury Dumoulin was having a strong season for the Penguins, appearing in 23 games for the team and recording 1 goal and 6 assists for a total of 7 points over that stretch. Additionally Dumoulin had acquired just 8 total penalty minutes on the season and currently boasts a plus minus rating of +17 on the season. The Penguins will be hard pressed to replace him in their line up, especially considering all the other injuries they have had to deal with this season.