Hurricanes officially confirm season ending injury after round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Carolina Hurricanes have confirmed some very bad, if not entirely unexpected, news on Saturday.

The news first broke earlier this morning when TSN National Hockey League insider Frank Seravalli reported that veteran defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk had been forced to undergo a surgical procedure earlier in the week. Seravalli reported that van Riemsdyk underwent surgery on Thursday to repair damage he had suffered in his shoulder during the Hurricanes second round series against the New York Islanders in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The injury of course occurred during Game 2 of the series between the Canes and Isles and it came within the opening seconds of that contest. It was New York Islanders veteran Cal Clutterbuck who would take out van Riemsdyk with a punishing hit along the boards after a race for the puck, and that opening shift of Game 2 will be the last we see of van Riemsdyk during this current NHL season. In his earlier report Seravalli suggested that this would be a season ending surgery for van Riemsdyk and the Hurricanes have now echoed that report.

From the Hurricanes official press release:

 Don Waddell, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk underwent surgery on his left shoulder. The procedure was performed by Dr. Marty Isbell at Raleigh Orthopaedic on Thursday and van Riemsdyk is expected to miss four to six months.

Although the Hurricanes themselves have not explicitly called this a season ending injury there can be no doubt given the 4 to 6 month window that this recovery will keep van Riemsdyk out for the remainder of the playoffs, and perhaps even more. It's a huge loss for a Hurricanes team that is currently shocking the world in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, pulling off two big upsets in a row through their first 2 series. The Hurricanes eliminated the defending Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals much to the surprise of everyone that I know, and they followed that up by crushing a red hot New York Islanders team coming off a sweep by sweeping them in just 4 games. 

We wish Trevor a full and speedy recovery from this very unfortunate injury.