Veteran defenseman goes face first into the boards in his return from injury.

A former Stanley Cup Champion has been injured in his very first game back from a serious injury.

Arizona Coyotes veteran defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson returned on Monday night for his first game since the Coyotes first win of the season back in late October, a game in which Hjalmarsson suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out several weeks.

Unfortunately for Hjalmarsson the game quickly turned ugly for him as he appeared to suffer yet another injury after an awkward crash into the boards that occurred early in the game's second period.

Hjalmarsson was engaged in a race for the puck and, although he was untouched on the play, he appeared to lose his balance before going head first into the boards. Hjalmarsson looked like he did not know where he was when he finally got back up to his knees, and unsurprisingly that resulted in him immediately heading back into the Coyotes locker room area.

If the previous "upper-body" injury that kept Hjalmarsson out for several weeks was in any way related to a concussion or to his head, this latest injury will be of particular concern for the Coyotes.

[pub]