Tomas Hertl is officially out for the remainder of the San Jose Sharks season, whether that be two games or four. The forward missed game three with a “lower body injury” and was also slated to miss game four. Then this was dropped on us just before puck drop.
#SJSharks Tomas Hertl is done for this season. Knee injury. Very good source.
— Roman Jedlicka (@jedli) June 6, 2016
The loss of Hertl is absolutely enormous to the Sharks’ Stanley Cup chances. In games one and two, Hertl was San Jose’s best forward and the Sharks face an uphill battle without him.
Given that the Sharks haven’t made any drastic lineup changes in games three and four without Hertl, it seems very likely they’ll continue to dress Dainius Zubrus while playing Melker Karlsson on the top line.
There’s a chance we could see a player like Barclay Goodrow draw into the lineup, but I’d give that a pretty low chance of happening. If the Sharks can manage to win this series without Hertl, well, this will just make for a real tense part of the championship blu-ray.
Get well soon, Hertl.
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