The Anaheim Ducks are not off to a good start this season (despite their comeback win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday night) and things are getting even worse. Young defenseman Jamie Drysdale
suffered a torn labrum last week and will undergo surgery in the near future. His timeline has been listed as four to six months.

That could potentially mean Drysdale’s season is over before it even really gets going, and at best will keep him out through February. The 20-year-old was coming off his first full year in the NHL, which included scoring 32 points in 81 games. He was scoreless through his first eight this season.

Selected sixth overall in 2020, the young Drysdale never returned to junior hockey, splitting his first year between the NHL and AHL because of the canceled OHL season. A brilliant skater with an excellent sense for breaking the puck out of his own end, this season was supposed to be spent developing the rest of his game, even if the Ducks weren’t going to contend.

Instead, he’ll spend it recovering from major surgery, and hoping that it doesn’t significantly hinder his overall development. Missing time at this age can often have many longer-reaching implications.

Without him in the lineup, the Ducks played with seven defensemen last night but gave Colton White just six minutes of ice time. John Klingberg, meanwhile, saw more than 26 as the top right-handed option.