More bad news for D.J. King: he’s out again. In his first game back in the NHL in over a year, King only logged 4 seconds of ice time. On his first shift of the game, he dropped the gloves right off the faceoff and fought Krys Barch. King beat him easily, but broke his hand in the process, and is now out for several weeks. So just like last year, King got injured in his very first game, and ironically it was against Dallas again. Here’s the fight:
Krys Barch vs. D.J. King – 10/24/09
As you can see, D.J. King absolutely pummeled him and picked up the TKO Win. It was awesome to see King back and fighting like that, but unfortunately he hurt his hand. If you pause the video at the 21 second mark, King’s hand doesn’t look right. It looks as if there’s a bone sticking out, and then later as he walks through the Blues’ bench to get to the dressing room – look at Mike Weaver’s reaction. He knew it didn’t look good.
It would have been a great start for King. After being out for a while, he didn’t look rusty at all as he was just throwing bombs. Hopefully after this injury, he can come back and stay at 100% because when healthy, he’s one of the toughest and best fighters in the NHL.
You just have to feel sorry for him. He missed all of last season with a dislocated shoulder, then dislocated his thumb in Training Camp and was out for a month, and now when he finally gets back, he breaks his hand in a good fight. He has just had terrible luck.
Here are some quotes that show that King is a very well-liked and respected guy on the team:
"John Davidson:“There’s a small, small fracture and they’re going to pin it,” Blues President John Davidson said. “They’re going to do it Wednesday. They’d do it today, but the swelling is up a little bit. So the poor guy . . . we all really feel for him. He’s a hell of a guy, he’s a team guy and he’s worked his tail off in all areas and he got a bad shake on it. But we expect him to be 100 percent when he comes back.”“D.J. is one of the . . . if not the toughest guy in the business. Cam is not as big as D.J., but Cam knows how to do that job very well . . . not only just fighting, but he knows how to play the game, he knows how to forecheck, he knows how to hit. Both of them have really improved. I wish we could have seen D.J. more because he’s worked at his game, just like Cam has. A lot of times in our business . . . I think the guys that have been around our game know how much you need those guys. For D.J. it’s a tough one, but we’ll welcome him back when the time comes.”Cam Janssen:“It was a great moment to see him out there doing what he does best … then I saw the look on his face,” fellow Blues enforcer Cam Janssen said. “We looked at each other and then I looked at his hand. It was the worst feeling in world, knowing something was wrong.”“It’s good to have a guy like that helping you out with the big boys,” Janssen said. “Just having him around, that tenacious factor.”B.J. Crombeen:“That was tough,” Blues forward B.J. Crombeen said. “You feel for him. He’s a great guy in the room and he’s worked so hard to get back. He came out and did what he does best, and did a great job. To see some bad luck like that, you feel for the guy.”"
King is definitely my favorite fighter in the league, so hopefully he can recover from this quickly. He should be back around Christmas time.
Meanwhile, the Blues are down to only 11 forwards with the injuries to Oshie and King, so they have recalled Yan Stastny from Peoria who has been playing very well in the AHL. Stastny will have to clear waivers first, but it’s expected that he does.