Wisniewski Injured, Placed on IR

It looks like James Wisniewski is the first Duck to be seriously injured this year. He suffered a sprained right shoulder in Saturday’s game against the Flyers, but it’s not clear when the injury occurred. Wisniewski will be out for at least a week and is listed as week-to-week.

To fill the void on D, the Ducks have recalled Brendan Mikkelson from Toronto of the AHL. He will be available to play today, though Carlyle has yet to name his line combinations. Mikkelson played exceptionally well in the preseason and should have made the team over Sheldon Brookbank, but Carlyle elected to send Mikkelson down so he could get more playing time.

This is a huge loss for the Ducks as Wisniewski has played very well in the early going. He and defense partner Ryan Whitney led the team’s defense in points with four each and are tops on the team with plus-4 ratings. Besides the production, Whitney was a competitive and gritty player, attributes the Ducks lost in the offseason, and this will hurt that even more.

Mikkelson proved he is capable of playing in the NHL but the two defensemen play very different styles. Mikkelson relies on his skating and Wisniewski on power. This could create some problems with defensive pairings, but I expect either Luca Sbisa or Mikkelson to step into a top four role.