Hertl is set for surgery, out for year

Tomas Hertl will have surgery Monday to repair damage to his knee, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The San Jose Sharks forward was injured Wednesday in the first period of a 52 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. He scored the first goal of the game after scoring five goals at the 2020 Honda NHL AllStar Game. He will not play again this season.

“It [stinks] for the player,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner told the newspaper. “He’s dealt with some injuries in the past and he’s come back from them, and he’ll come back from this one as well.”

Hertl had 36 points (16 goals, 20 assists) and was named an All-Star for the first time as an injury replacement for teammate Logan Couture, a forward and Sharks captain who is out with a fractured ankle.

Hertl had surgery to repair damaged ligaments in his right knee as a rookie in 2013-14. He injured his right knee in Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup final against the Penguins and missed the rest of the series, and had surgery for a sprain in his right knee during the 2016-17 season.

“He’s been down this avenue before, which is tough, so he knows what kind of goes into the rehab,” teammate Joe Thornton said. “But I told him, he’s young [26] — I went through two myself — and he’s going to heal quick and hopefully be ready for training camp next year.

“But we have so much love for him that, he knows he’s not alone in this, which is very, very important as well. The guys will take good care of him.”

Ducks

Goalie John Gibson will wear a tribute to Kobe Bryant. Bryant, a Los Angeles Lakers legend, died tragically Sunday in a helicopter accident. Gibson’s mask by Shell Shock Designs features Bryant’s two jersey numbers, 8 and 24, on either side, with six stars, five displaying the years that Bryant’s Lakers won the NBA championship, and one commemorating his 81-point game, along the top. The back plate shows a silhouette of Bryant with his arm around his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who also died in the accident. Both Bryants are shown wearing halos. Surrounding the artwork are the names of the other seven victims of the tragedy.