Sharks’ Hertl out for season after tearing two knee ligaments
Tomas Hertl’s season is over. The Sharks announced Thursday that their AllStar center had torn the ACL and MCL in his left knee in Wednesday’s 52 loss to the Canucks.
Hertl, 26, went into the end boards early in the first period upright and got tangled with Vancouver defenseman Christopher Tanev. Hertl fell to all fours, and gingerly left the ice during a television break. He returned briefly before departing for good with three minutes left in the period.
Hertl, who scored the game’s first goal, is second on the Sharks in scoring and finishes his seventh season in the NHL with 16 goals and 36 points in 48 games. He missed four games from Nov. 21 through Nov. 27 with an ankle injury.
Hertl needed surgery to repair the same injury in his right knee sustained midway through his rookie season of 201314 when he absorbed a kneeonknee hit by Dustin Brown of the Kings. Hertl returned to play all 82 games in 201415.
The 6foot2, 215pound Czech native also needed a procedure on his right knee after sustaining a sprain in Game 2 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals that put him out of the series against eventual champ Pittsburgh.
Hertl was a replacement for captain Logan Couture for last week’s AllStar festivities in St. Louis. He scored four goals in the Pacific Division’s semifinal win over the Central, and added a fifth in the tourney that stood as the gamewinner during a 54 victory over the Atlantic Division.
With 132 goals and 280 points in 453 games, the 17th overall pick in the 2012 draft is in the midst of a fouryear deal worth $5.625 million annually that runs through the 202122 season.