Gauthier deals with long and short of leg injury
A funny thing happened to Frederik Gauthier after a not-so-funny leg injury he suffered last May — he got shorter.
It wasn’t a dramatic change for the six-foot-five centre, but there was a side effect to the surgical procedure he went through to correct a detached hamstring.
“I actually got shorter because (of ) what they had to do to it. They took some of (the hamstring muscles) out and then (reattached) the muscles,” said the 22-year-old Gauthier, who joined the Leafs from the Marlies on Tuesday to add depth at centre, with Auston Matthews missing Wednesday’s game against Minnesota.
Gauthier took a hit from behind in the Marlies’ second-round playoff series last May against Syracuse. He slammed heavily into the boards and when he got back up, he knew something was wrong. Syracuse defenceman Jake Dotchin was suspended three games for the hit; Gauthier was done for the season.
The extent of the injury wasn’t apparent at first. Gauthier said the situation got “worse and worse” until surgery was required to repair an avulsion of the hamstring, a complete tear of the muscle where it attaches to the pelvis under the buttocks.
St. Louis Blues forward Steve Ott was the most recent NHLer to undergo a similar procedure after suffering the same injury against the Leafs last December. Ott returned in April.
Gauthier was given a six-month time frame for recovery, but he was skating less than three months after his May surgery.
He stayed in Toronto for the entire summer, and relied on the Leafs’ sports sciences team while relearning his walking and skating technique.
“It was a long summer,” he said. “It was tough mentally, not having the strength you usually do, and working hard to get it all back.
“At first, I had to learn to walk all over again, just being in a (leg cast) at first, then a lot of work in the pool, then trying to run. Eventually, I got back on the ice and then I had to learn to skate again, it was very tough.”
And while he might be a touch shorter — maybe a millimetre — he says he’s faster on skates now. And he can smile about the ordeal he went through.
“My left side is shorter than my right side now because of what they took out, but I’m 100 per cent now,” Gauthier said.