Defenseman Willie Mitchell, arguably the Kings best overall player on the blueline last season, has missed all of 2013 after injuring his knee during the lockout (explained here). As he told us recently, it’s been a frustrating experience to go from finally winning a Stanley Cup to sitting on the sidelines waiting to return. However, after a second operation to clean things up last week, he’s now been shut down for the season. Even worse, the future isn’t sounding too positive either. Take a look at what Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi shared earlier today about the situation…
“Willie (Mitchell) went to see another doctor. I’ve got to get all the information now. The one thing we do know is he’s done for the year. Which was always kind of hanging out there. In terms of his career. I think that’s what we have to figure out now. Is where he is health-wise in terms of his career. So once we have that, and I think we’re going to have a discussion this week with all the doctors and Willie, and try and sort through this thing. So I don’t think that’s… The first issue is to see where we are in terms of playing again. And then we can decide what to do. Obviously if he’s going to come back, right? I’m not sure how viable that is based on my preliminary stuff, but again, I’ll know more on that by the end of the week.”
“Willie went to see another doctor,” Lombardi began. “I’ve got to get all the information now. The one thing we do know is he’s done for the year, which was kind of always hanging out there. In terms of his career, that’s what I think we have to figure out now where he is health-wise in terms of his career. So once we have that, and I think we’re going to have the discussion this week with all the doctors and Willie and try and sort through this thing. The first issue is to see where we are in terms of him playing again. And then we can decide what to do. Obviously, if he’s going to come back, great. I’m not sure how viable that is based upon my preliminary stuff. But again, I’ll know more on that by the end of the week.”
– On Mitchell having two surgeries now: “Yeah, and I think without going into detail, like I said, at least we got some finality that he’s not coming back this year. Now I’m getting some information – and I don’t like speaking to it because I don’t have it all, but I guess it’s safe to say there would be a legitimate concern now whether he plays next year. But that could be premature. Let’s just say now, though, it’s possible, where I wouldn’t have thought it possible. Like we always thought, ‘OK, if we don’t get him this year, this isn’t serious for us.’ But apparently some other things might have shown up. But until I get the whole story, I probably should hold off.”
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About John Hoven
Terrible news. He’s such a good presence back there. I was hoping against hope that he’d somehow make it back this year. Big loss.