Earlier this month against Montreal, Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk had a very scary incident when a skate blade cut the area just above his eye. He immediately left the game and required 90 stitches and a plastic surgeon to fix his eyelid. The blueliner met with reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross, earlier this week, and indicated he still has limited vision in that eye:
Once the swelling comes down, it’ll be a lot better. I can see probably 60 per cent out of that eye. It’s just the swelling that’s pushing it down and it doesn’t feel good when the sweat gets in your eye.
Despite that, Boychuk had actually returned to practice although he had been ruled out of Thursday’s scheduled game against Calgary before the league suspended the season. The layoff should certainly give him a chance to regain some more sight in that eye which should make him available to return whenever games resume.
His return would be an important one for a New York team that was sliding considerably heading into this stoppage to the point where they fell out of a playoff spot entirely. While his offensive numbers have taken a tumble in recent years (he has just 11 points in 64 games this season), he’s their most physical blueliner while sitting second in shots blocked and averages over 17 minutes a night, making him an important part of their back end.