Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, who will be in the game group for the preseason opener tonight in Dallas but not play, said along with the ACL surgery he had on his left knee, he also had surgery on his right hip.
Gunnarsson said the hip was something that began to ail him before injuring his knee March 23 against the Vancouver Canucks.
"When the knee happened, we decided to check out the hip and make sure everything was OK," Gunnarsson said. "At the end of the day, thought it was a good thing to get both done. Timeline would kind of be the same and recovery time. Here we are. Instead of just dealing with the hip all of this year too and maybe get it done next year, we opted to do them both."
Gunnarsson is hopeful of being ready for the regular-season opener Oct. 4 against the Winnipeg Jets, but Yeo said it's still too soon to determine that.
"I'd say it's still up in the air," Yeo said. "To be ready for the opener when we've got others playing in games and the exhibition or what-not, I think that probably moves them a little further ahead. We'll see. Not ruling anything out yet, but obviously until you get cleared to play in a game, then it's pretty tough to envision that. But I don't know, I don't have the answer to that yet."
Other Injury News
Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo underwent an MRI Tuesday from a lower-body injury that kept him out of the second half of practice Monday, but Yeo said everything checked out fine. Bortuzzo will not play in the first two preseason games.
"We did an MRI on 'Borts' just to make sure everything's OK," Yeo said. "He cleared that, everything is good, but having to do that MRI means he's going to take a few days off the ice. He's another guy that won't play in that game tomorrow."
Forward David Perron, who also left practice early Monday with an undisclosed injury, could play Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa against the Minnesota Wild.
"I think he's a possibility, yeah," Yeo said. "We'll have to see how he feels tomorrow, but I'm expecting him to play. We have a plan in place in case that doesn't happen, but we're certainly hopeful hat he'll get in."
