The Arizona Coyotes will be without their “starting” goaltender and a top young defenseman for the next several weeks, after Carter Hutton and Conor Timmins suffered injuries Monday night. According to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports, Hutton is expected to miss between two to four weeks, while Timmins could miss eight to 12 weeks after both sustained lower-body injuries. There was no update on Ryan Dzingel, who also left Monday night’s game.
It’s not like this has any drastic effect on the Coyotes; performance, considering that Arizona is obviously set up for a losing season and hasn’t even registered a single win to this point. But the development of Timmins – who was acquired in the Darcy Kuemper trade this summer –is certainly something to consider. The former Colorado Avalanche defenseman has already missed huge chunks of time due to concussion issues and has just 88 professional games under his belt to this point (NHL and AHL combined). Now 23, he’s already missed so much of his key development years that it’s hard to know whether he’ll ever become the player who starred for the Soo Greyhounds and Team Canada, leading to a selection 32nd overall in 2017.
Eight weeks would put a potential return for Timmins just before Christmas, while 12 weeks would be the middle of January.
Hutton meanwhile was ticketed to carry the lion’s share of the goaltending load this season, although that certainly hasn’t gone well to this point. In three appearances he has a .741 save percentage, allowing 15 goals on 58 shots. Karel Vejmelka, a European free-agent signing with no North American experience before this season will now likely be pushed into a full-time starter role. The 25-year-old has appeared in five games, posting an .899 save percentage.
Josef Korenar seems the most likely recall to give Arizona a second goaltender, although there are a few options in the Coyotes system.
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