After suffering a broken ankle against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, the initial prognosis for center Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings was a minimum of six weeks on the shelf.
On Monday, that prognosis was changed to "out indefinitely" after Kopitar underwent an MRI and ligament damage was discovered, via the LA Times.
Now, Rich Hammond of LA Kings Insider drops the bomb on the Kings website:
Based on initial diagnosis, done immediately after Kopitar was hurt in Saturday afternoon's game against Colorado, there had been hope that Kopitar's recovery time would be limited to six weeks, but that depended on the results of an MRI.
That MRI, done Monday morning, revealed torn ligaments caused by a high ankle sprain, the team said, and Kopitar isn't likely to return to the ice until the middle of summer.
Hammond said it's expected that Kopitar will be ready for the start of next season.
As we wrote this morning, there's still enough on this Kings roster, especially between the pipes, for LA to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and stay competitive. But the carrot dangling in front of them -- that Kopitar could return if they went on a run -- appears to have been sliced off the string.
The Royal Half's video is proving to be prophetic: