Penguins' Gonchar out 4-6 months
Veteran defenceman requires surgery to repair dislocated left shoulder
The defending NHL Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins will be without their top two offensive defencemen to open the season, and perhaps through January.
The Penguins confirmed Tuesday morning that Sergei Gonchar will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his dislocated left shoulder on Thursday and will be sidelined for four to six months.
The 34-year-old, who finished third in Penguins scoring last season with 65 points, hurt himself in the first period of the team's pre-season opener on Sept. 20 after being hit by Tampa Bay's David Koci.
"It is always difficult to lose a very talented player and leader for an extended period of time, but we all believe this is the best decision for Sergei," said Penguins general manager Ray Shero.
"We are confident that he will come back strong after this surgery. In the meantime, we'll look to our other defencemen to step up in his absence."
Fellow Pittsburgh blue-liner Ryan Whitney is expected to be out of action until at least December following foot surgery.
Gonchar didn't travel with his teammates to Sweden, where they open the season with a two-game series against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 2:45 p.m. ET).
Entering his 14th NHL season, Gonchar has 615 points in 904 regular-season games. He has amassed no less than 57 points in each of the past eight campaigns, and ranked second in scoring among NHL defencemen in each of the past two seasons.
With both Gonchar and Whitney sidelined, more will be expected of young blue-liners Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski, and Brooks Orpik, who signed a six-year, $22.5 million US contract with the Penguins in the off-season.