The Kraken will be without Jaden Schwartz for the remainder of Saturday’s game and face an immediate lineup scramble while he is evaluated. Saturday at 9: 14 p. m. ET Schwartz left after taking a skate to his face late in the first period against the Ottawa Senators.
Jaden Schwartz exit removes top-six winger from Seattle’s game plan
Schwartz, 33, logged 6: 27 of ice time over nine shifts before being hit up high by Nick Cousins’s skate, and he left the ice under his own power to go straight to Seattle’s locker room. The Kraken ruled him out for the rest of the contest as the second period began at Climate Pledge Arena, with the Senators leading 4-2 after 40 minutes.
Short-term replacement options include Frederick Gaudreau or Bobby McMann
For now Schwartz can be considered day-to-day, and if he is unavailable for Tuesday’s game versus the Predators, Frederick Gaudreau or Bobby McMann would be candidates to take his place in the lineup. That adjustment would be announced in the team roster decisions leading up to the next game.
How the injury happened and where it leaves the forward’s season numbers
The cut occurred late in the first period when Nick Cousins lost his balance after a hit from Eeli Tolvanen, and Cousins’s skate blade struck Schwartz in the face, leaving him bleeding in the room. Schwartz is midway through his fifth year with the Kraken and has 10 goals and 21 points in 41 games this season; in 852 career NHL games he has 232 goals and 548 points.
Still, Schwartz has a history of production: his best single season came in 2014-15 with 28 goals and 63 points, and he scored 12 goals and 20 points in 26 games during the 2019 playoffs while with the St. Louis Blues. Yet Friday’s on-ice incident immediately removed him from Seattle’s match-day availability.
For now the team must proceed without him for the rest of Saturday’s contest, and coaching staff will evaluate the extent of the facial cut after further medical assessment.
If Schwartz is ruled out for Tuesday’s game versus the Predators, Frederick Gaudreau or Bobby McMann would be the likely replacements for the lineup by game time; that decision will be made when the Kraken announce their official game-day roster.
