Maple Leafs’ Ilya Mikheyev heads to IR, will miss at least three months

Toronto Maple Leafs' Ilya Mikheyev runs into New Jersey Devils' Jesper Bratt as he's falling, and the skate of Bratt comes up to cut Mikheyev's wrist, forcing him to leave the ice immediately.

NEWARK, United States — The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Saturday that Ilya Mikheyev had successful surgery to repair an artery and tendons in his wrist that were severed during the team’s game against the New Jersey Devils last night.

The 25 year old left the ice in the third period after being cut on his wrist by Jack Hughes’ skate. He was immediately taken to University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey with what the team called a "significant laceration" to his wrist.

Following the successful surgery, Mikheyev will now remain at the hospital for further monitoring before returning to Toronto.

He is expected to make a full recovery but a more accurate timeline for his return will be provided in three months.

"It was obviously scary there, seeing that much blood," Tavares said following last night’s game.

"Obviously, a guy that we care deeply about and was having a great night and playing tremendous for us, so thoughts are with him."

"It’s terrifying," added Leafs goaltender Michael Hutchinson. "All of a sudden I could just see a ton of blood coming from somewhere and a lot more than a usual hi-stick or anything like that. Hopefully he’s alright."

Mikheyev recorded his 8th goal of the year earlier in that game against the Devils. The 25-year-old rookie has 23 points in 39 games this season.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.