After skating in 28 games this season, Nashville Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon is now out for the remainder of the campaign the team announced on Tuesday. Nashville said he’ll be out for 4-6 months.
He had one assist back on Nov. 14 and has missed a total of 26 games due to injury.
Lauzon was placed on injured reserve back on Jan. 5 and once before on Dec. 5. All instances have featured Nashville designating him to have suffered a lower-body injury.
Last year he set a new NHL record with 383 hits in 79 games, passing Matt Martin’s record from the 2014-15 season.
Nashville will miss his physical presence after posting 127 hits, which was the second-most on the team upon playing his last game.
The D-man has two more years remaining on his current contract. Lauzon signed for four years at $8 million just three months after he was traded from the Seattle Kraken during the 2021-22 season.
Since then he’s been a staple on Nashville’s blue line and played in 187 regular season games scoring 28 points as a member of the organization.
Just eight days ago Nashville claimed left-handed defenseman Andreas Englund from the Los Angeles Kings who is presumably filling in for the injured Lauzon.
So far this season Englund has played in 11 games scoring one goal. He last played on Jan. 11 and has mainly been the Kings’ extra D-man in the lineup.
Now the 29-year-old has a clean slate in Nashville. To this point, Englund has played in 173 NHL games scoring 18 points.
He played in all 82 games last season for the Kings and is currently in the final year of a two-year contract worth $2 million he signed back in 2023. Englund will be a free agent should the Predators opt to not retain his services with a new contract his summer.
“I’ve seen him enough through his career so I kind of have a feeling for him,” head coach Andrew Brunette said. “His size catches you right away and he moves pretty well for a big guy. Looking forward to getting to know him a little bit more as a player and as a person.”
The newest defenseman told reporters after his first day of practice on Tuesday that he was “happy to get a little change of scenery and hopefully get some games in.”
Englund was wearing number eight on his jersey. He’ll be the first skater donning the number since Cody Glass last did from 2022-24.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of the Nashville Predators
Comments