He’s officially listed as day-to-day, but center Petteri Nokelainen is looking less and less ready to go for Saturday’s season opener after sitting out Thursday’s practice with a strained groin.
“He wasn’t good enough today to go out on the ice,” head coach Randy Carlyle said. “We’ll make an assessment at some point if he’s going to have to see a specialist again.”
In June, the 23-year-old underwent surgeryto repair two tears in his abdominal muscle. The surgery was performed by Dr. William Myers inPhiladelphia. It is not yet known if this injury, which Nokelainen aggravated Sunday against the Kings, is related to the one that bothered him last season.
“We’ve got to be careful that we’re not putting a player in jeopardy of an extended period of time off the ice,” Carlyle said.
