Coyotes' Lindback suffers Achilles' injury, likely out for rest of season
Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said Tuesday that backup goaltender Anders Lindback is likely out for the rest of the season after suffering an Achilles' tendon injury that will require surgery.
Maloney said Lindback was hurt while stretching prior to Monday night's game vs. Montreal. "It was a freak injury," he said.
The Coyotes recalled Niklas Treutle (troyt-LAY) from the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League to serve as Louis Domingue's backup.
The 24-year-old Treutle has a 9-11-5 record with a .909 save percentage and 2.91 goals against average in 26 games with the Falcons. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound native of Nuremberg, Germany, signed with the Coyotes in July after posting a 20-10-0 record with a .923 save percentage and 2.06 GAA in 30 games last season in Germany.
Maloney said the team is hopeful that Mike Smith can return in early March.
"Mike Smith is progressing, we hope to have him back in March at some point," Maloney said. "The hope is that he'll be ready shortly after the (Feb. 29) trade deadline."
Maloney said he's been pleased with the recent play of Domingue, following a rough patch coming out of the All-Star break.
"He's back where he needs to be," he said. "He's given us a chance to win in every game.
"This is the one positive of Mike (Smith) being hurt; Louis Domingue has come in and shown us that he not only can play in the NHL, but he can win in the NHL. So now Anders goes down, this young German goalie gets a chance and who knows, maybe he's another pleasant surprise. We've had a lot of them this year."
The Coyotes have six games remaining until the trade deadline. Their next five is a particularly tough stretch -- home games vs. Dallas and St. Louis, then the first three games of a five-game East Coast trip against Washington, Tampa Bay and Florida. Those five games will go a long way toward determining how busy Maloney is at the deadline.
"We have some difficult games coming up going into the trade deadline," he said. "If we can keep our head above water, we would like to support the group a little more. There's not going to be a mass exodus like last year."
Maloney said any moves to bolster the roster would not be at the cost of the team's young players, "or their playing time, for that matter."
