Johnny Gaudreau to have surgery on fractured finger

Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau suffered a fractured finger in his team’s Tuesday night win over the Minnesota Wild and will have surgery, Sportsnet’s John Shannon reported Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, multiple reports said Gaudreau would undergo tests to figure out the best course of action for the injury and that surgery was a possibility. The Flames later confirmed that Gaudreau suffered the injury and will have surgery.

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Gaudreau scored his team’s only goal in the 1-0 victory over the Wild. He left the game multiple times, and coach Glen Gulutzan noted his young scorer took several slashes throughout the course of the contest.

Gaudreau leads the struggling Flames with 11 points in 17 games, but his 0.65 points per-game is far below his 0.99 points per-game from last season. The team is currently tied for 25th in the NHL in goals scored per-game at 2.29. Gaudreau, who was a restricted free agent last summer, did not take part in Flames training camp as he and the team negotiated a new contract. On Oct. 10, he signed a six-year, $40.5 million deal with the team.

Last offseason, Calgary tried to address some of their needs by acquiring goaltender Brian Elliott and adding some depth scoring in Troy Brouwer. But the team’s performance has been uneven overall. They started the season 1-4-1, then won four of their next six. The victory over the Wild broke a four-game losing streak. The Flames are 6-10-1, which ranks 12th in the Western Conference.

Losing Gaudreau, who is known as one of the best young players in the game, shouldn’t help as they try to find their footing and attempt to get back in the race.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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