Injury-plagued Zahejsky will return to lineup on U.S Division road trip; Edmonstone the hot hand in net

Zahejsky, who broke his leg during a game against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Sept. 26 at Sandman Centre, is expected to return to the lineup this weekend.

The Blazers (19-14-5-4) are scheduled to play the Wild (17-24-1-2) on Friday [Jan. 23] in Wenatchee, the Chiefs (22-20-1-0) on Saturday in Spokane and the Tri-City Americans (22-16-3-1) on Sunday Kennewick, Wash.

Blazers’ head coach and general manager Shaun Clouston said his club will manage Zahejsky’s minutes this weekend and he may not play in all three games.

“His energy, his optimism and his commitment to doing the rehab were terrific,” Clouston said.

“I think he learned from the last time. He missed a ton of time last season. He recognized that you really can’t control anything other than the work ethic, the attitude and the mindset.”

Zahejsky came to Kamloops highly touted, the second overall pick in the 2024 CHL Import Draft.

He broke his ankle while jogging prior to the 2024-2025 WHL regular season, an injury that hindered his adaptation to the North American game.

After returning to the lineup on Nov. 15, 2024, Zahejsky made slow progress and began to flash potential near the end of the campaign.

The ugly collision and broken leg two games into this season had potential to fracture his spirit.

“He’s an exceptional person,” Blazers’ forward J.P. Hurlbert said. “He’s put so much hard work in through rehabilitation and weightlifting and just being around us. He’s such a joy to be around. I think [he’ll bring] a lot of confidence. He’s a really high-scoring, offensive-minded player. He’ll bring a lot of energy.”

Now that top-six forward Jordan Keller has returned from injury, Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospect Harrison Brunicke has returned from the NHL, Zahejsky is cleared to play and the WHL trade deadline has passed, the Blazers have the potential to get a look at their first-choice lineup for the first time in a long time.

“It’s a positive, but you have to always guard against the mentality of that because there are 20 guys dressed every night and it’s up to those 20 guys to have the right mindset,” Clouston said. “Sometimes, you can take your foot off the gas a little bit mentally or physically when somebody comes back. I thought the Friday night in Penticton, we were guilty of that a little bit. That was Harry’s first night back.”

Clouston expanded on how Brunicke’s return seemed to affect his club.

“The team talked about it being a little bit quiet in between periods and I sensed the energy was a little bit low,” Clouston said. “There are a whole bunch of new players that maybe were a little bit in awe of an NHL player. Harry is just a guy. He’s a good guy, a good hockey player, but Harry needs to play hard and really compete, and everybody else needs to play hard and put themselves in the moment and really compete.”

In net, Logan Edmonstone is the Blazers’ hot hand.

The 5-foot-11, 172-pound goaltender from Saskatoon has started five of the last six games, with one shutout and a .931 save percentage during that stretch.

“We still think we have two real good goaltenders,” Clouston said. “I think this stretch for Eddie has been a little bit of a separator. We’ve got three games in three nights, so it’s a real good opportunity for both guys to get involved. The expectation, and it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to happen 100 per cent, but the expectation is he’d probably get two of the three.”

by Marty Hastings

Injury-plagued Zahejsky will return to lineup on U.S Division road trip; Edmonstone the hot hand in net

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