When I think of Minnesota Wild forward Martin Havlat, I think of Marian Gaborik with a slightly lower ceiling. In other words, Havlat is a talented player who can’t seem to stay on the ice ... at least in my mind.
Yet in the last few seasons, it seems like the Czech-born winger has been far less injury prone. He played 73 games in 2009-10, all but one contest in 08-09 and appeared in 78 games this contests this season.
But much like his team’s playoffs hopes, the 2010-11 campaign is likely over for Havlat. Michael Russo reports that he will probably miss the team’s final three games with an upper body injury.
It’s a bit odd that the Wild are being coy about the extent of his injury since Havlat probably won’t play again until 2011-12 and they obviously won’t make the playoffs, but maybe they just enjoy giving out vague injury details.
Even with his season cut slightly short, Havlat is likely to end the 10-11 season as Minnesota’s leading point (62) and goal (22) producer. The Wild must be disappointed in their season, but they should be pretty happy with Havlat’s production.