Josh Anderson’s season is over with the Blue Jackets. The team announced on Monday that the winger underwent surgery to repair a posterior labral tear of his left shoulder. He’s expected to miss the next four to six months.
“When Josh suffered the injury, the options were to have it surgically repaired and miss the rest of the season or rest and rehabilitate with a chance to return to the lineup,” said Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen. “Unfortunately, the injury has not responded as any of us had hoped to the latter and the decision was made to have the surgery now so that Josh will be fully healthy and ready to go next season.”
It was Anderson’s left shoulder that he injured in Game 2 of Columbus’ Round 2 series against the Bruins. He ended up playing the rest of the series and revealed in training camp that it was still bothering him.
Anderson was hurt in a Dec. 14 fight with Mark Borowiecki of the Senators and his health derailed any trade talk before last Monday’s deadline. In 26 games this season he scored only once and recorded four points and is of the many Blue Jackets players who have found themselves out of the lineup due to injury.
The injury comes at a big moment in time for the 25-year-old Anderson. He entered this season coming off a career-high 27 goals and 47 points and goes into the summer as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.