Kevin Porter has ankle surgery, season likely over

The Pittsburgh Penguins got some bad news in the form of Kevin Porter's ankle. Porter was injured in last night's game against the New York Rangers when he went crashing into the boards feet first.

Coach Sullivan: "Kevin Porter had surgery on his ankle this morning. Probably out 12 weeks. It's a tough setback for him and us."

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 4, 2016

The 29 year old forward has played 41 games in the NHL this season, scoring no goals and adding 3 assists in a bottom-6 role. Though he wasn't a favorite of the analytic community, he was certainly a favorite of Coach Sullivan. Sullivan was promoted from the AHL on December 12, and Porter was recalled for good on December 15th.

Sullivan regularly dressed Porter and rolled him out on the penalty kill- where his 1:51 played per game is 4th among healthy forwards on the team.

Since the team is down to 11 healthy forwards, they can use an emergency recall to bring up another from the minors, if they so choose. They also have the option of dressing Justin Schultz as a 7tth defenseman and using 11 forwards. Though with so many games condensed in March, it may be too taxing to only be dressing 11 forwards.

Either way, not a huge loss in Porter, but certainly a tough ending for the season for him. Porter is slated to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He has appeared in 247 career NHL games.