Two former University of Maine hockey stars, Dallas Stars goalie Ben Bishop and Columbus Blue Jackets left winger Gustav Nyquist, will each be sidelined for at least five months after undergoing recent surgical procedures, according to published reports.
Bishop underwent surgery on his right knee on Oct. 21 to repair a torn meniscus while Nyquist had a labral tear in his left shoulder repaired on Tuesday.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tentative start date for the 2020-21 NHL season is Jan. 1, 2021.
According to the Associated Press, Bishop never fully recovered from a knee surgery in May.
His last appearance was in a 6-3 playoff game loss to Colorado on Aug. 31 in which he allowed four goals on 19 shots and was lifted after playing just 13:43.
He played three postseason games after the NHL returned from a five-month hiatus due to the pandemic and he was 1-2 with a 5.43 goals-against average and a .844 save percentage.
During the regular season, he was 21-16-4 with a 2.50 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
He shared the goaltending with Anton Khudobin, who led Dallas to the Stanley Cup finals and was rewarded with a three-year, $10 million contract.
Bishop was 27-15-2 with a 1.98 GAA and a .934 save percentage during the 2018-19 season and was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the third time in his career.
The Vezina Trophy goes to the NHL’s top goalie.
The 6-foot-7 Bishop, who will turn 34 on Nov. 21, has appeared in 413 NHL regular season games during his career and is 222-128-36 with a 2.32 GAA and a .921 save percentage. Dallas is his fifth team and this was his third season with the Stars after playing for St. Louis, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and the Los Angeles Kings.
The former All-Hockey East second team selection has three years left on a six-year, $29.5 million contract with Dallas.
St. Louis, his hometown team, drafted him in the third round in 2005. He was the 85th overall pick.
During his three-year career at UMaine from 2005-07, he compiled a 55-34-7 record, a 2.29 GAA and a .912 save percentage. He started 40 consecutive games in one stretch. He has the program’s fourth-best career GAA and fifth-best save percentage.
The 31-year-old Nyquist was Columbus’ second-leading scorer this season with 42 points on 15 goals and 27 assists over a pandemic-shortened 70-game schedule.
He shared the NHL lead in empty-net goals with six. He had three power play goals and three game-winners and he also had his first career shorthanded goal.
He has become a regular penalty-killer for the first time in his career under Columbus coach and former UMaine winger John Tortorella.
Nyquist had his best season in the NHL in 2018-19 when he racked up 60 points on 22 goals and 38 assists while playing for Detroit and San Jose.
The two-time All-American, who was also a Hobey Baker Award finalist at UMaine, has tallied 146 goals and 202 assists in 570 NHL regular season games along with 37 power play goals and 23 game-winners.
In a Columbus Dispatch story, Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen said, “This was a chronic issue that Gus has been dealing with for a number of seasons. He has been able to perform at a high level, but a cyst in the area developed over time that has inhibited his ability to continue to do so. As a result, surgery was the best course of action and we look forward to having him back at full strength this season.”
Nyquist is tied for 19th on the career scoring list at UMaine with 144 points [50 goals, 94 assists] in 113 games.
Nyquist, a former fourth round draft pick of Detroit [121st overall], signed a four-year, $22 million contract with Columbus in 2019.
He had played in at least 76 regular season games in each of the previous five seasons.