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DETROIT \u2014 When Alec Martinez scored his first goal in a Blackhawks sweater on Dec. 7, he certainly didn\u2019t expect he would end the night in the hospital.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s the way it worked out.<\/p>\n
Early in the third period that afternoon, Martinez went stick-on-puck to block a shot by Jets forward Adam Lowry, and the puck deflected strangely up and hit him in the right side of his neck.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t look like much to the untrained eye, but the 37-year-old defenseman said doctors were \u201cvery worried\u201d about the possibility of blood clots or other vascular problems, presumably due to impact to his jugular veins.<\/p>\n
They sent him to the hospital in an ambulance, and they proved right to be worried. It has taken him more than a month to overcome the residual effects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some complications,\u201d Martinez said Thursday. “[It was] just an unlucky bounce. That\u2019s what you get sometimes for doing what you\u2019re supposed to do, and then take a puck to a very bad area of your neck \u2014 not that there\u2019s a good area of your neck. But [it was] a particularly bad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
He attempted to practice with the Hawks on Dec. 11, just four days later, but left early and was subsequently placed on injured reserve. There he has remained, despite skating for several weeks and participating in practices for the last week, until this point while waiting for his veins to heal.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s now finally \u201cfeeling a lot better,\u201d and his return seems imminent.<\/p>\n
“[When] you go stick-on-puck, [if] I do that 100 times, it\u2019s not going to hit me in that spot. But it did,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was not ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making Martinez\u2019s life even more stressful and complicated during the past month was the fact his wife, Emily, gave birth to their first child, a baby boy named Jack. The childbirth didn\u2019t go smoothly \u2014 nothing has for the Martinezes lately \u2014 but Jack is healthy now, Martinez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust as a family, I\u2019m proud of them,\u201d said Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen, who was coaching his very first NHL game the day Martinez got hurt.<\/p>\n
Thus ends a vexing first half of the season for Martinez, who also missed 12 games in October and November with a groin injury and made only 15 total appearances, tallying one goal and three assists while averaging 20:05 of ice time per game.<\/p>\n
The composition of the Hawks\u2019 defense has changed markedly since they signed Martinez (and T.J. Brodie) in free agency on July 1, when they intended for it to be a fairly veteran-heavy group. The last few games, four of the six dressed defensemen have been 23 years old or younger: Alex Vlasic, Nolan Allan, Wyatt Kaiser and Louis Crevier.<\/p>\n
Martinez\u2019s experience, calm demeanor and puck-moving ability will be welcomed back gladly. His presence could help compensate for Brodie\u2019s struggles and Connor Murphy\u2019s lengthening absence due to a groin injury of his own.<\/p>\n
Martinez will be a free agent again at season\u2019s end, and it\u2019s inconceivable he could garner some interest around the NHL\u2019s March 7 trade deadline. He\u2019s not thinking about anything right now except getting back to normalcy, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I\u2019m a little disappointed with the way that first half has gone,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cBut hopefully I\u2019ve got a little karma in the bank so I can maybe not take [more of] those unlucky things.<\/p>\n
“[I\u2019m hoping to] find a rhythm, help the guys win hockey games and try to be a mentor. It\u2019s no different than what it was at the start of training camp when I signed here. I want to be a good example. I want to work hard, help guys individually, help the team as a whole, defend well, try to contribute on the other side of things and just be a stable, reliable defenseman.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Martinez has missed more than a month recovering from the injury he suffered Dec. 7, which led to concerns about blood clots and vascular problems. He and his wife also went through a complicated childbirth, although thankfully their newborn son, Jack, has turned out healthy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chicago-blackhawks"],"yoast_head":"\n