Former 1st round draft pick opens up about potential career ending surgery

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Joshua Deeds
September 10, 2023 (1:19)

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Puljujarvi was selected in the first round of the 2016 NHL draft and has unfortunately not been able to live up to the high expectations that were placed on him upon his entry into the league.

He recently opened up about the surgery he had during the post-season, which he had after spending the end of last season in a Carolina Hurricane's uniform.

The most difficult phase of all was 2.5 weeks after the operation. In the beginning it was just being able to walk. Now let's slowly start to wake up the muscles. There are 20-centimeter incisions on both sides of the buttocks. Now they are constantly trying to gain strength and mobility. It gets better every week

There are other hockey players suffering from hip problems, including Puljujarvi. Puljujarvi underwent double hip replacement surgery during the postseason to solve his hip issues.

He's had difficulty following invasive surgery with 20-centimeter incisions in his buttocks.

It is likely he will need quite a bit of time to recover and has just started his journey and hasn't received any contract offers from NHL teams yet.

So far, nothing has been heard from the NHL, when everyone knows that it will take many more months to get fit. I know that there is some interest in the NHL, but let's wait until I get closer to playing condition.

Carolina Hurricanes failed to offer a contract to the forward, thus resulting in him becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Despite the fact that Puljujarvi is going through a difficult time, he isn't letting it get to him and is focusing on getting well and once again playing in the National Hockey League.

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