Predators’ Matt Duchene opens up about severe finger injury

Duchene sustained the severe finger injury on March 26 against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the second period when teammate Dante Fabbro took a shot that hit Duchene in hand. Duchene checked his glove and immediately headed down the tunnel to the locker room. 

“I’ll be honest, it didn’t hurt as bad as other injuries I’ve had, but it just felt weird. I pulled my glove off, looked at my finger, and that’s the last time I’ve seen it,” he said. 

"It was not until the doctor requested to see the glove that the reality and severity of the injury were much worse. There are certain moments you won’t forget,” Duchene shared. “I’m sitting there, and the doctor asked where my glove was, and I looked over and said, ‘Why? Do you think there’s a piece of my finger in there? I didn’t know I had lost part of the finger. I thought it just crushed it. They were hiding it from me, so they went and grabbed the tip out.”

The 32-year-old has undergone two surgeries to have his fingers repaired. However, the doctors were unable to reattach the tip, so instead, they attached a nail and a pin to help the two broken bones heal. Due to no damage being done to his tendons, they expect Duchene to make a full recovery, and he could be back on the ice for activity come June. 

The Haliburton, Ontario product notched 56 points (22 goals, 34 assists) in 71 games. He missed the remaining 10 games of the season in which the Preds put up a record of 5-4-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons.