Kings’ Walker forced to undergo surgery after taking slap shot to the face from Wild’s Dumba

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Sean Walker will have a nice souvenir. All over his face… 

During Thursday night’s game between the Kings and Minnesota Wild, defenseman Matt Dumba just wanted to put the puck in the net. The Wild blue liner snapped the puck, which came out like a cannon ball, but ended up on poor Walker’s face, who was standing in front of his goalie. 

Walker immediately went down on the ice in pain and his face bloodied up quite quickly, he needed help to get off the ice. It was clear after the incident that Dumba felt horrible about catching Walker in the face as many insiders noted how the defenseman was feeling at his team’s bench. He even attempted to apologize to Walker before he left the ice. 

Later that week, a picture of Walker’s injuries surfaced on social media and it looks gruesome. The poor guy is going to remember this for a long time, and so will his face. 

On Wednesday, Kings insider Lisa Dillman reported that Walker now needed to undergo surgery on his nose, and is expected to be out two to four weeks. He was placed on injured reserve Tuesday.

Matt Roy (upper body) will also miss time. Therefore, Mark Alt and Austin Strand were called up from the taxi squad to add depth until Walker’s return to action.