Many hockey fans are worried about Brayden Point‘s injury, which has received a concerning update with the 2026 Winter Olympic Games arriving in just a month. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward suffered an awkward injury when Flyers defenseman Cam York dropped on his right leg during a power play in the second period in a match on Monday, January 12. Point needed to be helped off the ice before being inspected by the medical team.
Point could miss Winter Olympics with week-to-week injury
While the exact nature of Point’s injury remains undisclosed, Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who is also the coach for the Team Canada hockey team for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Games in Milano Cortina, indicated that he will be out “week to week.”
“This is definitely more than day to day, probably classified as week to week right now,” he stated on Tuesday. “Hopefully, we averted what could have been really, really bad, but he’s going to be out for the time being now.”
Cooper hopes that Point will be able to heal over the next few weeks, so that he’s healthy enough to compete at the Olympics, after the 29-year-old Calgary native was officially named to Team Canada in late December.
While the coach is grateful that Point’s season won’t be ending and that he “avoided the worse case scenario,” some are worried that his injury is worse than it sounds.
Dr. Harjas Grewal, a doctor who is an expert on NHL injuries, said on X (formerly Twitter) that he agrees with commentary that Point might have sustained an MCL injury, which would match the week-to-week recovery time indicated by the coach. MCL is short for the medial collateral ligament in the knee and an injury there can range from a sprain to a complete tear.
Another Olympic hopeful who is facing an injury is gold medal snowboarder Chloe Kim.
Meanwhile, Snoop Dogg has been appointed an honorary coach for the Team USA Olympic team.