Blood clot could keep Jets’ Postma off ice for months

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This article was published 28/10/2013 (4363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. LOUIS — Try as he may, Paul Postma can’t hide the emotional and physical pain he is experiencing.

The Winnipeg Jets’ defenceman is out indefinitely after doctors discovered a blood clot in his leg on Sunday. He is still with the Jets as they travelled from Denver to St. Louis for Tuesday’s matchup with the Blues, but is now on blood thinners and has had his season halted.

Doctors told him Sunday he could be out for a few months.

“That’s hard to hear,” said Postma Monday, not long after watching his teammates practice at the Scottrade Center. “I’ve never been out with an injury that long, not even close to that. It’s going to be tough for me, but I’ll try to stay positive and get through it.

“With any other injury they can give you a specific timeline, even if you break a bone or something they’ll give you how many weeks. They say everyone reacts differently to clots and basically it’s however long it takes to dissolve and that could be any given time.

“I don’t know that much about blood clots — you don’t really hear about them too often. When he told me the timeline they were thinking of it really startled me. I was in shock. I still can’t even really believe it happened. You don’t hear of (blood clots) too often and it’s a different situation. I guess I’ll just take it day by day.”

Postma, 24, served up a solid effort in Saturday’s win over the Dallas Stars, with just over 15 minutes of work. But he had been experiencing pain in his leg and when the team flew to Denver Saturday night, it became worse.

“I had an awkward pain in my calf and it didn’t feel right,” said Postma. “There was a part of me that didn’t know why it was hurting so much and so I talked to our trainers about it and went and got it checked out and it turned out to be a blood clot. When they look back at it, they said I’ve had it for a little while now and it’s moved up my leg a little bit. They don’t know when it happened and don’t know exactly how I got it either.”

Postma has appeared in eight games this year and, while he had been pointless, was seeing improvement in his game. But now his season – and his spot in the Jets’ lineup – is in jeopardy because of his extended absence. Doctors have told him to limit his physical activity and contact until the blood clot disappears.

“I’m in limbo right now,” said Postma. “We’ll just wait and see what happens.”

Zach Bogosian left practice early Monday while Mark Stuart and Toby Enstrom were given ‘maintenance days’, leaving just Dustin Byfuglien, Grant Clitsome and Adam Pardy healthy bodies. Head coach Claude Noel said Bogosian, Stuart and Enstrom should be good to go against the Blues Tuesday night.

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait