"Very dirty."
That's what Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski called the hit he took from Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway in Thursday's season opener that has kept him out of the lineup for the last two contests.
Zach Werenski leaves the game following a scary knee-on-knee collision with Garnet Hathaway.
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 13, 2023
Hathaway was given a 2-minute minor for kneeing on the play. pic.twitter.com/X01AzYFR55
"Obviously [it was] a dirty play," Werenski said on 97.1 FM The Fan's Rothman & Ice on Wednesday. "It was avoidable on his end."
However, Werenski said he knew immediately that he did not suffer either a knee or long-term injury in his first regular-season game since November 10, 2022, when he suffered a season-ending torn labrum.
"For that to happen and I'll be set back a week, that's just unfortunate," Werenski said. "But I'm happy with where I'm at [and] how the recovery's gone. And I'm hoping to shoot for Friday for my first game back."
Werenski was placed on injured reserve and was expected to miss one-to-two weeks, so Friday's game against Calgary would be eight days since suffering the injury.
When asked to clarify his thoughts on the hit, Werenski said it was "very dirty."
"I don't want to go too far into it," Werenski said. "But I think if you look at the player, and you look at the history, and you look at the play, he knows what he's doing. He's got no intent to play the puck. He has no regard for it. All he's trying to do is send a message to me, to our team, to, I don't know, his teammates."
"Whatever it is," Werenski continued. "This is the way he's gonna play and that's how he's always played. And I just thought it was unnecessary. I don't touch the puck. The puck's not even near me. I'm skating for the puck and he sticks his leg out. And that's what happens. I'm fortunate it wasn't worse, but he knew exactly what he was doing. It's not an accident by any means."
Werenski added that he thought that there would be no chance that he'd be ready to play on Friday, but that changed at Wednesday's practice.
"Today at practice," Werenski said. "I felt a lot better than I thought I would. So if I can progress the rest of the day today [and] tomorrow, I'm thinking Friday's the goal for me. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I felt really good today and hopefully, I can get back out there Friday."
"Whatever it is, this is the way he's gonna play and that's how he's always played. And I just thought it was unnecessary. I don't touch the puck. The puck's not even near me. I'm skating for the puck and he sticks his leg out. And that's what happens. I'm fortunate it wasn't worse, but he knew exactly what he was doing. It's not an accident by any means."– Zach Werenski on the hit he took from Garnet Hathaway.
Aside from the hit he took and his return to the ice, Werenski complimented Jake Bean and his pairing with Erik Gudbranson thus far.
"He's looked really good," Werenski said of Bean. "I think that's probably been our best pairing to start the season. Just consistently the first three games, they've been our best pair. It's great to see. Obviously [Bean] missed all of last season with me with the shoulder injury and it seems like he's coming back better than I am. And he's playing really well right now. So it's great to see. And then [with Gudbranson], we know what he brings in terms of physicality and toughness and just a hard-nosed game. So I think that pair has been really good for us and hopefully they could just keep it going."
Werenski's return would be huge for the Blue Jackets, who enter Friday's home contest against Calgary with a 1-2-0 record.
