Grand Canyon Times

Arizona Coyotes All-Star forward Clayton Keller will make his return next season, following a leg fracture that requires surgery. He is anticipated to be out of action for four to six months.

Keller's injury occurred during a game in which his team beat the San Jose Sharks. 

"Want to thank my teammates, the fans, and medical personnel for the love and support last night," Keller said on Twitter on March 31. "Unfortunately, the season's over for me, but I'm resting comfortably at the hospital in good spirits. I will be back better than ever for day one next season!"

Arizona's coach, Andre Tourigny, commented on the injury with sadness.

“We know it will be long-term," Tourigny said, according to Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. "He’ll recover. For now, it's not the injury, it's the human. It's Kells the person. He competes so hard. Seeing him in pain and having a significant injury, that's extremely tough."

The coach spoke about the impact of the injury on Keller as a person.

"The first thing is, he's a human being," Tourigny said, according to AZCentral.com. "Seeing him ... being as close as can be to normal, I guess, I think that was the first step for us moving forward. The second thing, the surgeon and our medical staff think it was really successful and they're really happy about the results, so that as well is a positive."

Keller's teammates also commented with sympathy.

"It sucks seeing guys being injured, especially when guys are playing well and having career seasons," Coyotes forward Nick Schmaltz said. "We're super close. We all care for each other a lot. We were just kind of making sure he was OK."