Arizona Coyotes defenseman Juuso Valimaki had a very difficult time in a Dallas hospital last month after he was slapped in the face during a game against the Stars.
The situation was such a fiasco that the NHL and the players' association decided to conduct a joint investigation into the incidents, the website Daily Faceoff revealed on Friday.
During that game, which took place on November 14, Valimaki was hit by a 93 mph shot from a Stars player, his compatriot Jani Hakanpaa. The Coyotes guard then left the American Airlines Center in an ambulance and that's when his problems really began.
According to Daily Faceoff, Hakanpaa was simply taken to the hospital by ambulance before being left to his fate. Valimaki only had his wife and a Coyotes employee with him.
Then the overwhelmed hospital staff invited Valimaki, who nevertheless suffered a serious facial injury, to find a hotel nearby and return the next morning, as many people seriously injured, especially from gunfire, had just been admitted to the building.
The problem was that Valimaki couldn't do any of that. The defender had a bloody face, a hole in his mouth and was suffering from internal bleeding.
After an intervention by the players' association at his wife's request, it took five hours for Valimaki to receive 55 stitches for his injury. The player notably suffered a facial fracture and lost three teeth.
Doctors later said that if Valimaki had returned to the hotel to sleep, as the hospital had suggested, he might have choked to death on his own blood.
Valimaki finally underwent surgery the next day before returning to Arizona. Two weeks later he was back in action and wearing a full visor.
The Dallas Stars, whose doctors treated Valimaki at the arena before sending him to the hospital, confirmed they would participate in the investigation.