Good thing Devan Dubnyk is a goalie, because his fighting career would be over. The Wild veteran can't make a fist with his right hand.
"It's more annoying for day-to-day life activities," Dubnyk, showing off an index finger that won't bend more than halfway, said with a big laugh. "I don't have much grip strength in that hand. My wife asks me to open a jar, and I'll be like, 'Give me a minute,' as I wrap the jar inside my armpit.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to do chin-ups again _ not that I ever was able to do chin-ups in the first place."
Of course, that all sometimes has its benefits.
"Diaper changes," wife Jenn, shaking her head, said. "This summer, whenever (youngest son) Parker needed a diaper change, Devan couldn't. But it didn't seem to affect his golf swing."
In the most poorly-timed incident of last April's playoffs, the top of Dubnyk's knuckle on that index finger chipped off diagonally after Jason Pominville ripped a low blocker-side shot at the morning skate before Game 1 against the Dallas Stars.
In a fluky manner, the puck ramped up Dubnyk's paddle and nailed him underneath the blocker.
"It was weird because every time we took a low blocker shot, he'd be waving his blocker (in pain). We were all wondering, 'What the heck was wrong with him, what's he doing?' We just figured goalies are crazy," Pominville said. "Once he finally told us he was playing with his finger broken, we all started trying to shoot away from it. Before that, we had no idea.
"I apologize."
If it wasn't the playoffs, Dubnyk probably would have had surgery to insert a pin. He opted against surgery after the season, and the byproduct is he no longer can bend a finger that's still oddly swollen.
The malady has caused him to change the way he holds his stick. He wears a pad over it for protection, although the occasional shots make him wince.
"It was unbelievable in that series how many times I got hit on that finger, probably four or five times with shots or wraparounds," Dubnyk said.
He has learned to live with the issue, and it hasn't affected his play. He leads the NHL in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts (heading into Wednesday), and on Tuesday, he was named the NHL's Third Star for the month of December.
Plus, as you can tell, it allows for the convenient excuse if his wife wants something done around the house.
Other than that, Jenn has no complaints, and couldn't be prouder of her husband.
