Noteworthy NHL prospect Jayden Plouffe suffered an incredibly scary injury today as team Canada played in the U17 world championship against Sweden.

NHL analyst and draft expert Scott Wheeler was in attendance at the game and posted about his status as things were developing. He was among the first people to report that Plouffe had gone down and was clearly injured in a serious way. Eventually, the in-arena paramedics even came out for him and took him off the ice on a stretcher.

The 16-year-old was apparently going for a hit on a Swedish player behind the net along the end boards when he stumbled, missed, and collided with the boards awkwardly. What resulted was a very scary scene for everyone involved. One fan in attendance even called it the scariest injury they had ever seen.

Luckily, Plouffe’s head coach Mathieu Turcotte gave us a positive update on his status after the game. It sounds like his trip to the hospital was largely precautionary and he may even be able to leave tonight so he can rejoin his teammates. However, he did say that he is most likely done for the tournament, which makes sense considering the nature of the injury and the relatively low-stakes nature of the event.

Plouffe was slected 6th overall in the QMJHL draft this summer by the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Through 14 games this season he has a goal and three points. As a player that was selected so high up in his junior draft, he has some very real hype around him as an NHL prospect. We will have to keep our eyes on him over the next couple of seasons to see how he develops and whether or not he will become a top prospect for the 2026 draft.