Pachal destroys Grundstrom with monster open ice hit.

Brayden Pachal absolutely destroys Carl Grundstrom with monsterous open ice hit.

The San Jose Sharks aren’t likely to see veteran forward Carl Grundstrom back on the ice tonight after this.

On Saturday night, Grundstrom and the Sharks faced off against the Calgary Flames and unfortunately for Grundstrom his night appears to have come to a rather quick end. Grundstrom was run over by an absolute freight train in the form of Calgary Flames defenseman Brayden Pachal.

Pachal caught Grundstrom puck watching in the open ice and completely destroyed him with what I can only describe as a monster hit. The impact of the hit was enough to send both men flying back from the initial point of contact, with Grundstrom clearly getting the worst of it.

Pachal was able to quickly bounce back to his feet and appeared to be ready to get right back into the play, while Grundstrom would lay on the ice for several seconds after the hit. Even after Grundstrom was able to get back to his skates, he had to be helped back to the bench and looked shaky on his skates to put things mildly. Grundstrom would quickly head back to the locker room and has not returned to the game, and I would be very surprised if he returns to tonight’s game at any point.

Sharks forward Nico Sturm would quickly come to the defense of Grundstrom, dropping the gloves with Pachal, but nothing much would come of that scrap with both men hugging it out rather than throwing any real heavy blows.

First here is a look at multiple angles of the hit:

You can see the full replay of the hit as well as the subsequent fight between Strum and Pachal in the video below.