The Vancouver Canucks didn’t exactly get the jolliest news coming off of a short holiday break.
Returning to the ice today at Rogers Arena for practice, Vancouver saw both Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson sitting out of the action.
And with a 1 pm PT puck drop tomorrow against the Seattle Kraken in the team’s first post-Christmas game, it appears that the two Vancouver stars are likely to sit tomorrow, as relayed to reporters from Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet.
Pettersson had left Vancouver’s contest on December 23 against the San Jose Sharks after one third-period shift, following a great start to the game where he picked up two goals in 14:56 of ice time.
Hughes, meanwhile, was a game-time decision for that same contest, though he did end up playing nearly 25 minutes while racking up two assists. Tocchet had previously described Hughes’ issue as a hand injury.
As per Rink Wide Vancouver’s Jeff Paterson, here’s what the Canucks’ forward lines are looking like ahead of tomorrow afternoon’s contest:
- Jake DeBrusk- J.T. Miller- Brock Boeser
- Nils Höglander-Pius Suter-Conor Garland
- Danton Heinen-Teddy Blueger-Kiefer Sherwood
- Dakota Joshua-Max Sasson-Phil Di Giuseppe
Meanwhile, here’s how the defence pairs line up, with Guillaume Brisebois suiting up as an extra:
- Derek Forbort-Tyler Myers
- Carson Soucy-Noah Juulsen
- Erik Brännström-Vincent Desharnais
Tocchet added that Pettersson and Hughes are set to be re-evaluated tomorrow.
Sitting fourth in the Pacific Division with an even 17 wins and 17 losses on the season (17-10-7), the Canucks will be in a tough spot if their top two scorers are set to miss any serious time.
Both players had suited up in all 34 contests this season and helped keep the team’s head above water following an extended absence from J.T. Miller.
In other injury news, Tocchet added that Filip Hronek has begun skating after a lower-body procedure earlier this month, as per Paterson.
And while it’s probably still too early in the season to worry too much about playoff chances, Vancouver currently occupies the first wild card spot but four teams are within five points or less of them in the standings.
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