As Elias Pettersson returned for his first full practice with his teammates since suffering a concussion on October 13, the Canucks lost another talented young player to injury.
Brock Boeser missed Tuesday’s practice due to a sore groin, head coach Travis Green confirmed. The ailment is one he’s been dealing with for a while.
“It was bothering him a game ago, started in the Winnipeg game,” he said.
The length of groin injuries are tough to predict, given they can be easy to re-aggravate. Boeser’s not a great skater at the best of times, but has looked slow at times this season – so perhaps this helps explain why.
In response to the injury, the Canucks have called up Darren Archibald from the Utica Comets.
Pettersson, meanwhile, will travel with the team today for their two-game road trip to Las Vegas and Arizona. Green said he didn’t have a “solid answer” about Pettersson’s status, but is hopeful that he’ll be able to play.
Without Boeser and with Pettersson’s game-readiness uncertain, lines at practice left a bit to be desired:
Lines at #Canucks practice this morning:
Leipsic-Horvat-Eriksson
Baertschi-Gaudette-Virtanen
Roussel-Sutter-Motte
Schaller-Granlund/Pettersson-GoldobinEdler-Tanev
Del Zotto-Gudbranson
Hutton-Pouliot
Stecher— Brendan Batchelor (@BatchHockey) October 23, 2018
Judging from line-rush combinations, Brendan Leipsic and Michael Del Zotto look like they’ll draw back into the lineup. Troy Stecher appears to be the odd-man out on defence.
The Canucks play back-to-back games, against the Golden Knights and Coyotes on Wednesday and Thursday, before returning home to play the Penguins on Saturday.
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