Canucks injuries mount with Ekman-Larsson set to be "out for some weeks"
Add Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the list of injuries for the Vancouver Canucks.
Ekman-Larsson is expected to miss “some weeks,” according to coach Rick Tocchet, adding the blueliner to a stable of injuries that features goaltender Thatcher Demko (lower body), defencemen Tucker Poolman (undisclosed) and Travis Dermott (undisclosed), and forwards Ilya Mikheyev (torn ACL), and Tanner Pearson (hand surgery).
“Ankle sprain,” Tocchet told media Saturday. “He’s going to be out for some weeks.”
Head Coach Rick Tocchet speaks with the media before tonight's game against the Flyers.@theprovince | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/wabCsSfTs2
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Ekman-Larsson left favouring his left leg at 13:30 of the first period of a 6-4 loss against the New York Rangers on Wednesday after an attempted check on Vladimir Tarasenko along the boards.
Vancouver also placed Dermott on injured reserve and recalled rearguard Christian Wolanin from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
Ekman-Larsson has 22 points (two goals, 20 assists) in 54 games this season. He is in the fourth season of an eight-year, $66 million contract that pays him $8.25 million annually.
The news comes one day after the Canucks announced Pearson would officially miss the remainder of the 2022-23 season.
Tocchet also called Curtis Lazar “day to day” because of a lower-body injury, and said Demko was absent for a “maintenance day.”
Demko was speculated to have suffered a setback in his recovery from an injury sustained on December 1 against the Florida Panthers.
“Lazar’s day-to-day, and Demko is more of a maintenance day,” Tocchet said. “I think he’s skated five or six days in a row so we wanted to give him a maintenance day.
“We kind of worked him pretty good and I think it’s just good to give him another day, so I think he’s fine.”