Canucks luck? Another player gets hurt at practice

Sep 27 2022, 8:33 pm

Not even a week clear of the start of training camp, and the list of injuries is already starting to pile up for the Vancouver Canucks.

Call it bad luck, or perhaps even Canuck luck.

Brock Boeser was injured Saturday in Whistler. He’ll miss the start of the season as he needs surgery on his hand and will be out three to four weeks.

One day later, the Canucks lost Ilya Mikheyev. Vancouver’s prized free agent signing left Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury, following a heavy bodycheck from Flames defenceman Nicolas Meloche, and is “week-to-week,” according to head coach Bruce Boudreau.

And now, another player may be out of action. Defenceman Travis Dermott left Tuesday’s practice at UBC with an apparent injury, according to multiple reports.

We’ll have to wait to see the severity of Dermott’s injury, but he would be another significant loss.

Justin Dowling, who appeared in 22 NHL games for the Canucks last season, hasn’t joined his teammates on the ice at all this season. He’s “week-to-week” with an upper-body injury, according to a report from Thomas Drance of The Athletic.

It’s not the way the Canucks would have hoped to start the season, after just a pair of split-squad preseason games.

Vancouver does have more depth to deal with injuries this season, however. Nils Höglander began training camp on the fifth line, but will surely get a look in the top nine to start the season now.

While they’re lacking a true top-four defenceman or two, the Canucks do have a number of blueliners fighting for spots. If Dermott misses significant time, it could be an opening for Jack Rathbone. There’s also defencemen Luke Schenn, Tucker Poolman, and Kyle Burroughs, who each played more than 40 games for the Canucks last season.

The Canucks don’t play again until Thursday, when the Seattle Kraken visits Rogers Arena. Vancouver’s first regular season game is just 15 days away.

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