Nils Åman injured at Vancouver Canucks practice after scary-looking collision
Nils Åman’s Vancouver Canucks practice was cut short today after a scary collision into the boards.
The 25-year-old went headfirst into the boards during drills. He was battling with defenceman Victor Mancini and, after a slight push, went flying into the boards. It was a scary moment which caused the entire practice to stop.
Åman was helped off the ice by teammates. He sat on the bench for a second before leaving, presumably to get checked out by trainers. He didn’t leave the building as he walked around after practice, wearing a sling around his arm.
“That didn’t look good,” said head coach Rick Tocchet. “Hopefully, it’s nothing really bad, but it looked bad from my angle.”
Åman has played 19 games with the Canucks this season, scoring one goal and recording six points. He’s got seven goals and 30 points in 36 games at the AHL level.
“Hopefully, he’s alright,” said Jake DeBrusk. “Hopefully he’s okay and obviously you feel for the other guy too… it’s one of those things, that’s part of the game of hockey, there’s injuries all the time and we’ve dealt with our fair share.”
The Canucks have a ton of injured players right now. Tyler Myers didn’t practice today and is day-to-day after hurting himself last game. Filip Chytil watched practice from the sidelines as he works his way back from a concussion. Star centre Elias Pettersson was also absent from practice as he sits out with an upper-body injury.
The team did get some good news on the injury front, as Nils Höglander ditched his non-contact jersey and was a full participant in practice. However, Tocchet said the winger is unlikely to play tomorrow.
The Canucks playoff chances are looking increasingly unlikely. They sit eight points back of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference with one game in hand. With matchups against Vegas, Colorado, and Dallas among their last seven games, they face an extremely uphill battle to make the postseason.