Vancouver Canucks are beginning the season with three injured players
Patrik Allvin made one thing clear on Tuesday: Braeden Cootes made the Vancouver Canucks roster on merit.
However, the fact that an already-thin centre ice group is missing a key player on opening night means that the 18-year-old may get a bigger role.
The Canucks currently have three injured regular players, with the most recent injury update coming from Allvin on Tuesday. He said that centre Teddy Blueger was injured in the Canucks’ preseason victory over the Edmonton Oilers, and he will miss “about a week.”
There are three Canucks games over the next week, as they take on the Calgary Flames (Thursday, Oct. 9), Edmonton Oilers (Saturday, Oct. 11) and St. Louis Blues (Monday, Oct. 13).
Blueger didn’t miss any action against the Oilers on Friday, playing 13:35 total in the victory. He did take a hit from former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin during his final shift in the third period, although he didn’t appear to be labouring.
The biggest injury for the Canucks happened during the team’s second preseason game. Forward Nils Höglander suffered an ankle sprain, and the team announced on Sept. 29 that he would miss eight to 10 weeks. Based on that timeline, he will miss at least 20 games to start the season.
Höglander is likely out until late-November at the earliest. (Bob Frid/Imagn Images)
The other injured Canucks are all depth and minor league defencemen.
Pierre-Olivier Joseph was injured during a practice drill last week. He was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Sept. 30. The team then recalled Victor Mancini due to his absence, after the defenceman didn’t make the opening-day roster despite a fantastic preseason showing.
Defencemen Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois also had surgeries and will miss the start of the AHL season down in Abbotsford. Woo is expected back in November, while Brisebois is out indefinitely.
Because Mancini was recalled and Woo is injured, the only right-shot defencemen currently listed on the Abbotsford Canucks roster is 2023 first-round pick Tom Willander.
Only two other Canucks missed time due to ailments during the preseason. Derek Forbot missed a couple of practices and was held out of the team’s final preseason game, but he was back on the ice Tuesday.
Conor Garland was also absent earlier in the preseason with an undisclosed ailment, but he returned before the end of the preseason.
According to PuckPedia, the Canucks currently have five players listed with injuries to start the season, tying them with three other teams (the Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights) for the 10th-most injuries in the league. There are nine NHL teams with six or more injured players listed right now.
Only one team, the Boston Bruins, has escaped training camp and preseason with no listed injuries.