Will Brock Boeser’s return push the Canucks into the playoffs?
Brock Boeser is making serious strides towards an early return to hockey. The Canucks need their talented sniper right now more than ever.
It’s been just over a month since Brock Boeser was sidelined with what was supposedly a fracture to his rib cartilage. The gruesome injury was tagged with up to a 12-week long recovery period, which would mean the Canucks’ star shooter would be out of action for the remainder of the regular season and if the team makes the playoffs, probably at least the first round, maybe even the second.
At this point, good news is all we want to hear, and we got it. The trusted staff at Sportsnet sent out an article reporting that Boeser is skating with the team, he’s participating in practice sporting a full-contact jersey and he hopes to be back in the line up soon. Talk about the silver lining in a situation where the Canucks have been struggling to win games. They can use all the help they can get.
“It’s always exciting to skate with the guys and it feels good to be out there. I felt pretty good out there so hopefully I’ll be back soon.” - Boeser
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 8, 2020
The Canucks hold a much better winning record when Boeser laces up the skates. With him in the lineup, Vancouver is 31-21-5. On the other side of things, the loss of their star player has them below 500 with a record of 5-6-1. It’s beyond clear the struggling offence of Vancouver could really use the boost in goal scoring that Boeser brings in his game.
Jim Benning promised Vancouver and its fans a berth in the 2020 NHL playoffs. The return of Boeser adds hope to the situation, but the Canucks know there is still plenty of work to be done. Boeser, although he’s struggled to be his regular goal-scoring self this year, was in fact, in the midst of a career year. 16 goals and 45 points through 56 games played.
Boeser can look at his time away from the game as an advantage in terms of freshness. With any luck, hopefully, the much-needed rest works in his favour as the Canucks continue the heavy grind against the rest of the western conference. Playoffs are only 14 games away, the Canucks need their All-Star sniper back in the lineup and at full health.
The late addition of Tyler Toffoli so far has proven to be a homerun trade at the deadline. His new teammate and fellow right-winger, Jake Virtanen is also having a career-year and should have no problem reaching 20 goals and 40+ points. You can’t forget about the emergence of the big boy, Zack MacEwen. His physical presence will be well-known down the stretch.
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Finally, you add in their best right-winger, the American born Boeser, a former All-Star Game MVP, and you got some seriously dangerous depth on the right side. Trust me, a healthy forward group for this team means bad news for the opposition. If the Canucks can make it to the dance healthy, anything is possible.