Stop me if you have heard this one before this year, but just when you thought the Vancouver Canucks were getting healthy, the injury bug bites again. This time, we are talking Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and star center Elias Pettersson.
Dating back before the holiday break, we knew already that Hughes was dealing with an injury or illness of some kind. Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet had said on Monday that Hughes was going to be a game-time decision for the Canucks game against the San Jose Sharks; the captain ultimately played in that one.
Hughes played his usual allotment of minutes against the Sharks on Monday, recording two assists in 24:45, including a whopping 7:51 on the power play. The 25-year-old was not reported to have suffered any kind of setback in the 4-3 win against San Jose, so now that Tocchet has designated Hughes as "doubtful" for Saturday's game against the Seattle Kraken, there is an element of concern.
Tocchet says both Hughes and Pettersson are doubtful for tomorrow. Both being re-evaluated later today by #Canucks medical staff. Demko gets start in goal
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) December 27, 2024
Hughes played in all 82 regular season games for the Canucks last year, as well as all 13 games in the playoffs. The reigning Norris Trophy winner has also played in all 34 games so far this season, so if Hughes does miss Saturday's game against the Kraken, he will snap a 129-game streak of consecutive games played.
Elias Pettersson dealing with injury... again
To make matters worse, Elias Pettersson was also termed "doubtful" for the Kraken game. Like Hughes, it was apparent something was up with Pettersson on Monday.
#Canucks lines at practice
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) December 27, 2024
DeBrusk-Miller-Boeser
Höglander-Suter-Garland
Heinen-Blueger-Sherwood
Joshua-Sasson-PDG
Forbort-Myers
Soucy-Juulsen
Brännström-Desharnais
Brisebois
Demko/Lankinen
The 26-year-old snapped a six-game pointless streak with two goals against the Sharks, giving him double-digit goals (10) on the season. However, Pettersson was unable to finish the game against the Sharks, so any kind of celebrations or moral victories were unfortunately cut short.
Some Canucks fans may have flashbacks to the reported knee injury Pettersson dealt with last season, which drastically hampered his play towards the end of the year. The former Calder Trophy winner and four-time NHL All-Star has only 10 goals, 18 assists, and 28 points this season in 34 games, so it is fair to wonder if this current injury has been around longer than just the last week.
With Hughes and Pettersson trending towards being out for the Canucks on Saturday, Pius Suter took over as the second-line center, Derek Forbort jumped up to the top defense pair, and Erik Brannstrom re-entered the lineup next to Vincent Desharnais, according to Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army.