As Jonathan Bailey reported on Monday, Derek Forbort has rejoined the Vancouver Canucks after being on personal leave due to the passing of his farther. He will (more than) likely return to his position on the left side of the team's third pairing.
Forbort's return means the Canucks now have just two significant absences to contend with, in Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua. To this point, head coach Rick Tocchet provided updates on their respective injuries to the media on Tuesday.
An encouraging update
We'll actually start with Joshua's update, as there is a clearer path to when he is likely to return to the Canucks lineup. As per Noah Strang of the Daily Hive, Tocchet said:
""It’s getting close. He needs to get some three-on-three stuff down low, pushing and shoving, and he’s been doing that the last couple days.""
Adding fuel to this positive update, consider that Joshua is no longer wearing a non-contact jersey for practices. This is all extremely encouraging news for someone who was diagnosed with cancer, after a lump was discovered on one of his testicles.
As we previously wrote, surgery to remove the tumour was successful, but Joshua's recovery was understandably also impacted by the mental implications of such a situation. In any event, his return now seems imminent and the Canucks will certainly benefit from the physical presence of someone who is a crucial part of the penalty kill unit and led all players in hits last season.
What about Demko?
Turning to Demko, it really is down to perception being reality, in respect of whether you believe the latest update is considered good news. Again as per Strang, Tocchet said:
""He’s had, like, four really good days, which is good. He’s stacked some consecutive days together; that’s a really good thing. That’s positive.""
From our perspective, this is all much ado about nothing. Yes, it's not bad news, but the reality is we are no closer to knowing when last season's Vezina Trophy finalist will actually return to the crease in a game.
By now, the majority of Canucks fans are well aware that Demko's popliteus muscle issue on the back of his knee is an extremely rare hockey injury. As such there is a genuine element of dealing with the unknown about all of this, hence the ambiguity surrounding his status.
Certainly, when someone with as many contacts and as highly respected as Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman is hesitant to offer anything resembling a concrete timeline for Demko's return, this speaks volumes. Essentially, it's a case of 'as you were' when it comes to the two-time NHL All-Star's injury status and when he will play again for the Canucks. (Which, whenever this does finally happen, leads to the question of if he can stay healthy - but that's a subject for another day.)