After leaving the bench with an injury and then later returning to finish Friday night's game against the Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes is a game-time decision for Sunday's matchup with the Detroit Red Wings, general manager Patrik Allvin said Saturday.
Hughes, 25, extended his point streak to eight games with an assist on Jake DeBrusk's third-period power play goal and ultimately finished the 5-3 loss to the Stars with 23:26 of ice time, including a whopping 8:22 on the power play.
Hughes's defence partner, Filip Hronek, paced the team with 25:22 and added an assist of his own in the loss. Perhaps the Canucks can ease the burden on Hughes going forward through the addition of Marcus Pettersson, who is a "priority" to extend his stay with the Canucks, per Allvin.
It is unclear whether the injury that forced Hughes to exit vs. Dallas is the same as or similar to the hand injury he has been managing for several weeks. The Canucks captain has been spotted at various team events and walking into arenas sporting a cast or splint on his left hand, including as recently as prior to Vancouver's game against Dallas on Friday night.
Regardless, dealing with a new injury or a flare-up of the old one is bad news for both Hughes and the Canucks, for obvious reasons. They are a weaker team than they were before the J.T. Miller trade, but time will tell the story. It would be unfair to dismiss the potential contributions of Pettersson and Filip Chytil before they step on the ice for the Canucks, but contributions they will need to make. Big ones, especially if Hughes is ailing.