With apologies for repeating ourselves, the Vancouver Canucks have arguably dealt with more issues that any other team so far this season. They've had players dealing with a cancer diagnosis, a leave of absence for personal reasons, and a first-of-its-kind hockey injury.
Then you come to Derek Forbort, who had to leave the team after just three regular season games, due to the passing of his father. As someone who has had to deal with the same scenario this year, I can relate to how tough this is to deal with.
Forbort would finally return to face the San Jose Sharks, in an appearance which doubled as the 500th game of his NHL career. However, any potential positive which could have emerged from this quickly dissipated.
A second unfortunate turn of events
The 32-year-old was forced to leave practice early on the Monday following the Sharks game, after being shaken up during a drill. He appeared to be favouring his leg as he left the ice, which led to understandable concern for everyone involved with the Canucks.
Those concerns were subsequently found to be with good reason, as Forbort had to be placed on injured reserve. To say this season hasn't gone as planned so far for the defenceman is an understatement, with him seemingly unable to catch a break.
Some good news finally for Forbort
With all this in mind, there was some welcome news which came out on Thursday, courtesy of Jeff Paterson. The Rink Wide: Vancouver reporter took to social media, to show Forbort on the ice in Vancouver for practice.
Now it should be noted that Forbort was wearing a non-contact jersey. However, while there is no official timeline at this stage for his return to game action, just seeing him on the ice full stop is an encouraging update.
The 2010 15th overall draft pick was brought in during the offseason, effectively as a replacement for Ian Cole. In fact, you could make the case that he was an improvement over the departed Cole.
However, the Canucks have yet to benefit, with Forbort so far limited to four games and producing one assist, a -2 rating, five blocks and a hit. All fans can hope is that he is able to return to action soon, and when he does, that this time around he enjoys an extended run in the team without anymore adversity.