Just when they thought it was safe to assume the bad news had subsided, here comes more terrible news.
The Canucks are reeling to recovery from serious recent injuries to two thirds of it's number one forward trio.
A long term injury to the Canucks' leading scorer to a long term injury would absolutely cripple the Travis Green's already compromised offense.
Brock Boeser is averaging a point per game and has 17 goals, 13 assists in 30 games played. Boeser is averaging 16:24 TOI per game. He has landed 82 shots on enemy goalies.
Boeser, the University of North Dakota star, recently injured his right ankle blocking a point shot with his right ankle against the Winnipeg Jets.
On Sunday night, the rookie of the year candidate left the game against the Calgary Falmes after blocking a shot with his left foot. Boeser crawled to the bench and was assisted to the Vancouver room by team trainers. According to a Vancouver radio report, Boeser was seen on crutches inside the Vancouver locker room area.
Boeser blocked a Mark Giordano shot and was forvced to leave the game. The Canucks ruled the rookie out of the game with a foot injury. I'm not an orthopedic doctr, nor do I play one on the internet. However, Boeser's injury is non-weight bearing, which my eyeball test concludes is a fracture, to say nothing of a deep contusion to the soft tissue and bone.
Bo Horvat has missed six games with a broken foot. Horvat is the number one center and had 10 goals and 10 assists at the time of his injury. Horvat is expected to miss another 7-8 weeks of game action and perhaps longer.
Sven Baertschi, Canucks top line right winger, suffered a broken jaw last week. Baertschi had 8 goals and 10 assists in 30 games played before his injury. Baertschi is expected to be out of the lineup for another 6-8 weeks.
On Saturday, defenseman Chris Tanev was placed on IR with an injury. Tanev will be gone 2-3 weeks.
Combined, the Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser line has accumulated 35 goals and 33 assists this season. Of the 25 goals, 20 have come at even strength and 15 PPG.
The Canucks do not have three scorer-play makers in the class of Baertschi-Horvat-Boeser who can move up in the lineup to fill in while the three youngsters heal from their injuries. The cupboards are bare at the moment as it pertains to forward depth in the Vancouver organization. Jake Virtanen, Nicolay Goldobin, and Michael Chaput are already playing for the Canucks. Reid Boucher is a call up cadidate to be a short term space holder for Boeser.
The Canucks need to make a trade, and quickly.
Before the Horvat and Baertschi injuries, Canucks GM Jim Benning was scouting the NHL for a veteran scoring forward.
The Canucks are 15-14-4 and in 12th place in the Western Conference standings with 32 points.
Now that Boeser is injured, one suspects that Benning will be putting the full court press on making a trade for a scoring forward.
Hello, Evander Kane and Mike Hoffman. Perhaps Samson Reinhart.
Kane has the hottest trade target in the NHL since Matt Duchene was traded last month to Ottawa. Kane is a pending UFA and has a $6 million salary ($5.25M AAV) this season. In 33 games played this season, Kane has scored 14 goals and 17 assists. Since 12/3/16, Kane has scored 42 goals and 32 assists in 102 games. After Friday night's game, Kane has 34 even-strength goals (of his 42 goals scored). Kane is a Vancouver native. The Canucks have scouted Kane the past two seasons.
Jason Botterill would be wise to be asking for a package that includes defenseman Olli Juolevi, a roster forward and a first rounder. Juolevi, the 5th overall pick at the 2016 NHL Draft, was a star for teh London Knights in his junior hockey career. He is playing right now for TPS Turku in teh Finnish Elite League. Given his choice, Juolevi would rather be playing for the Canucks this season. Benning and company didn't see it that way. It's an awkward move to lend your best D prospect to a team in the Finnish Elite League rather than play him on your NHL roster. The Canucks rationalized that this "unique" move allows Juolevi to continue his development while playing against men in a step up in competition from the OHL.
Juolevi spent the past two seasons with London, scoring 42 points in consecutive years.
He won a Memorial Cup with London in 2016.
Hoffman, a LW-center, is having a career year with 9 goals and 13 assists in 31 games played. Hoffman has three years remaining on his Ottawa contract at $5,187,500 million AAV. We learned this weekend that Senators owner Eugene Melnyk is in cost-cutting mode. Sens GM Pierre Dorion will likely trade Hoffman before the NHL trade deadline to free up needed salary cap space for next season when Erik Karlsson's new jumbo contract kicks in. Karlsson is expected to sign an eight year contract in teh $10 million to $11 million average annual value range.
Reinhart, 22, is a pending. The second overall pick at the 2014 NHL Draft has scored 101 points (45 goals, 56 assists) in his first 200 NHL games. Reinhart, a Vancouver native, plays center and wing. He's a top six, top nine performer who plays net front on the power play.
The NHL roster freeze kicks in December 19 to Decemebr 27.
**
Blackjack!!!
Congrats to Gerard Gallant and his Vegas Golden Knights.
The Knights slapped the Florida Panthers on Sunday night to improve their Pacific Conference leading record to 21-9-2.
Visiting teams are obviously taking advantage of the bright lights and glitz of the Vegas Strip.
The Knights now have 13 wins on home ice. The Tampa Lightining and NY Rangers also have 13 wins at home. The Washington Capitals have an NHL-leading 14 wins in front of their fans.
It's tremendous how Gallant has inspired this group of players that no other teams wanted.
I love that gallant spanked the Panthers on Sunday night. Who will ever forget how the Florida Panthers disgracefully fired Gallant in November 2016. After doing so, the Panthers ordered Gallant a taxi cab to drive him and his luggage to the airport. What a scumbag, low-class move by an NHL team to pull on a respected employee.
The winning culture in Vegas may well be a gift from the hockey gods who were not thrilled with the way the Panthers embarrassed Gallant and his family when they fired him.
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