The Vancouver Canucks got some coal in their stocking over the holiday break. Two of the team's biggest stars, Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, were missing from Friday's practice and, according to head coach Rick Tocchet, will not play in Saturday afternoon's game against the Seattle Kraken.
While the full scope of their injuries isn't yet known, with Tocchet saying he wasn't sure if they were day-to-day or week-to-week, but they want to play it safe.
"Especially with a guy like Hughes, I don't think you want to put him in situations where he could really get hurt," said Tocchet. "I don't think you want to do that with any player. You've got to be careful of that."
You definitely want to be careful to avoid turning a short-term injury into a long-term injury but it's hard to take Tocchet entirely seriously when he says the team wants to avoid putting players institutions where they could really get hurt because they already have.
Hughes was questionable for December 23's game against the Sharks — a game-time decision. He not only played but also led the Canucks in ice time with 24:45. After the game, Hughes admitted that he needed the holiday break.
"I think that the break's coming at a fortunate time," said Hughes. "I've got three days here just to recover and regroup and we'll see what's going on after that."
If whatever injury he's dealing with is significant enough for him to miss Saturday's game perhaps it was serious enough that he should have missed the game against the Sharks as well. Was that not Hughes being in a position to get "really hurt?"
Tocchet even praised Hughes for playing through his injury.
"Obviously, our captain, dealing with some stuff, to play and get two points for us, I'm really proud of him," said Tocchet after the game. "He sucked it up tonight."
As for Pettersson, he got “banged up” in the second period of that game against the Sharks according to Tocchet but then came back for the third period and played a shift before finally leaving the game. Should he have returned to the game? Did the medical staff miss something? Was that not a situation where he could have been further injured?
Here’s the thing: I don’t even blame Tocchet or the Canucks’ medical staff for Hughes and Pettersson playing through injuries. Often, they can only go off what the players self-report in terms of how their body is feeling and how much pain is too much. Fundamentally, hockey players want to play and they'll push themselves through all sorts of pain to do it.
For Pettersson in particular, he might not have even known the extent of what he was dealing with until he took the ice for the third period and pushed himself.
It’s also part and parcel of hockey culture that players play through pain and injury. In fact, most players in the NHL are playing through something, whether it’s minor bumps and bruises that are merely uncomfortable or long-term issues that can’t really be fixed but can be managed.
In all honesty, every time a player steps on the ice, they’re entering a situation where they could get "really hurt." That's a fundamental risk of a fast, physical sport like hockey.
Playing through pain isn't unique to hockey either. All sports lionize athletes who grit their teeth and bear through the pain to accomplish something great.
But you do have to wonder if playing through pain and injuries is really worth it in late December.
It’s one thing to battle through pain in the playoffs in the quest for the Stanley Cup when every game is of the utmost importance; it’s quite another to risk causing a bigger issue for one of 82 games in the regular season.
Perhaps it would have been wiser for Hughes to sit out against the Sharks to get a bit more rest for whatever injury is bothering him. Maybe Pettersson shouldn’t have pushed it by returning for the third period.
And if the Canucks couldn’t beat the basement-dwelling Sharks without Hughes, maybe that says a lot about how the team is currently constructed.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Without Hughes and Pettersson at practice on Friday, the Canucks had to shake up the forward lines and defence pairings.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
Just as Pettersson had to step up when J.T. Miller stepped away from the team for personal reasons, Miller will have to step up in Pettersson's absence. He'll centre the Canucks' two best wingers in Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.
Pius Suter filled in admirably as a second-line centre when Miller was gone, so he'll be back on the second line with Nils Höglander and Conor Garland, with hopes of creating some secondary offence behind Miller.
The one forward line that remains intact is the fourth line — now third line — of Danton Heinen, Teddy Blueger, and Kiefer Sherwood.
Finally, Max Sasson returns to the lineup, this time at centre between Dakota Joshua and Phil Di Giuseppe.
The bigger question, of course, is how the Canucks will handle being without Hughes, especially with Filip Hronek already out long-term. At practice, the top pairing consisted of Derek Forbort and Tyler Myers, which is sobering.
Erik Brännström will draw back into the lineup alongside Vincent Desharnais. Brännström will also quarterback the top power play unit and could play some bigger minutes as the only true puck-mover on the Canucks' blue line with Hughes out.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Thatcher Demko. He has an .889 save percentage in five starts since returning from his popliteus injury but has helped the Canucks earn at least a point in four of those five starts with a 2-1-2 record.
Seattle Kraken projected lines
The Seattle Kraken are struggling this season, sitting just barely above the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division with a 15-19-2 record. They lost five straight heading into the holiday break.
Don't be surprised, then, if the Kraken shake up their lines and try something different against the Canucks on Saturday. Until they show us anything different, however, these are the projected lines:
Jaden Schwartz - Matty Beniers - Kaapo Kakko
Eeli Tolvanen - Chandler Stephenson - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Jared McCann - Shane Wright - Yanni Gourde
Tye Kartye - Ben Meyers - Daniel Sprong
Vince Dunn - Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak - Brandon Montour
Ryker Evans - Josh Mahura
Philipp Grubauer
Ales Stejka
With the injured Joey Daccord not making the trip to Vancouver, expect the Kraken's starting goaltender to be Philipp Grubauer. He has an .877 save percentage this season and has picked up a win in just three of his 13 starts.
