Updated: 10:55 a.m. with Vancouver Canucks statement
Well, this isn’t good.
After finding out yesterday that Bo Horvat was going to be getting an MRI after leaving Tuesday’s game with a leg injury, we should have been somewhat prepared for this, but that won’t make it any easier. While we’ve yet to hear anything official from the Canucks, the word is that Horvat could miss up to six weeks with an injury, according to Sportsnet’s Irfaan Gaffar.
Hearing timeline for this is closer to six weeks for Horvat. So, yes, not good. https://t.co/BwnExjmVhc
— Irfaan Gaffar (@sportsnetirf) December 7, 2017
That highly unfortunate timeline was then reiterated by Grady Sas, a Vancouver native and producer with TSN in Toronto. The team had already made reactionary moves, calling up centre Michael Chaput from Utica (as well as goaltender Thatcher Demko is what is likely a cap-based maneuver).
The Canucks have now confirmed that the injury is a fractured foot, and although the timeline hasn’t been confirmed, head coach Travis Green did mention that it could be up to six weeks.
.@BoHorvat suffered a foot fracture and will be out of the line-up for multiple weeks, up to six. A firmer timeline will be available after he is seen by a specialist. pic.twitter.com/kYeh0xT8IJ
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) December 7, 2017
Six weeks is an awfully long time for a team to be without their first line centre. The Christmas break will ease the burden a little bit, but if it happened to be six weeks exactly, being January 18th, 2018, it would mean that Horvat would miss the next 17 games, returning on January 20th against Edmonton. Now, these timelines are rarely dead on, but it’s probably safe to say that it will be a while before we see Bo Horvat back in the lineup.
Horvat’s 10 goals and 20 points are both currently second on the team, as are his 65 shots on goal (unsurprisingly, Brock Boeser leads in all those categories), and he leads all forwards in average ice time, 18:36 per game. His 2.05 points per hour at 5-on-5 is third among regulars, and he leads the team in penalty differential, drawing seven and taking zero at evens so far (perhaps a highly underrated aspect of his value at this point).
The analytics tell us that faceoffs tend to be a bit overrated, but the fact that Horvat is seventh in the NHL in total faceoffs taken (with 593) and is winning 52.4% of them is far from insignificant. With Brandon Sutter also out, this area is likely to become a struggle for Vancouver. We’ll have to see if they can make it up in other areas.
Alex Burmistrov, who’s been a healthy scratch for nine of Vancouver’s last 11 games, will likely get an extended chance to show that he belongs in the lineup again. Beyond that, the Canucks are going to need a lot of players to step up in Horvat’s absence, or this could be a very long six weeks. On the bright side, the Sedins and Eriksson are currently playing their best hockey in the past season and a half – the Canucks are going to need that to continue if they want to hold on to the playoff spot that they currently occupy.
Benning has drafted 7 centers .
Gaudette is coming this spring.
This team is already loaded with centers and is a strength.
As for Pettersson,Wayne Gretzky is listed at 160 lbs. in the WHA at 18.
Pettersson is listed at 161.How did Wayne make out playing center?
To be fair, Wayne didn’t spend his time in the WHA playing wing.
Petterson’s trending to be an elite player at the NHL level, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be an elite *centre*.
EP was second Timra in scoring last season in the middle.
He’s widely expected to play C next year for Vaxjo.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/draftprospectdetail.htm?dpid=107346
Similar things were true of Nylander, and he’s yet to make the transition to centre.
I’m not saying Petterson *won’t* play centre, all I’m saying is that there’s no guarantee this is where he’ll play in the NHL.
More fairytales from this clown… exposed
(from CanucksArmy)
There has been some debate as to which position Pettersson would play when he came to the NHL. Listed as both a left winger and a centre, Pettersson played some of each for Timra IK this past season.
“When you play in the Swedish elite leagues, you get deferred. You get pushed to the wing when you have a bigger, stronger man, they’ll get the preference.” For a short while, Pettersson played centre between Dahlen and Jesper Boqvist. However, after Boqvist went off to the SHL, veteran Sebastian Lauritzen moved up and played the middle between Pettersson and Dahlen for the rest of the season.
He is still playing there for CLUB and COUNTRY…
So, could you apologise for your LIES and also tell us WHY you are up Petterssens a$$ after sayng this Bali Bud… “The Canucks need players that can contribute out of the gate, particularly on D. I would take Liljegren or Heiskanen. Glass or Vilardi if they go for the future” – Bud Poile
NO MENTION of the kid at wing or ‘CENTER’… !?
Why does this utter retarded fool even bother…
“The Canucks are over paying for the assets they are acquiring.” – Bud Poile
“and whatever high end player they pick up this draft – either Tkachuk or my preference Nylander” – Bud Poile
” The Canucks need players that can contribute out of the gate like Glass or Vilardi if they go for the future. Hopefully it’s a player that is close to NHL ready come September” – Bud Poile
oh and this ‘favORite’… “I’ve been on Bali ten years but go home every year to B.C. where I was born and raised.”
CenTER? DefenSE?.. no one ‘born and raised’ in Canada uses AMERICAN spellings you dolt!
says the stupid f…king c…t
Bummer losing Bo but this will be a good test for Brock to see how he does without Bo. It’s good that we have Travis rather Willie for this little bump in the road.
We have Henrik – we’ll be fine till Sutter comes back.
God damnit Bo!!! Why?!?!? Stupid bones… foot is a long way from the heart bud!!!
Kidding aside… huge blow to the team, especially with Sutter out. Rest of the team is going to have to step up!! Man I hope they can squeak out a win tonight… hope he has a speed recovery and is closer to 4 weeks instead of 6.
Go canucks!!!
P.s. all you trolls go back to oilers nation… canucks have done a better job rebuilding over the last couple years than the coilers have done in over a decade!!! Some of our best players, including a top pairing D and elite center/winger aren’t even in the line up yet!!! Only going up from here ya plugs!! Bennings track record, while not perfect is looking pretty good… and in a year or 2 could turn out to be one of the better GMs in the league if things continue in this direction…
Its unfortunate that he’s injured, but is it really going to have an impact on parade planning for anyone but the most delusional fan?
I’d rather see the team err way on the side of cautious so this doesn’t end up a chronic problem for Bo.
So we might see some regression in games but maybe it also gets the trade process moving as well. The Canucks do need another top center with or without Bo …
a bone fracture rarely turns into a chronic issue. I’ve snapped a bone in half and I was cross-training the next week, and back to normal training after three weeks. Horvat should be back in a month.
I think you should change your handle “Wise Canuck”. Easy to pick a few guys out of a draft and hammer a GM for not picking them (there are 31 GM’s) but the final judgement is years away. Vilardi and Middlestadt aren’t having banner D+1 years, if you have bothered to look. Pettersson could prove to be the best pick in the draft…which was less than 6 months ago! I can’t wait until the youth come of age in Vancouver, “Wise Canuck” will undoubtedly say “I told you so”.
You think wiseCanucks…errr…PQW should change his handle?
All I can say to that is “welcome to canucksarmy, JackMack”
Thanks DJ, appreciate it. Not too down on this “troll scene” as I don’t see the point…if you are negative and hate everything, in my world, you should move on to something else in life, why do you want to be a jerk everyday unless it your job and you are trying to bolster ratings like Dave Pratt. I guess some people have nothing going on in life, which is plain simply sad.
Disappointing and likely deals a death blow to the Canucks nascent playoff hopes, but we’ll see. I would actually like to see Green try and slot Granlund in between Flow and Bear. He’s defensively responsible and has very decent offensive ability. The guy DID score 19 goals last year.
When is Sutter expected back?
Travis Green said this morning that he is still at least a week away.
Vaxjo slotted Pettersson in at center tonight.
4 assists.
Brutally bad asset management. Yep, massive loss of our best draft pick since Ryan Kesler here – but this is what you get for NOT drafting a legit top line centre in FOUR DRAFTS folks.
TOP centres Dylan Larkin, Nylander and Keller were ALL available to us, with Glass/Vilardi/Middlestadt/ for the future who are ALL flying in beast mode already.
Meanwhile back at the ranch… it’s Burmistrov or 37 year old Henrik then… GM extension you say…
I’m all for criticizing Benning’s drafting, but Nylander has never played centre at the NHL level and the Canucks’ centre depth is perfectly respectable.
This is tough to hear but it’s not a dire emergency – the team still has Henrik, Sutter is coming back, Granlund, Burmistrov and Gaunce are with the team and Gagner can play centre if needed as well.
I think you should change your handle “Wise Canuck”. Easy to pick a few guys out of a draft and hammer a GM for not picking them (there are 31 GM’s) but the final judgement is years away. Vilardi and Middlestadt aren’t having banner D+1 years, if you have bothered to look. Pettersson could prove to be the best pick in the draft…which was less than 6 months ago! I can’t wait until the youth come of age in Vancouver, “Wise Canuck” will undoubtedly say “I told you so”.
…and 4 assists for Pettersson today “Wise Canuck”, no first line centers in the pipeline eh?
Wise Canuck will have changed his name 20 more times before the end of the season. There’s no point in engaging in conversation with this multi-headed troll.
Yes, I’m learning that along the way here, being new to these blogs. Hard to tell if he’s paid to create controversy or just a plain stupid sports observer…there are lots of those out there!
I get where you’re going with the drafting, but this isn’t really what you’d consider an “asset management” problem. Also, they drafted a potential top line centre this past June.
Jeremy, NOT picking a legit first line centre like Dylan Larkin, one of the fastest skaters in the league, is poor asset management for me… because every draft pick is a ‘manageable asset’ – especially for a so-called draft guru like Benning. You need a one-two elite punch up the middle ala Pittsburgh, Anaheim and Edmonton to help negate injury, fatigue and make the playoffs… Benning has not addressed this and now Bo has gone down we are left with Henrik and Burmistrov! Unacceptable.
I also disagree on Petterssen – he is being played 100 per cent as a winger by both CLUB and COUNTRY, and doing well so clearly the decision is the correct one. Makes sense too as his lack of size, physicality and defensive nous are a massive red flag for becoming a top line centre in the Pacific against centreman beasts like Getzlaf, Kesler, Draisatl and McDavid.
another stupid f..king post
from an obvious stupid f…king moron
Every manager of more than a few years experience can amass an impressive list of talented players that he passed on. The real measure of a manager’s drafting skills is in who he does pick, not who he could have but didn’t.
Oh wise one, point of fact is that they did draft a center in the first round in 2014 – McCann. But, he was traded.
They actually have reasonable center depth but are under the gun for a few games until Sutter returns. Opportunity knocks for Gagner, Burmistrov, and Granlund.
Need to also mention that Gaudette is a few months away from ending his NCAA season and likely signing with the Canucks. He could be in the mix before the season is done.
what a stupid f…king post
(the original)
The juggling act continues for Travis green.
More focus on injury prevention please.
The only way you prevent this kind of injury is by not playing hockey.
Bunch of dorks trashing my comment.
That’s what happens when you get called out for being a two-faced weasel bob… suck it up buttercup.
“I never liked this contract or term, He’s a pint sized enforcer who rarely wins a fight. Dorsett is nothing special for that price. Dime a dozen” – backup bob
then…
“This is terrible news, for both Derek and the Vancouver Canucks. Good luck Derek.” – backup bob aka the WEASEL