Canucks’ Hamhuis to miss at least 2 more games with lower-body injury

The Vancouver Canucks left Vancouver for the warmer climate of Phoenix, Az. on Wednesday afternoon. Defenseman Dan Hamhuis, however, was left behind.

Hamhuis, 32, missed the club’s victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday evening with an injury that the team is saying is of the lower-body variety. Though the official line suggested that Hamhuis missing a game was more of a ‘maintenance’-type thing, he’ll now remain in Vancouver for further evaluation the club announced on Wednesday.

The real nature of Hamhuis’ injury remains something of a mystery. The sturdy two-way defender, a Gold Medalist with Team Canada’s men’s ice hockey team at the 2014 Winter Olympics, played a regular shift and even factored into the overtime in the last game he played against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. If he was hurt during that contest, it’s impossible to tell from the boxscore.

With Hamhuis and Prust remaining in the Pacific Northwest for medical evaluation, the Canucks will head to Arizona with just 18-healthy skaters and Chris Higgins, who is expected to return in the second of back-to-back games against the Dallas Stars on Saturday. That group of 18 plus Higgins only includes six defenders, so it seems likely that the club will call up a blue-liner – most likely Alex Biega – from the Utica Comets to provide some depth on this trip.

Hamhuis has appeared in eight games for the Canucks this season, notching two assists while logging roughly 20 minutes per contest – mostly at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill.