‘I miss him terribly’: Canucks’ Bruce Boudreau provides an update on assistant coach Scott Walker

If you’ve watched a Canucks game recently, you may have noticed that assistant coach Scott Walker hasn’t been behind the team’s bench for quite some time.

During the Canucks’ January 21st game against the Florida Panthers, Walker took a puck to the head at a high velocity while standing on the bench and has been dealing with all sorts of trouble since.

First, Walker took the puck to the head, and two days later, he was added to the club’s COVID-19 protocols list and hasn’t been back since.

“He took that puck in the head, and I miss him terribly, quite frankly,” said head coach Bruce Boudreau. “We talk every day and he’s at home in Guelph right now and he’s seeing a specialist again today.”

Walker, 48, was hired by the Canucks in December when the organization cleaned house and was put in charge of the club’s penalty kill.

“If you know how he played, he was a pretty rough and tumble guy, and he probably had a few concussions back in the day that he didn’t even know about, and that puck that hit him square in the head was coming at 100 miles an hour,” added Boudreau. “He had vertigo, but talking to him last night he sounded a lot better, but he still gets a little lightheaded and stuff so I’m hoping they find what’s wrong.”

“I’d love to have him back as soon as I could, because I miss him.”

A fifth-round pick of the Canucks in 1993, Walker played four seasons with the club and would go on to put together an NHL career spanning 15 seasons.