The Vancouver Canucks will be without power forward Dakota Joshua ‘week to week’ according to head coach Rick Tocchet. Joshua suffered a hand injury in a fight with Chicago’s MacKenzie Entwhistle late in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory at United Center.
On Thursday, Tocchet said Joshua was still being evaluated by the Canucks medical staff. After Friday’s practice at Rogers Arena, the coach provided an update.
“It’s a week to week thing, but I don’t know whether it’s one week or two,” Tocchet said. “It’s unfortunate, but he can use this positively and we’ll get him skating. But week to week.”
In Thursday’s 4-1 win over Detroit, Ilya Mikheyev took Joshua’s spot on left with Teddy Blueger and Conor Garland. Mikheyev skated in that spot again during Friday’s practice.
Tocchet says there is a trickle down effect trying to replace one of the team’s biggest forwards.
“Dakota’s probably one of our best penalty killers and a heavy body,” Tocchet said. “Last minute of the game, usually he’s out there. Probably our best wall guy. So when you’re losing that, we have to do it by committee. We have to get our fourth line playing that style. We have to get some guys playing that way to help with those walls and net front. He’s a big part of our team.”
With Joshua out indefinitely and the Canucks heading on the road for three games after Saturday’s showdown against Winnipeg, Tocchet said it’s likely the team will tap into Abbotsford for additional forward depth.
“We’re probably going to grab somebody, maybe a (Arshdeep) Bains,” Tocchet said. “I’d like to see him and see how he does.”
Tocchet also said Carson Soucy remains week to week with the hand injury suffered blocking a shot against the Toronto Maple Leafs on January 20th. Soucy has been spotted around the locker room at Rogers Arena, but has yet to join the group at practice.
“He’s still week to week, but obviously he’s getting there,” Tocchet explained. “We have a program for him, he can come back an even better skater type of thing. If you take the positive out of it, when it’s upper body at least you can skate. That’s huge.”
The Canucks currently have 12 healthy forwards and eight healthy defencemen on their NHL roster. They could place Dakota Joshua on IR to open a roster spot for a recall from the minors.
