The Vancouver Canucks returned home late Thursday night after a quick two-game road trip to California and were back on the ice Friday afternoon at UBC for practice, missing one of their most-used forwards.

Before Friday’s practice, a team spokesperson told the assembled media that Canucks forward Filip Chytil would not be participating. After taking a hard hit from Sharks defenceman Darnell Nurse on Thursday night, Chytil is being evaluated for a re-aggravation of an upper-body injury he dealt with early this season.

The team spokesperson insists Chytil’s injury is not head-related.

After taking a 2-0 lead into the second intermission, the Canucks allowed a trio of third-period goals within four minutes and found themselves now trailing with seven minutes to go. Looking for the equalizer, Chytil was battling for a puck behind the Sharks’ net. With his head down near the boards, he didn’t see Nurse coming and absorbed a hard hit along the boards.

Chytil was in some discomfort after the play, clearly grimacing from some sort of ailment. He got up and skated to the bench on his own, where Canucks trainers attended to him. The impact of the hit wasn’t enough to keep Chytil out of the game; he took a one-minute break before getting right back out there and playing the final 2:56 minutes of the game.

The 27-year-old centreman was injured in late September after colliding with a referee in the first period of his first preseason game. That injury held him out for over two weeks and the first eight Canucks games.

Chytil made his season debut against the Florida Panthers on October 15 and picked up an assist in each of his first two contests. In the following five games, Chytil has been held without a point despite being deployed as a top-two centreman and seeing ice time in all situations under head coach Manny Malhotra.

We will wait to hear from Malhotra after practice for any update on Chytil.