Fresh off the heels of a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks took to the ice on Wednesday for a late morning practice.

Nils Höglander was not present, however, and Adam Foote said after practice that Höglander is being evaluated for a lower-body injury.

“Hoggy is getting evaluated later today, for lower-body… it happened later in the game. He’s going to get checked out by a doctor, and it’s happening this afternoon.”

Höglander finished last night’s game with 11:05 of total time on ice, the lowest of any Canucks forward. His last shift of the game came at the 6:35 mark of the third period, when Höglander appeared to be favouring something after getting in on the forecheck and engaging with Sharks defenceman Dmitry Orlov.

Höglander has appeared in just 18 games this season, as a lower-body injury suffered in the preseason forced him to miss the first three months of the season. After a strong start in training camp and in the preseason, Höglander has struggled to get back up to pace following his return from the injury, with just two assists to show for his efforts. He’s spent time bouncing up and down the Canucks’ lineup and has been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions as well this season.

Foote added that the absences of center Filip Chytil and defenceman Tyler Myers were simply due to maintenance, and that Filip Hronek and Conor Garland are both sick. It was evident when speaking to players after the Canucks’ Sunday afternoon loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins that a bug is going through the Canucks’ room, as both Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson sounded under the weather.

The Canucks welcome the Anaheim Ducks to Rogers Arena tomorrow before wrapping up their homestand with a matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They then head out on a quick two-game road trip in Utah and Vegas before kicking off their Olympic break. Through six games of the Canucks’ eight-game January homestand, they’ve put up a 1-5 record. Overall, the Canucks’ home ice record is an NHL-worst 5-17-3.