After an optional practice on Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks hit the ice for a regular practice session on Wednesday morning.

The club’s top two centres, Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil, who are currently injured, did not join their teammates on the ice for practice. But according to Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal, both Pettersson and Chytil practiced together ahead of the rest of the team’s skate:

“No Elias Petterson at practice today. He did skate [before the team] this morning. … The other thing I want to mention is that Filip Chytil was on the ice this morning with Petterson, and he’s picking up the intensity of his skates.”

Chytil, 25, has been out of the Canucks lineup since the Washington Capitals game on October 19. Capitals power forward Tom Wilson caught Chytil with a hit in the neutral zone late in the first period.

The Czech centreman has struggled with concussions throughout his nine-year NHL career. In that time, he has played over 70 regular season games in just two seasons. Chytil set career highs in goals (22), assists (23) and points (45) and plus-minus rating (plus-15) in 74 games with the New York Rangers in the 2022-23 season.

Acquired as the centrepiece of the JT Miller trade, Chytil has played 21 games in a Canucks sweater over the past 10 months, scoring five goals and four assists for nine points.

Pettersson, 27, has missed the last two games – against the Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings – with an upper-body injury. The Swede took pre-game skate on Saturday against the Wild, but left early and was ruled out afterwards.

Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote shared after Monday’s pre-game skate that they were hopeful to have more information later in the day on the extent of Pettersson’s injury. After their shutout loss to the Red Wings, Foote was wary of giving Pettersson a distinct timeframe on his return. Following today’s practice, Foote shared that Pettersson is unlikely to return on Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres but will be travelling with the team on their upcoming five-game road trip.