On the heels of his team’s brutal collapse to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday afternoon, Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet offered injury updates for both Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson on Sunday.
“They’re not going to make the trip,” Tocchet said following today’s practice at Rogers Arena. “Petey’s probably a week away, give or take a day here or there, and Quinn is probably week-t0-week. That’s the update we have for them.”
Pettersson exited early in the third period of the Canucks’ final game before the holiday break against the San Jose Sharks on Monday. The 25-year-old was having a great game before his departure, as he scored his first multi-goal game since March 19th of the 2023-24 season. Hughes was a game-time decision heading into the game against the Sharks, but elected to play. According to CanucksArmy’s Irfaan Gaffar, it’s a hand issue that is plaguing the Canucks’ captain.
CanucksArmy’s Jeff Paterson asked Tocchet about the decision for the captain to play against the Sharks, which Tocchet says he feels didn’t extend Hughes’s time away from the team.
“He couldn’t have hurt what he has any more,” said Tocchet. “He’s a tough kid and he won us the game with a couple of assists. I don’t think him not playing would have made any difference. We’re all hockey players. You want to play. He gutted it out for us and we won the game.”
Both Hughes and Pettersson’s absences were felt on Saturday, as the Canucks blew a 4-1 lead late in the third period to the lowly Seattle Kraken. Heading into Saturday’s game, the Kraken had scored just six goals in their last five games, yet they somehow managed to score three in rapid succession against the Hughes-less Canucks, and you can make that four if you count the eventual overtime winner.
Hughes out week to week is a big blow for a Canucks team that has a tough January schedule ahead of them. In the next few weeks, the Canucks will face the Capitals, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Jets, Kings, and Oilers. The Canucks’ next game is a New Year’s Eve matchup with the Calgary Flames, followed by a tilt with the Kraken on Thursday before returning home to face the Nashville Predators on Friday.
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