Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that has been placed on LTIR for cap-related purposes.

Speaking of long-term injured reserve, the Vancouver Canucks have somewhat miraculously managed to only place two players there – Nils Höglander and Derek Forbort – despite having five times as many as that injured at any given time on this 2025-26 season.

Through 14 games, the Canucks have suffered the loss of Höglander, Forbort, P-O Joseph, Teddy Blueger (twice), Filip Chytil, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Quinn Hughes, Victor Mancini, and Brock Boeser for a couple of periods.

That’s not even counting the offseason/preseason injuries to Jett Woo and Guillaume Brisebois, respectively.

To say the Canucks have been besieged by injuries would be both accurate and a good display of medieval vocabulary.

But not all injuries are created equal, and nor are their impacts upon a hockey team. So, we decided to turn that into a question.

Every injury has had some sort of impact on the Canucks this year. But which one has had the greatest impact?

Is missing Höglander for what has now turned into more than 1/6th of the season as impactful as losing Chytil for 10 games? Is the dual loss of Forbort and Blueger on the blueline for nearly a dozen games as impactful as four games without Hughes?

Well, that’s what we’re interested in getting your opinions on.

This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

Reichel’s offensive game currently reminds me of when the Canucks got Sanderson after the deadline in ‘03-04. Lots of chances and speed, but no finish.

Maybe he can be more of a Kuzmenko, who had a slow start: one goal in debut then only one more in his next 18 before coming alive in the next year.

I will say that his checking has been better than advertised. He is busy and committed. His faceoff work was great against the Oilers, so I’m hoping he can improve on that.

Overall a fine pickup, but will be great if he can find a way to score.

Reichel is another talented skinny player. The market for these type of players is low. It’s why Lekkerimäki slipped a bit in his draft year and frankly he should have slipped further. If these type of players can stay, healthy they provide good value.

Reichel has been very impressive coming in and playing as a top-six centre. It’s a big step from where he was. His lack of points is much more just bad puck luck than lack of skill or effort. The goals will come.

Reichel is a very cost effective placeholder for a real 2C. Don’t really see a spot for him with the Canucks longer term. His effectiveness at centre could lead to him having more trade value than the skinny winger the Canucks spent a 4th round pick on. That said he could be useful centre depth for a couple seasons.

Quite impressed with Reichel so far, especially considering the low cost to get him. He has had two or three dangerous chances on net each game, but seems to be snakebitten so far. I would expect his “expected goals for” stat would show him with a couple. Does not seem to be the defensive liability we had heard about.

Reichel has been OK on face offs and I was not expecting that he would not survive at centre, but the fact that he has is a win.

He gives a good effort every game and seems to make smart plays. On the downside is he does get knocked off the puck a lot and loses a lot of battles. The most glaring part of his game is that you can tell that Reichel is definitely not from Helsinki because he has no Finnish.

All in all, I like the player so far, my larger concern is with the overarching roster construction of this team. Reichel seems like a gamer but is light, as are many other forwards, several are injured right now. I’d like more balance to assist the smaller Reichels, Lekkerimäkis, Garlands and Höglanders so these guys aren’t so exposed.

The kid has got skills and it has shown since his arrival in Vancouver and has been a welcome addition in the face of the many injuries the Canucks have suffered so far this season.

A bit undersized, however there are many players that have successful careers such as Marchand, Caufield, Quinn Hughes, Jack Hughes, Mitch Marner, Conor Garland to name a few, so it can be done despite some takes on CanucksArmy from others.

Time will tell, as it always does, but good job by the Canucks FO to bring in a guy under difficult circumstances that seems to be able to hold his own so far.

Too early to make an educated opinion, but I could say he’s a young guy whose age fits this group well. He could also make some of the Abby guys irrelevant when the team returns to full strength. He’s gotta put on weight though, and much like Pettersson. There’s zero excuse for not muscling up.

Reichel has great speed and no finish, it appears. Similar to Höglander in some ways.

Good cheap pickup for the moment, but that is also the crust of the problem. Canucks are full of good cheap pickups and high draft/low performers, hoping they turn a corner.

Its a terrible way to build your team. Leads to mushy middle at best.

Joining a team while having no practices with them reveals his basic talent which is quite high.

As he begins practicing with the team, I expect his results to improve.

I’ve been positively impressed. He’s had a lot of chances but hasn’t finished. I don’t know if that means he lacks finishing skill, or has just had some bad luck. He has a good skill set: speed, hands, and some offensive flare. He seems to be doing OK as a 2C replacement, but down the road he may be a 3C at best. He’s young and may develop positively. I haven’t noticed his defensive play one way or the other. He’s too small, of course, like several other Canuck players who are too small, such as EP40, Garland, Höglander, and Lekkerimäki. For a 4th round draft choice, he’s a good pickup who has the potential to develop, in my view.