The Vancouver Canucks will be without forward Sven Baertschi for the foreseeable future.
Baertschi was forced to leave Tuesday night’s game in Nashville early in the first period after a collision with Cody McLeod (YouTube link). Interestingly, the Canucks immediately labelled Baertschi’s injury a concussion instead of the standard upper-body injury.
McLeod will not face any supplemental discipline for the hit, which has been deemed accidental according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun. Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said after the game that he feels McLeod knew Baertschi was there before he hit him. McLeod was not penalized on the play.
The Canucks have now lost four games in a row and are seven points out of the final wildcard spot. Last night was the first game of a six-game road trip, which will likely make or break the Canucks’ playoff chances. They visit Columbus, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis in the next week.
Baertschi has 13 goals and 27 points in 50 games this season. He was originally the Flames’ 13th overall pick in the 2011 draft. He was acquired by the Canucks at the 2015 deadline for a second round pick.
The way Baertschi was leaning made the hit worse than it would’ve been. If he was more upright, it would’ve been a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. He was leaning a little bit and that caused the impact point to be at the head. I don’t think there was any intent on McLeod’s part to hit him in the head. I think he was going for a shoulder-to-sholder check