The Vancouver Canucks, fresh off another defeat on Sunday, have moved Jack Studnicka to injured reserve and recalled William Lockwood from the minor leagues. Studnicka joins Tanner Pearson, Curtis Lazar, Tucker Poolman, and Travis Dermott (and Micheal Ferland) on various types of IR for the Canucks, who can’t even stay healthy enough to have a chance of turning their season around.
Studnicka, 23, was acquired from the Boston Bruins earlier this season and inserted directly into the lineup, but certainly hasn’t turned out to be much of a difference-maker. The young forward has two points in seven games, while averaging just over ten minutes a game. On Sunday against his former team, he took a minor penalty and failed to register a shot on goal in 11:14 of ice time.
It’s hard to build any momentum with a new team if you are on the sideline just a few games into your new opportunity. This injury comes at a bad time for Studnicka, though it is not clear how long he’ll be out.
In his place comes Lockwood, a player that has had his own trouble taking advantage of NHL opportunities. Through 15 career games, he has failed to register a single point. The 24-year-old was selected in the third round in 2016 and has five goals in ten AHL games this season.
Bruins unloaded Studnicka for a reason; he’d had a number of chances over two-plus years to show pretty much bupkis.
Jack wants to be a center, not a RW but there wasn’t any room on the bruins roster for him to be a center. Bergeron, Krejci, Coyle and Nosek down the middle with Foligno, Zacha, and Frederic also able to take on center duty Studnicka couldn’t get himself a spot.