Evening Notes: Colliton, Henrique, Wheeler

Donnie & Dhali are reporting that the future of Vancouver Canucks AHL coach Jeremy Colliton is up in the air at the moment as there have been rumblings that the Canucks may go in a different direction with the AHL club. The former Chicago Blackhawks bench boss has guided the Abbotsford Canucks to back-to-back playoff appearances with nearly identical records posting a .604 points percentage in each of his first two seasons at the helm.

Rick Dhaliwal said on the show that he’s heard from sources that the Canucks have fired Colliton, but he reached out to both Colliton and the Canucks to try and get confirmation of this but hasn’t heard any word back.

In other evening notes:

• Edmonton Oilers reporter Tony Brar tweeted today that forward Adam Henrique is very close to re-joining the Oilers but will not play in Game 5 tonight according to Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650. The 34-year-old remains day-to-day but did skate with the Oilers this morning. The Brantford, Ontario native hasn’t played since Game 1 of the Oilers’ second-round series last Friday and hasn’t offered much offensively in the playoffs with a goal and an assist in six games while struggling to control the play at even strength with a 43.9 CF% according to Hockey Reference.
• The New York Rangers activated forward Blake Wheeler off of long-term injured reserve today (as per CapFriendly). The 37-year-old has been out of action for the past three months after suffering a scary lower-body injury and practiced in full capacity with the team on Monday morning. Wheeler is a few weeks ahead of schedule in his recovery and could see action in the Eastern Conference Finals although there is no word on an official timetable for his return. Wheeler suffered through the worst offensive season of his career this past year but worked very hard to come back from an injury that most people felt would keep him out for the balance of the season.