The Canucks will get some help tonight versus Nashville as the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Dakota Joshua and defenseman Noah Juulsen have been activated off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, winger Kiefer Sherwood was placed on injured reserve while winger Max Sasson was assigned to AHL Abbotsford.
Joshua had missed nearly the last four weeks with a leg injury. It has been a tough year overall for him as his start to the campaign was delayed while recovering from testicular cancer. Upon returning, he wasn’t as impactful as he was last season. He has two goals and two assists through 24 outings although his physicality is still present as he has 83 hits while logging 12:21 per night with limited time on special teams.
As for Juulsen, he landed on IR retroactively last week with an undisclosed injury. He winds up missing a little over two weeks with the issue. Juulsen has played in 32 games this season, predominantly on Vancouver’s third pairing. He’s still looking for his first point but does have 57 blocks and 89 hits in 16:34 of playing time per night, the highest that number has been since the 2018-19 season.
Sherwood has been a nice addition to Vancouver’s bottom six group this season. He has recorded 13 goals and eight assists in 47 games while recording a league-high 273 hits; for comparison, no other player has reached 185. He left last Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury and assuming they back-date his placement, Sherwood will be eligible to return as soon as Friday versus Dallas.
Sasson loses his roster spot to make the activations happen. He has been up with Vancouver for six separate stints this season, spanning 24 games altogether where he has two goals and four assists in a little over 10 minutes a night. After putting up 42 points in 56 AHL games last season, Sasson’s per-game numbers are down a bit with Abbotsford this year although he still has nine points in 16 outings.