The Canucks could soon be getting some much-needed help on the injury front. Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor notes (Twitter link) that winger Nils Hoglander and goaltender Thatcher Demko could both return next Thursday against Buffalo. Hoglander has yet to play this season while recovering from ankle surgery but has picked up 61 points over the last two years combined. With Vancouver in the bottom third of the league in goals scored, adding some extra secondary scoring would certainly help. Meanwhile, Demko has missed the better part of a month due to a lower-body injury of his own. Prior to the injury, he was off to an okay start to his season with a 2.80 GAA and a .903 SV% in 10 starts.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Prior to tonight’s game against Colorado, the Islanders announced (Twitter link) that winger Jonathan Drouin is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old is in his first season in New York after coming over from the Avs in free agency and while he hasn’t been scoring much (he has just three goals), he has picked up a dozen assists through his first 26 games; his 15 points are good for sixth in team scoring.
- Wild head coach John Hynes provided a pair of injury updates to reporters, including Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Twitter link). Center Danila Yurov’s return from an undisclosed injury is now imminent although he missed his second straight game tonight. The 21-year-old rookie has seven points in 21 games in his first NHL campaign.
- However, the news isn’t as good for fellow pivot Marco Rossi. Hynes shared that he won’t join the team on its four-game road trip. While he’s skating on his own, his recovery from a lower-body injury will now take longer than initially thought. Minnesota’s road trip ends on Monday with their next home game scheduled for Thursday. At that point, Rossi will have been out of the Wild’s lineup for at least a month. The 24-year-old has 13 points in 17 games so far this season.