The Vancouver Canucks are expected to get a boost to their forward core during their current road trip. According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, forward Conor Garland should return in the near future.
Garland, 29, has not played since December 30th due to an upper-body injury. Regardless, he remains fourth on the team in scoring with seven goals and 22 points in 33 games, averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per night.
It’s no surprise that the team has struggled in his absence. Since going down with an injury, the Canucks are 0-2-2 in their last four, and are on their way to their sixth straight loss, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening.
Other notes from the Pacific Division:
- The Calgary Flames are dealing with a minor injury to one of their prized trade deadline candidates. According to Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet, forward Blake Coleman is set to miss the next few days with an upper-body injury. Still, a day-to-day issue at the maximum may be seen as a blessing by the Flames as they contemplate trading the 34-year-old forward at the deadline this season. Coleman has 13 goals and 21 points in 44 games this season.
- According to the team at SinBin, Vegas Golden Knights forward Brandon Saad won’t be available for tonight’s contest due to an undisclosed injury. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has two goals and seven points in 39 games this season, averaging 13:53 of ice time in a bottom-six role.
Demko also hurt again!
Water is wet, too!
It’s time for Rutherford to hang it up. I’m not sure if he’s made a good move since 2017
Quick skim suggests that trading a 3 and 5 to Calgary for Zadorov counts as a good move. Signing free agent bargains of Suter, Joshua and Sherwood count. Abbotsford won a championship so that has to count too. I guess acquiring DOC counts. That’s about it, I think. I suspect Rutherford and Allvin look better than they really are because the last guy was so awful.
In Pittsburgh, trading Brassard and Sheahan for McCann and Bjugstad was a positive, but he traded for Brassard in the first place, so that cancels it out. There were a lot of good moves that corrected prior bad moves. JR is sort of like Jerry Dipoto in that way, frenetic activity but little net progress