Elias Pettersson will miss his eighth straight game on Monday.
For the eighth straight game, the Vancouver Canucks will be without center Elias Pettersson. The 27-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury and has not played since December 5. At this point, there is still some mystery revolving not just what the injury is, but why Pettersson has been out for the past two weeks.
To better understand the situation, we need to travel back to Vancouver's game on December 6. Despite hoping on the ice for warmups, Pettersson left early and did not play. Post-game, Foote said, "We found out this morning that he had something, upper body, and we thought he'd be okay. Got checked out, and then when he went out, and tonight for a warm-up, it wasn't a go for him. So we'd adjust, and we did adjust, and you know, he'll have further medical. We'll look at some more things tomorrow. We'll get an MRI, and we'll see where he's at."
The Canucks then had a day off on December 7, meaning the next update from Foote was post-game on December 8. When asked about Pettersson, Foote said, "I know he felt better today, which is a good sign. So there's still, I'll know more in the next couple of days. As far as the time frame, I don't want to touch on that yet."
Moving to December 9, this is what Foote had to say about Pettersson when asked, "How I feel today about it compared to yesterday, is a big, big step as far as the news we got. So he should be practicing tomorrow, but we'll find out. Like, I'm not trying to hide anything. I think he should be fine, but it was a good day today."
Fast forward to December 16, and there appeared to be a positive update regarding Pettersson. When Foote was asked if Pettersson would be classified as day-to-day, he said, "I would think so. He's getting close. He's feeling better and better. So hopefully he gets on this trip."
Like Foote pointed out, Pettersson has been with the team on this current five-game road trip. He has been seen at practice, but has yet to play. Pettersson is currently on IR retroactive to December 5, which means a roster move would have to be made to activate him at this point.
This leads to Monday morning, when Foote gave another update on Pettersson. The Canucks coach said, "It was the upper, and I think in one, there was earlier in the week, he tweaked or jammed, whatever you want to call it. I think he's close, so hopefully, I don't know if it's going to be the first game after Christmas or the second. I don't even want to say the second, I don't know. We'll find out, but he's getting close."
While it is not surprising that Foote has yet to specify the exact details of the injury, what has been odd is the timeline surrounding Pettersson's return. As mentioned, Foote said he was "close to playing" on December 16, but six days later, the update has changed to he will hopefully be ready once Vancouver returns to action after the holiday break. As expected, Pettersson's injury has been a significant storyline surrounding this team the past few weeks, with his return to action and what exactly is ailing him still a mystery.
The Canucks will wrap up their five-game road trip on Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Monday will also be the final game before the NHL's holiday break. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:30 pm PT with the game being broadcast on Amazon Prime.
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