Vancouver Canucks forward Teddy Blueger was spotted at morning skate last week, but it sounds like he still has a little ways to go before he rejoins the team full-time. Blueger did not take part in morning skate on Tuesday before the team’s 5–3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. According to Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote, the forward may not be available for the team’s upcoming three-game road trip. 

“I don’t know for sure, but I think there’s a chance he will not play this road trip. More likely he won’t, but we’ll find out more in the morning,” Foote said during his media availability after last night’s game against the Jets. 

Blueger has been a key part of the Canucks’ penalty kill in the past. The fact that he has only played in one full game this season shows how big the impact that he and defenceman Derek Forbort have on the penalty kill, as Vancouver is currently dead-last in the NHL in this stat with 66.7%. Put together, Blueger and Forbort have played in a total of four games this year. 

“We’ve got to keep working on it,” Foote said of the team’s penalty kill after surrendering two goals on Tuesday night. “[We’ve] got a lot of new faces killing, and sometimes it goes like this, and you’ve just got to keep reeling it back in and keep teaching it.” 

Blueger was held out of the first four games of the season due to injury, but was quickly sidelined once again after sustaining an injury in just his second game of the season on October 19 against the Washington Capitals. Tasked with extra minutes after both Filip Chytil and Jonathan Lekkerimäki were also taken out of this game earlier on, Blueger was absent from the bench for the final six minutes of the match. 

After Tuesday night, the Canucks are now without seven players including Blueger, though Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Victor Mancini were spotted at practice that morning and appear to be close to returning. Thatcher Demko left last night’s game after the first period due to a lower-body injury after taking the weekend off for maintenance. Derek Forbort, Nils Höglander, and Chytil are not expected to return in the near future. 

Vancouver embarks on a three-game road trip that will take them along the East Coast. On Friday, they’ll face the Carolina Hurricanes, before traveling to the Sunshine state to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday and the Florida Panthers on Monday. 

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