Veteran defenseman likely to start season on injured reserve after hurting knee on Friday against Calgary
The Vancouver Canucks will be without one of their off-season acquisitions when the season starts on Wednesday night. The team announced on Sunday that defenseman Carson Soucy is 'week to week' after getting tangled up with Calgary's Yegor Sharangovich in the second period of Friday's preseason finale. It's believed Soucy suffered a knee injury. He left the game and did not return.
It's hardly ideal for a Vancouver team that already had questions about how to optimize its defense. On Friday against the Flames and again at Sunday's practice at UBC, captain Quinn Hughes was paired with Filip Hronek while Tyler Myers skated with Ian Cole. That left Akito Hirose, recalled from Abbotsford on Sunday morning, to play alongside Noah Juulsen.
That could very well be the way the Canucks open the season.
"I don't think it's too long, but I have to say week to week right now," head coach Rick Tocchet said of Soucy's prognosis after Sunday's skate. "Hirose playing for us last year helps. He's comfortable. I don't think we're afraid if we had to play him Wednesday night, we could throw him in there. He's a very intelligent guy and he's been on that stage before."
The Hirose recall was one of several roster tweaks made by the Canucks on Sunday. They placed Christian Wolanin and Jack Studnicka on waivers and sent Nils Aman, who did not require waivers, to Abbotsford.
The club also acquired forward Sam Lafferty from Toronto for a fifth round draft pick.
The Canucks -- like all NHL teams -- have to set their season opening roster by 2pm Pacific time on Monday. By then, they'll know whether Wolanin and Studnicka have cleared waivers.
Other news to come from Sunday's practice included Teddy Blueger starting the session, but leaving after about 15 minutes. Blueger suffered a bruised foot on Friday and tried to test it on Sunday. Tocchet says there was no need for the veteran centre to push it on Sunday and says he has no worries Blueger will be ready for Wednesday's season opener.
Anthony Beauvillier seems to be the latest Canuck to fall victim to the flu bug. He was given Sunday off to rest. Guillaume Brisebois who was dinged up last Wednesday in preseason action in Abbotsford is still not ready to skate with the group.
And Ilya Mikheyev has been given the green light to ramp up his recovery and rehabilitation from knee surgery. Mikheyev is not game ready and will not play on Wednesday, but he was an active participant in practice on Sunday adding limited contact for the first time since joining the main group.
Tocchet placed an emphasis at practice Sunday on quickly transitioning the puck mindful of his team's opponent in the first two games of the season.
"We're playing Edmonton back to back and we need some guys that can break the puck out," Tocchet explained. "You need puck possession against Edmonton. You can't keep throwing pucks back to them. You need to be able to hold on to pucks and break out well out against that team. If you keep giving the puck to that team, you're in trouble."
The Canucks will have a full team day off Monday and will return to the practice ice on Tuesday morning.
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