The Vancouver Canucks have some concerning news ahead of Monday night’s 2024 NHL Stanley Cup playoff second round series Game 7 vs the Edmonton Oilers. It appears that forward Brock Boeser has suffered a blood clot, and as a result of the injury will miss Monday’s Game 7. The timeline for the injury is unknown at this point, other than he will miss tomorrow night’s game. Furthermore, sources were saying that thankfully this injury is not life-threatening.
Brock Boeser Injury Means the Canucks Are Without Him in Game 7
Brock Boeser brings a lot to the table for Head Coach Rick Tocchet and the rest of the Vancouver Canucks squad, and they will definitely feel the impact on the team this injury can make. Boeser is a 40-goal scorer from the regular season, where he added 33 assists for 73 points through 81 games. The 27-year-old is a five-time, 20-goal scorer in the NHL. He is a responsible player, hard on the puck, and great at providing consistent offence on the Canucks team. On the regular season, he averaged 18:36 a night, and had a terrific CF% Rel of 11.8. As the playoffs rolled around, Boeser has not slowed down. He is 12 points in 12 games (seven goals, five assists), and extremely efficient in doing so, with a shooting percentage of 25.9. Also, he is playing big minutes at 20:18 thus far in post-season action.
Will Coach Rick Tocchet Have Any Tricks Up His Sleeve
One big part that Tocchet coached Canucks lineup will miss, is his ability to repeatedly step up. Whether it was his hat trick in Game 4 vs the Nashville Predators, or his three-point first period against Edmonton in Game 3, it will be hard to go without. When you really get into Xs and Os from coach Tocchet, there is a tactic he applies that will help in such a situation. Tocchet has been known to understand the feel of a particular game, and mix-and-match lines as he feels necessary. This will help guide the Canucks wonderfully at this time for Game 7. Boeser has been playing mostly with Pius Suter and J.T. Miller. This line is actually the Canucks leader in ice time at 120.5 and xGoals% 67 (amongst lines with more than 16 minutes played together this post-season). However, back to the regular season, Boeser also played with many other forwards regularly including Nils Hoglander, Phillip Di Giuseppe, or Elias Pettersson.
Needless to say, there are a lot of interchangeable parts. We have seen it already with guys in and out of the lineup through the playoffs such as Hoglander or Vasily Podkolzin. The point is that there have been a lot of people in and out of the lineup for the Canucks. And Tocchet, given his style preaching defensive responsibility, is able to right the ship. Monday’s night game, will be Vancouver’s first up against possible elimination in this year’s playoffs. They will be at home, which will really benefit them for line matching. They need to figure out how to slow down the side led by Connor McDavid, which is no easy task at the best of times.
Oh Yeah, and Who’s In Net?
Other big news that has been confirmed for the Canucks, is regarding their goaltending situation. Thatcher Demko is still unavailable to the club. Therefore, making his tenth start, all of which are in a row, will be Latvian Arturs Silovs.
Main photo credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
