The Vancouver Canucks faced the Minnesota Wild and were able to get the 4-2 win, and they did it without a key forward. Elias Pettersson missed the game because of an upper-body injury, and he is expected to get an MRI, according to head coach Adam Foote.
“Adam Foote says the Canucks found out this morning that EP40 had an upper body issue. They thought he would be able to play, but he tested it in warmup and couldn't go. He'll have an MRI tomorrow,” Brendan Batchelor wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
That was going to be Pettersson's 500th game in the NHL, and all of them have been with the Canucks. He has 193 goals and 286 assists in his career, and this season, he has eight goals and 14 assists. With Pettersson out, the Canucks were without their top-three centers, which left David Kampf to assume the leading role at the position against the Wild.
Before the win against the Wild, the Canucks had lost their last four games, and they were at the bottom of the NHL standings. With Pettersson not out, the hope is that he doesn't have to miss extended time because that would not bode well for the team.
If he does have to miss time, it will be next man up for the Canucks, and players such as Aatu Raty and Tom Willander, who were big in their latest game, will need to step up. There is still some time for the Canucks to fix things, and they will have to take things game by game.
If they continue to falter throughout the season, it would not be a surprise if they ended up trading some players, and Pettersson has been in rumors.
