On Saturday, the team announced that Akito Hirose had been sent down to AHL Abbotsford. While his reassignment wasn’t surprising, there had been uncertainty about his return timeline following a concussion suffered last Saturday against the Calgary Flames. Hirose participated in Friday’s practice at Rogers Arena wearing a regular practice jersey, which indicated he was making progress in his recovery. However, it didn’t appear that he would be fully cleared anytime soon.
With Hirose now out of the equation, it’s more likely that the Canucks can avoid long-term injured reserve to start the season, which has been their preferred approach. There are still concerns regarding injuries to Pius Suter and Conor Garland, both of whom missed Friday’s game due to their injuries.
Suter sustained an upper-body injury on Tuesday and missed practice until Saturday, when he took the ice wearing a non-contact jersey. With the Canucks’ season opener set for Wednesday and the NHL’s roster deadline at 2 p.m. on Monday, this was a positive development. Meanwhile, Garland seemed to have picked up a minor injury during Friday’s morning skate prior to the pre-season finale against Edmonton. He was expected to play against the Oilers but was scratched at the last moment. He didn’t practice on Saturday, but head coach Rick Tocchet reassured that the skilled forward is only day-to-day.
Canucks management aims to avoid using long-term injured reserve, which would mean starting the season with a 21-man roster. This would exclude Aatu Raty and Arshdeep Bains, and only one of Mark Friedman or Noah Juulsen would make the roster at the start. These decisions stem from the fact that both Thatcher Demko (left popliteus muscle) and Dakota Joshua (testicular cancer) are not ready for the season, together representing over $8 million in cap space. Either Demko or Joshua, or perhaps the final year of Tucker Poolman’s contract, could be moved to LTIR, providing some cap relief.
This option would enable the Canucks to keep two additional players on the NHL roster based purely on cap considerations. If by chance Suter and Garland are both unfit to start the season, the Canucks could still dodge LTIR and play Wednesday’s game with one fewer skater. This would allow for the emergency recall of either Raty or Bains for Friday’s game, without incurring a cap hit until Suter or Garland is ready to come back.
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