Season likely at end for Boeser
Star rookie collided with opponent, fell into open gate
Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser will likely miss the remainder of the NHL season after the team said he will be out four to six weeks with a back injury.
The star rookie left Rogers Arena on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital after a collision in the Canucks’ 4-3 overtime win over the New York Islanders on Monday.
Boeser fell into an open gate at the players bench after trying to make a hit on Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck.
The Canucks said Tuesday that was diagnosed with a soft-tissue injury and a nonstructural, nondisplaced fracture of a transverse process in his lower back.
The transverse process is a bony projection off side of a vertebra that serves as a point for ligament attachment.
Each vertebrae has a transverse process on each side.
The 21-year-old Boeser leads all NHL rookies with 29 goals and is second among rookies with 55 points in 62 games.
DEVILS, OILERS IN SWEDEN; PANTHERS, JETS IN FINLAND NEW YORK — Taylor Hall and the New Jersey Devils will face off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to open the regular season in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Oct. 6 as part of the NHL’s Global Series.
In the second year of regular games in Europe, the Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets will also play Nov. 1 and 2 in Helsinki.
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced the games and two exhibitions Tuesday.
Homegrown star Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers will face Kolner Haie in Cologne on Oct. 3.
In addition to the games in Europe, NHL is expected to again play exhibition games in China after going there with the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks last year.
OILERS SIGN JUNIOR STAR OSTAP SAFIN FOR 3 YEARS EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers have signed forward Ostap Safin to a three-year entry-level contract.
Safin, 19, has appeared in 56 games with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Saint John Sea Dogs this season, posting 53 points (24 goals, 29 assists) and 29 penalty minutes.
The six-foot-five, 191-pound forward leads Saint John in points, goals and assists in his first season in the QMJHL.
Safin, from Prague, appeared in seven games for the Czech Republic at the 2018 world junior hockey championship, recording one goal, two assists and six penalty minutes.
Safin was selected by the Oilers in the fourth round, 115th overall in the 2017 NHL Draft. JONATHAN CHEECHOO RETIRES FROM HOCKEY SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jonathan Cheechoo has retired from hockey after playing seven NHL seasons and finishing with four years in Russia’s Kontinental league.
He played six seasons with the San Jose Sharks, including 200506 when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy for leading the league with 56 goals.
A member of the Cree First Nations who grew up more than 500 miles north of Toronto in Moose Factory, Ont., Cheechoo played 501 regular-season and 59 playoff games with the Sharks and Ottawa Senators. He had 170 goals and 135 assists for 305 points in his career and will be recognized by the Sharks on March 24 when they host the Calgary Flames.
Cheechoo retires eighth on San Jose’s all-time scoring list and sixth in goals, while his nine hat tricks are still the most in franchise history.