Roussel’s recovery hits bump in the road
As the Vancouver Canucks prepared for Thursday’s pre-season game against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena, there were a few items of note.
After Thursday ’s morning skate, coach Travis Green said Antoine Roussel has had to step back from his workouts. The 28-year-old forward, who played in Dallas last year, didn’t skate Thursday and Green said it’s expected he’ll take a couple days off, a sign his concussion symptoms aren’t improving as expected.
“Can’t rush something like this. It’s not a bone bruise, it’s a serious subject and rightfully so,” he said. “It’s not an injury that you can put a timeline on.”
Roussel suffered a concussion almost a month ago and had been skating on his own.
Green also said veteran winger Loui Eriksson is week to week with a bone bruise in his leg, presumably the result of blocking a shot in Tuesday ’s game against Edmonton.
POWERING UP
The power-play unit everyone has been waiting to see is finally here. Brock Boeser on one faceoff dot. Elias Pettersson on the other.
It’s an attacking look the likes of which hasn’t been seen at Rogers Arena since the days of Pavel Bure and Alexander Mogilny.
The Canucks hope it will lead to goals galore. And even if the snipers get their shooting lanes taken away, Bo Horvat in front of the net and Sven Baertschi in the slot are no slouches either.
“They might try to be super aggressive on them, but if they do, it’s going to open up the low play. A power play, you should be able to (create a) two-on-one every single time you get the puck,” said defenceman Ben Hutton, the point man on the unit so far.
ROSTER RUMINATIONS
The possible absences of Roussel and Eriksson opens a couple more doors. With Brendan Gaunce, Darren Archibald, Nikolay Goldobin, Brendan Leipsic, Tanner Kero and Reid Boucher requiring waivers to be sent to the AHL, will one or two benefit?