On Wednesday afternoon, the Vancouver Canucks held a press conference on the eve of their main training camp in Penticton. Team president Jim Rutherford, general manager Patrik Allvin, and head coach Rick Tocchet took questions from the media.
Allvin started the conference with a statement, announcing some news that wasn't too surprising: not every player on the roster will be available for the start of camp.
Two of those players were known ahead of time. Thatcher Demko's availability for the start of even the regular season has been in question for a couple of weeks now, as his rehab from the knee injury that ended his playoffs has not progressed as quickly as hoped. Dakota Joshua received a scary diagnosis of testicular cancer but fortunately had successful surgery to remove the tumour — he will need time to recover from that surgery.
Allvin did not provide a timeline for Joshua's return, citing concern for his privacy, and said that Demko will address the media on Thursday to answer questions.
In addition to Demko and Joshua missing the start of camp, however, two other players will be absent: Teddy Blueger and Cole McWard. Allvin said that both Blueger and McWard had lower-body injuries that required "minor surgery."
Allvin suggested Blueger is day-to-day.
"Teddy is probably, I would say, a week away," said Allvin.
McWard, on the other hand, is "week-to-week," which means he'll likely be out longer than Blueger.
Blueger and Joshua are two-thirds of the Canucks' projected third line with Conor Garland. Their absence raises the question of where Garland will play if they don't return in time for the start of the season and how the Canucks will structure their lines until they return.
As for McWard, he was going to be hard-pressed to make the Canucks' lineup. Five of the eight defencemen projected to make the opening-night roster are right-shot defencemen: Filip Hronek, Tyler Myers, Vincent Desharnais, Noah Juulsen, and Mark Friedman.
Still, missing the start of camp won't help McWard's campaign to be a go-to call-up for the Canucks in case of injury.
