The Canucks have endured a host of injuries and illnesses this season. In recent weeks, players have been taken out of the lineup by the mumps, the flu, and, on Saturday, food poisoning. Derek Dorsett, Erik Gudbranson, and Anton Rodin are all out for the season, while it’s still uncertain when Loui Eriksson, Brendan Gaunce, and Jack Skille will return to the lineup.
With all that in mind, it comes as no surprise that the Canucks are now the NHL leaders in man games lost with 310. By comparison, the least-injured team, the Washington Capitals, has had players miss just 39 games total this season.
In the last couple games, the Canucks have been forced to play Alex Biega at forward, either because notice of players being ill or injured came too late to call a player up from Utica or because they don’t want to use one of their limited post-trade deadline recalls when Biega can fill in.
But it would be nice to have another player around; the Comets are already pretty depleted. That’s why it’s easy to believe this rumour coming out of Swiss hockey websites that the Canucks have signed former Florida Panther and Calgary Flame Drew Shore.
Here’s the report from Swiss Hockey News:
According to the Zürcher Unterländer, Drew Shore will supposedly leave EHC Kloten with immediate effect and join the Vancouver Canucks for the rest of the season.
Apparently, with Kloten securing their spot in the NLA, Shore is now free to leave and will already fly to Canada on Sunday. However, as this would be a transaction made after the trade deadline, Shore would not be eligible to play in the playoffs for the Canucks.
Drew Shore joined Kloten in summer 2016. In 53 games for the NLA team, he has scored 24 goals and 27 assists. His contract with Kloten expires this spring.
I appreciate the entirely unnecessary thoroughness of noting that Shore won’t be eligible for the playoffs. Hey, that’s something he has in common with the Canucks!
The original article from the Zürcher Unterländer, which is in German, does say that Shore will fly to Canada on Sunday to play the rest of the season for the Vancouver Canucks. Considering he spent the bulk of his North American professional career in the AHL, I have to wonder if he’s actually been signed to play for the Utica Comets, though he has previously suggested he wouldn't want another two-way contract to play in the AHL.
Shore led EHC Kloten in scoring this season in the NLA, Switzerland’s top hockey league, with 24 goals and 48 points in 50 games. That was good for sixth in the league behind the likes of former Edmonton Oilers Mark Arcobello and Robert Nilsson.
The 6’3” centre had a sterling college career and has put up points in the AHL, but never quite clicked in the NHL. Did the Canucks give the 26-year-old another shot to prove himself? We’ll likely find out soon.
UPDATE: We totally did find out soon.
