There was a familiar face on the ice at Rogers Arena on Tuesday morning, as Brock Boeser reportedly hit the ice ahead of the Vancouver Canucks’ morning skate prior to Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers.
Chek TV’s Rick Dhaliwal broke the news this morning on Donnie & Dhali:
“I heard this morning that Brock Boeser was on the ice today. That’s the first time I have heard that Brock hit the ice, Don. He suffered that concussion [from a] Tanner Jeannot headshot on November 7 in Los Angeles. So this is a good step in his rehab from a concussion, step by step.”
During his media availability, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet later confirmed Boeser skated this morning.
Boeser has missed the previous five games due to an upper-body injury after being on the receiving end of a brutal illegal hit to the head from Kings forward Jeannot. During his absence, the Canucks have a 2-3 record, with all five games coming in Rogers Arena. Before his injury, Boeser led all Canucks forwards in scoring with six goals and 11 points in 12 games.
The Minnesota native is coming off a career year, scoring 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games. This is also a contract year for Boeser, as he has just one more year remaining on his three-year $19.95 million contract, which pays him $6.65 million per season. The sniper is due a considerable raise after his success last year and early efforts this season.
Dhaliwal mentioned that defenceman Derek Forbort returned to the ice and gave an update on goaltender Thatcher Demko:
“Thatcher Demko [was] out there this morning. You know, he’s getting closer. I’m not sure that Demko is days away, but if everything goes according to plan, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s back next week. There’s reports he’s getting closer – I can confirm those. He’s taken more and more shots, tons of side to side movement. Hopefully, next week, next Tuesday in Boston would make sense if he does. Hopefully, he returns soon, but he is getting closer. That we know.”
Demko has been out since Game 2 of the Canucks’ opening round against the Nashville Predators of the Stanley Cup playoffs last April. The American netminder finished with a 35-14-2 record, a 2.45 goals against average (GAA), and a .918 save percentage (S%). Last year’s efforts earned him second place in voting for the Vezina trophy as the league’s top goaltender.
Finnish goaltender Kevin Lankinen has done an admirable job of filling in for the Canucks star goaltender, recording an 8-3-2 record with a 2.71 GAA and a .902 S%.
The Canucks play the final game of their home stand tonight against the Rangers before hitting the road for six games, returning to Rogers Arena on December 6th when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. While Boeser is making progress, he won’t make it into the lineup tonight, and neither will JT Miller, who’s taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team.
