Luke Schenn of the Vancouver Canucks will miss Thursday night’s tilt against the New York Islanders with an upper-body injury, the team confirmed. Schenn, who usually partners Quinn Hughes on Vancouver’s top pair, is listed as day-to-day.
While the news comes as a blow on the ice for the Canucks, the team will hope that Schenn’s health will not affect his status as a trade target before the March 3 deadline. Recent reports indicated the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are among the teams monitoring Schenn, whose expiring contract costs just $850,000 against the salary cap.
Schenn, 33, is enjoying something of a late-career resurgence alongside Hughes. The veteran is second on the Canucks in rating (+8) and averages more than 17 minutes of ice time per game. Through 51 games, Schenn has 18 points, the second-most of any season in his career.
This is Schenn’s second straight season in Vancouver after serving as the seventh defenseman during the Lightning’s consecutive Stanley Cup victories. Schenn had previously played for Vancouver during the 2018-19 season. Schenn has played more than 900 career games with the Maple Leafs, Flyers, Kings, Coyotes, Canucks and Lightning. Time will tell if the journeyman suits up in yet another city before the season ends.
Vancouver is 2-2-1 since Rick Tocchet took over for the dismissed Bruce Boudreau on Jan. 22. The move to go without an interim coach and transition directly from Boudreau to Tocchet was seen as bizarre by some.
The Canucks have 44 points on the season, the fifth-worst total in a weak Western Conference. After they play the Islanders, the Canucks will round out their four-game road trip in Detroit on Saturday afternoon.
Thursday’s game will be the first that Schenn has missed this season.
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