Canucks’ Boeser will not return after exiting with injury vs. Blues

Boeser was injured on the opening shift of the game. Elias Pettersson (F) passes the puck to Elias Pettersson (D), who takes a quick snapshot from the point that hits Boeser directly in the mid-section.

The Canucks assistant captain laid on the ice in obvious pain for some time before both Pettersson’s helped him to the bench just 33 seconds into the game.

Injuries keep adding up for the Canucks. If Boeser is to miss time, he will join Quinn Hughes, Conor Garland, Filip Chytil, Nils Höglander, Teddy Blueger, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Derek Forbort and Victor Mancini on the Canucks injured list.

Boeser missed two games earlier this season due to personal reasons. It later came out that he left the team to spend time with his dog before he passed away.

Through nine games this season, the 28-year-old has four goals and two assists for six points with a minus-two rating while averaging 19:53 minutes of average ice time. Boeser began tonight’s game skating on the top line with Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson, taking Garland’s spot who was injured after taking a big open ice hit from Sam Carrick last game against the New York Rangers.

With Boeser being ruled out, Head Coach Adam Foote has put his lines in a blender, with Kiefer Sherwood seeing the most time in Boeser’s spot on the top line. Sherwood has scored both of the Canucks’ goals against the Blues in this matchup.

Earlier on Thursday, Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal said Hughes could return to the team at some point on this three game road trip, either against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday or the Nashville Predators on Monday. He also mentioned that Garland and Blueger would likely be out until sometime next week.

We’ll wait to hear from Foote postgame for an update on Boeser.