Canucks injury updates: Hughes dealing with groin injury, Garland, Blueger could be back next week

The injury bug continues to plague the Vancouver Canucks, but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel for a few of the club’s injured players. On Thursday, Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team reported updates on captain Quinn Hughes, along with forwards Conor Garland and Teddy Blueger.

On Hughes, Dhaliwal reports that the injury that’s held him out is a groin injury. Last season, Hughes dealt with an oblique injury down the homestretch of the regular season. As we learned from Canucks GM Patrik Allvin on Wednesday (via Patrick Johnston), Hughes did not make the trip to St. Louis, but the club is hopeful that he might be able to join them in either Minnesota or Nashville.

“Obviously, he’s missed two games, that’s the last guy in the world you want out of your lineup because he’s the best player, he’s got a groin injury,” Dhaliwal said. “But it is close. I’m told it’s a groin injury but he’s close. Like Patrik Allvin said yesterday, he could hop on a plane and go join them either in Minnesota or Nashville.”

Hughes’ injury has now caused him to miss the past two games. He logged 26:25 of ice time in the last game he suited up for, a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, but was then out of the lineup for both the Canucks’ 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday and their 2-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday.

The Canucks have dealt with a significant number of injuries early on in the season. Their blue line alone has seen Guillaume Brisebois, Derek Forbort, and Victor Mancini go down with injuries, in addition to Hughes, as well as Nils Höglander, Teddy Blueger, Filip Chytil, Conor Garland, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki up front. As a result, 29 different players have already dressed for the Canucks early on in the season.

Dhaliwal also offered updates on Conor Garland and Teddy Blueger.

“Conor Garland, I’m starting to feel more [it’s] one week for Garland. And Teddy Blueger could be back next week. It looks like they could get some of the walking wounded back.”

Garland didn’t return for the third period of the Canucks’ 2-0 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday, and Blueger has been out since the Canucks’ 4-3 loss to the Washington Capitals back on October 19th.