Conor Garland not travelling with Canucks for three-game road trip: report

The Vancouver Canucks‘ injury woes have gone from bad to worse.

According to Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team, Conor Garland won’t travel with the Canucks for their upcoming road trip after exiting Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers. Late in the first period, Garland was on the receiving end of a booming hit from Sam Carrick, and while he played some shifts in the second period, he did not return for the third period. Post game, head coach Adam Foote said that Garland was still being evaluated. Here’s what Dhaliwal had to say:

“The early word is — and it’s early — I’m hearing that Conor is not serious but that he’s most likely not going on this road trip,” Dhaliwal said. “That’s a big hit and he didn’t come back for the third. That’s a heavy set guy nailing him… I’m definitely hearing [that he’s] not going on a road trip. Early [word is] not serious, but obviously serious enough that he’s not going on the road trip.”

Garland has been the Canucks’ best forward this season, and had 11 points in 10 games prior to last night’s game.

“Yeah, I mean that’s a guy you can’t really replace,” said Garland’s teammate, Kiefer Sherwood, post game. “He’s a big part of our team in all situations. Hoping he’s okay and we’ll see. Like I said, we got to pull the rope and unite and just stick together as a team and, you know, kind of win as a committee.”

That committee seems to be getting smaller and smaller, as the Canucks are now without Garland, Lekkerimäki, Chytil, Blueger, Forbort, Mancini, and of course, captain Quinn Hughes as well. The battered Canucks embark on a three-game road trip that features stops in St. Louis (Thursday), Minnesota (Saturday), and Nashville (Monday). Prior to the trip, the Canucks added Mackenzie MacEachern to their roster, sending Nils Aman down to AHL Abbotsford.