Canucks’ Brock Boeser out day-to-day with upper-body injury

Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet announced that forward Brock Boeser will be out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Boeser was on the receiving end of an illegal hit to the head from Los Angeles Kings forward Tanner Jeannot last week. Jeannot was subsequently suspended three games for the hit.

Boeser was able to get up on his own and was escorted off the ice by Canucks medical personnel. The Canucks later announced that Boeser would not return to the game.

Boeser has tallied six goals and five assists for 11 points in 12 games to start the season.

During the 2023-24 campaign, the Burnsville, Minnesota native racked up a career high 40 goals and 73 points in 81 games. Boeser then added seven goals and 12 points in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff contests before he was held out of the lineup due to blood clotting issues.

Throughout his career, Boeser has appeared in 491 career games and has registered 185 goals and 210 assists for 395 points. The 27-year-old is in the final year of his three-year, $19,950,000 contract he signed in July 2022. Boeser’s contract has a cap hit of $6.65 million per season.

The Canucks recalled Jonathan Lekkerimäki from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Abbotsford Canucks over the weekend. The 20-year-old was originally selected No. 15 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft by Vancouver and made his way over to North America at the end of last season. Lekkerimäki made his AHL debut and appeared in six games tallying two points in that frame.

Lekkerimäki has notched five goals and two assists for seven points in seven AHL games this season.

The Canucks are slated to face the Calgary Flames on Nov. 12, where Lekkerimäki could make his highly anticipated NHL debut.