Canucks’ Dakota Joshua set to return following 11-game absence due to leg injury

Credit: Dec 21, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Vancouver Canucks center Dakota Joshua (81) in action during the game between the Dallas Stars and the Vancouver Canucks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks will have a bolstered lineup Wednesday against the Nashville Predators as center Dakota Joshua is set to return following an 11-game absence due to a leg injury, reports Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy.

Sidelined since early January, Joshua has been limited to 24 appearances on the season in which he has registered two goals and two assists for four points. The 28-year-old native of Dearborn, Mich., also missed the first 14 games of the 2024-25 campaign as he recovered from surgery related to testicular cancer.

Skating in his third season with the Canucks, Joshua wrapped up the 2023-24 campaign with a career high of 32 points counting 18 goals and 14 assists coming in 63 games. Last June, the Canucks inked Joshua to a four-year extension that carries a $3.25-million annual average value, per PuckPedia.

Originally chosen by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL Draft, Joshua has seen 208 career contests counting stops with the St. Louis Blues and Canucks in which he has collected 35 goals and 33 assists for 68 points. A graduate of the NCAA’s Ohio State Buckeyes, Joshua joined the Blues in 2019 after going unsigned by the Maple Leafs.

Entering Wednesday’s contest against the Predators, the Canucks have won two straight games and sit 22-17-10 on the season and a single point back of the Pacific Division rival Calgary Flames for the final wildcard seed in the Western Conference.

The Canucks have come up short in two prior contests against the Predators this season, most recently a 3-0 home ice loss in early January that saw Vancouver netminder Kevin Lankinen turn aside 16 shots in the losing effort, while the Predators sealed the victory with a pair of empty-net tallies coming in the final 104 seconds of the game.