VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks’ early-season injury woes are beginning to ease as another body returns to the lineup.
Winger Conor Garland was set to return to play Wednesday when the Canucks (7-7-0) host the Chicago Blackhawks.
“That’s a huge boost,” assistant coach Brett McLean said after morning skate. “Plan is for him to play tonight, and his energy, his ability to strip pucks and hold pucks in the offensive zone, should be huge for our group coming off that road trip.”
Garland missed three games after getting levelled by Rangers forward Sam Carrick in Vancouver’s 2-0 loss to New York on Oct. 28. Carrick hit the feisty forward so hard his helmet went flying.
He leads the Canucks in points early in the campaign, with three goals and eight assists across 11 appearances.
Without Garland, Vancouver went 2-1 on a three-game road swing through St. Louis, Minnesota and Nashville, with Kiefer Sherwood netting a hat trick in a 5-4 shootout win over the Blues and Brock Boeser scoring with two seconds left in overtime to give the visitors a 5-4 win over the Predators.
“Guys stepped up at big times, and obviously Woody and Bess specifically. So it was good. It was a good trip,” Garland said.
Vancouver got another key piece back on Monday when captain Quinn Hughes played in Nashville after missing four games with a lower-body ailment.
The star defenceman has one goal and six assists over 10 games this season, and is averaging a league-high 26:46 in ice time.
Asked whether the high minutes are sustainable, Hughes said he simply wants to be on the ice.
“Ask all the coaches, I’ve always wanted to play more and more and more,” he said. “But it’s tough, especially with the schedule and how condensed everything is. You want to be able to get through the season.
“So for me, I’m going to bring my best every game, and wherever that takes me, that takes me.”
With Garland’s return Wednesday, five Canucks players remain on injured reserve, including forwards Nils Hoglander, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil, and defencemen Derek Forbort and Victor Mancini.
Lekkerimaki and Blueger are both expected to practice in non-contact jerseys “soon,” McLean said.
The long list of absences has showcased Vancouver’s resilience, he added.
“We just keep battling as a group. We’re in every single game,” McLean said. “So just really proud of our group, how we’re in every game, we battle right to the end, and we expect to continue that.”
As the team returns to health, there’s a renewed emphasis on collecting points instead of simply weathering the plague of injuries.
Wednesday marks the beginning of a three-game homestand for the Canucks, and McLean said it’s important the group starts picking up points.
“We feel like if we can string some wins together here, that would be great,” he said.
“Getting those big players back for us is huge when our guys have done such a good job keeping us .500 here. If we can really start to build off of that now and put some points in the bank, that could be really good for us here moving into the middle part of the season.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2025.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
