In today’s NHL rumors rundown, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin provided an update on the health of superstar Kirill Kaprizov, and it wasn’t positive. Moving to the Vancouver Canucks, there is some injury news surrounding Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, as well as trade rumors developing around Brock Boeser. Finishing off, there has been an update on the health of Evander Kane and what that could mean for the Edmonton Oilers.
Kaprizov Set to Miss More Time Than Anticipated
Since the calendar flipped over to 2025, the Wild’s superstar Kaprizov has played just three games. As the NHL was heading into the holiday break in December, Kaprizov was at the forefront of Hart Trophy conversations, and dominating the league. He was putting together a career year, but injuries got in the way of that.
With 23 goals and 50 points in the first 34 points of the season, he was a huge part of the success the Wild have had this season. He missed 12 games with a lower-body injury, returned for three games at the end of January, and on Jan. 28, it was announced that he had surgery and would miss a minimum of four weeks. While we are just a few days away from what was said to be the minimum amount of time, Guerin released an update on Kaprizov via KFAN, and stated “We think he is going to be out longer than we originally thought. He’s just recovering now and we will see how it turns out.”.
The Wild still have a pretty comfortable hold on a playoff spot, and unless there is a catastrophic collapse, they should be in. Considering the start to the season they had, seeing them in the third spot in the Central Division and just two points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche, who are in a wild card position, it is a bit unsettling.
Pettersson & Hughes Listed as Day-to-Day
The Canucks held a practice on Feb. 21, and shortly after beginning, both Pettersson and Hughes left the ice. For a Canucks team that has struggled immensely this season, that is far from the news they were hoping for. Iain McIntyre reported that according to head coach Rick Tocchet, Pettersson is dealing with an injury he got at the 4 Nations Face-Off, and it doesn’t appear that Hughes will be ready for their first game after the break against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Related: Who Is the NHL’s Best All-Around Defenseman: Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes?
Pettersson struggled throughout the tournament, and whether or not the injury he has had anything to do with that is unknown. In the final game for Sweden, and their only win of the tournament, Pettersson was the only forward to play under 10 minutes, and in that time, he didn’t record any points, hits, shots, or blocks.
As for Hughes, all of the talk about him joining the American team for the championship game was squashed when it was revealed that he wasn’t even medically cleared to play. Going into the tournament, it seemed like a toss-up if he would participate, which gave hope to Canucks fans and many assumed he was just banged up and would be ready after the tournament. Of course, here we are ready to get back to NHL action, and that isn’t the case. It shouldn’t be much longer for Hughes, though, which is great news.
Canucks Have a Decision to Make on Boeser
The Canucks’ biggest pending free agent, Boeser, could be on the move by the trade deadline. Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson reported that “both Brock Boeser and the Canucks understand what each side wants… and it’s not the same thing at this point.”. That indicates that a trade could be possible.
Boeser had the best season of his career last year, scoring 40 goals and 73 points. He is on pace to have the second best season of his career, and should score 30 goals and 60 points by the end of the season. Boeser is an attractive asset for many teams looking to make a push into the playoffs. He has a great shot, plays smart hockey, and has proven that he can perform in the playoffs with seven goals and 12 points in 12 playoff games last season.
In the offseason, it seemed that the Canucks and Boeser were on the same page about an extension, and were going to see how this year played out. On one hand, the Canucks didn’t want to give a huge extension based on one season, but Boeser wanted to prove it wasn’t a one-time thing. It made sense for both to enter the season without a deal in place, but now it could cost the Canucks their top winger.
Kane Working Toward Return to Lineup
Kane has dealt with a number of injuries this season that has kept him out of the lineup the whole time. Last season, he scored 24 goals and was a good middle-six option for the Oilers. At the start of this season, it was announced that he wasn’t going to start the year with the team, and he had abdominal surgery to repair two hernias, two abdominal tears, and both abductors. The timeline wasn’t exact, but the anticipated return would be somewhere between February and March.
On Jan. 10, it was announced that Kane also had a knee surgery, but the good news was that the recovery timeline for that fell within the original timeline for the abdominal surgery, and shouldn’t be another setback. Of course, when dealing with both of those things, the skating and playing speed will start to slip away, so even after returning to the ice, it will take some time to get back.
Jason Gregor reported that Kane has resumed skating over the past few days, and was at about a 60 percent pace. That is great news for Kane and the Oilers, and Gregor continues his post by saying that the hope right now is that he is ready for the playoffs. Skating at 60 percent is a big development for him, but there is also a lot to catch up on.
