The Vancouver Canucks will be missing a top-pairing defenceman for the next two months.
On Tuesday, the Canucks announced that Filip Hronek will be out for "approximately eight weeks."
That timeline makes sense for a significant shoulder separation, which is the leading theory for the injury suffered by Hronek at the end of the Canucks' game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 27. Hronek was shoved into the boards by Penguins defenceman Jack St. Ivany with less than a minute remaining in the game. Hronek fell awkwardly into the boards and immediately went to the bench and down the tunnel to the Canucks' room.
Thankfully, Hronek's assumed shoulder injury won't require surgery.
But Hronek evidently had more going on than just that upper-body injury. The Canucks' statement from general manager Patrik Allvin said that Hronek "underwent a successful lower-body procedure."
That suggests Hronek was already dealing with a lower-body injury when he suffered his upper-body injury. Since the latter injury was already going to keep Hronek out of the Canucks' lineup for a significant amount of time, Hronek and the Canucks decided to deal with the lower-body injury at the same time because the surgery had a shorter recovery time.
The upside of this is that Hronek can mend both injuries simultaneously and should be fully healthy when he returns. The downside is that recuperating from a procedure on his lower body means that Hronek might not be able to keep exercising in the same way if he was only dealing with an upper-body injury.
Frequently, players who are dealing with an upper-body injury will be able to keep skating and exercising to keep up their conditioning as they recover. Dealing with a lower-body injury at the same time means that Hronek will have to ramp up his conditioning later on in his recovery period.
Knowing the timeline for Hronek gives the Canucks some clarity moving forward. The big question is whether they will look to make a trade for a defenceman in the near future or if they will try to work with the defence corps they already have in place.
Quinn Hughes' ice time has spiked in recent games to a level that might not be sustainable, while the team has struggled to find second and third defence pairs that can help keep Hughes' ice time at a more reasonable level.
