The Vancouver Canucks placed Filip Chytil on injured reserve Friday afternoon, retroactive to Thursday night's exhibition loss to Edmonton.
The timing stings. Chytil logged just 4:54 of ice time in that 2-1 defeat, and one shot on goal was all he had to show for it.
No injury detail came with the announcement. The club simply made it official, and the retroactive date points straight back to that game.
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And the calendar is no help. Vancouver opens the regular season Tuesday in Edmonton, then turns around and hosts the Oilers again Thursday.
For Manny Malhotra, this is a real headache. A head coach in his first training camp wants his forward group settled before puck drop, not reshuffled with four days to go.
The preseason hasn't offered much comfort either. The Canucks have dropped three straight, and Seattle rolls into town Saturday having won three in a row.
Thursday's loss captured the problem in miniature. Jake DeBrusk put seven shots on goal and still walked out of the building empty-handed.
Oilers opener arrives with Vancouver still searching for goals
The lone goal came on the power play. Linus Karlsson finished it, with Zeev Buium and Jonathan Lekkerimaki picking up the helpers.
Even strength? Nothing. Tristan Jarry turned aside 25 of 26 shots for the Oilers, and Vancouver never found a second goal.
That's exactly where losing a forward hurts. When a team can't beat a goalie at five-on-five, every body who can create a scoring chance matters.
Elias Pettersson skated 20:48 on Thursday and finished without a point.
Marco Rossi wasn't far behind at 19:23, and he went minus-1. The forwards getting the heaviest minutes haven't started driving play yet.
Pettersson's $11,600,000 cap hit makes that quiet night louder. Nobody needs a scoring title in September, but Vancouver does need proof the engine turns over.
Losing a forward four days before opening night is like a restaurant losing a line cook the Friday before a sold-out weekend. Everyone works a longer shift, and the mistakes pile up fast.
Nikita Tolopilo took the loss in net, stopping 12 of 14 shots over 40 minutes of work.
Edmonton, meanwhile, has won three straight. Isaac Howard piled up a goal, an assist and seven shots against Vancouver, while Quinn Hutson scored the winner.
So who takes those shifts Tuesday in Edmonton? Braeden Cootes skated 11:14 on Thursday, and Malhotra has four days to decide whether that number grows.
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Should Manny Malhotra hand Braeden Cootes a bigger role for the opener in Edmonton?
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