The Vancouver Canucks already lost Elias Pettersson for a week with a concussion, but that won’t be the only player they’re missing for the next while. Jay Beagle will be out for six weeks after suffering a broken forearm this weekend. Beagle blocked a Mike Hoffman blast from the point late in the game against the Florida Panthers, and won’t be able to help the Canucks as they look to stay competitive in the early going.
Beagle, 32, was one of the free agents that the Canucks decided to sign this offseason to insulate their young lineup and provide some experience to the roster. Given a four-year contract, many questioned if he would be able to remain effective after leaving a specific role he’d served in with the Washington Capitals. Beagle had been a defense and faceoff specialist in Washington, suiting up behind Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller as part of one of the deepest center groups in the league. Now in Vancouver he had been asked to do little more than that through the first five games, and had incredibly seen almost exclusively (92.6%) defensive zone starts. That role will now have to go to someone else while Beagle heals.
The team will also be losing their prime penalty killing forward, as Beagle had seen almost five minutes a night short handed through five games. Though not asked for much offense, Beagle had been showing he could at least be relied upon for what the Canucks wanted out of him, something they’ll need to find elsewhere now. A team that has gotten off to a good start will need other players to step up in the absence of their injured forwards and hopefully keep the Vancouver train rolling towards playoff contention.