Injury Notes: Pettersson, Lewis, Steen, Kase, Rasmussen, Rantanen

The Vancouver Canucks hope that the wait for star forward Elias Pettersson to return from injury will be over soon. Canucks’ coach Travis Green said Pettersson looked good in practice Saturday on a line with Brock Boeser and Josh Leivo and the team is hopeful that he might play Sunday against Detroit.

“I hope he can go. We’ll see,” said Green.

Green said he will talk to the medical staff about Pettersson’s status before making a decision on whether the 20-year-old will be available Sunday. Pettersson has been a revelation for the Canucks in his rookie campaign as he has 22 goals and 42 points in 39 games.

• Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen reports that while Los Angeles Kings forward Trevor Lewis has not started skating  yet, he’s been told that the veteran is close to getting on the ice by himself. The 32-year-old has been out with a broken foot since Nov. 13, but could be ready to make his way back to the ice. Lewis had surgery on his foot on Dec. 4 and was expected to be out for four to five weeks which is fast approaching.
• NHL.com’s Lou Korac reports that the St. Louis Blues have activated forward Alex Steen of injured reserve Saturday. The veteran forward has missed the past six games for the Blues after suffering a shoulder injury. The 34-year-old has six goals and 15 points in 32 games.
• While it has already been reported that Anaheim Ducks forward Ondrej Kase was placed on injured reserve today, Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register reports that the injury isn’t another concussion, like the one that kept the 23-year-old out of the lineup for the first month of the season. The scribe writes that Kase’s right arm is in a sling, but offers no other details about how long he might be out. Kase has 11 goals and 20 points in 30 games this season.
• Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that Detroit Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen participated in a full practice for the first time since he injured his hamstring. The 19-year-old rookie remains on injured reserve and hasn’t appeared in a game since Jan. 4. Rasmussen has six goals and 13 points in 41 games.
• The Colorado Avalanche lost Mikko Rantanen to a lower-body injury early in the third period Saturday in their game against the Kings, according to The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark. No word on how serious the injury is, but the team was already up 7-0 at the time of the injury, so they could have pulled him for precautionary reasons. However, if the injury was serious, that could be crippling for a struggling Avalanche team as Rantanen is third in the league in points with 71.