The Vancouver Canucks' Injury Filled season Just Got a Whole Lot More Complicated After Update

While the Vancouver Canucks have been dealing with countless injuries to forwards and defenseman to start the season, things were going quite well for the organization in October in the goaltending department.

However, as the calendar flipped to November things went off the rails as while he might not be dealing with an injury, at least not the Canucks have publicly announced, Thatcher Demko was sidelined this weekend for rest & maintenance reasons, while Jiri Patera was called up from the American Hockey League.

This caused a bit of a trickle down effect in the organization as injuries also popped up in the American Hockey League too, with Jonathan Lemieux and Aku Koskenvuo being called up from ECHL Kalamazoo, who was then forced to go onto the free agent market to bring in a former NCAA netminder.

In a post on social media on Saturday, Dave Hall of Canucks Army shared that he's hearing Vancouver Canucks prospect Nikita Tolopilo is dealing with a bit of a groin injury, but could be back between the pipes in a week.

Tolopilo, a native of Minsk, Belarus, played a big role during the regular season for Abbotsford last year, setting them up for a run towards their first-ever Calder Cup title.

The 25-year-old finished the 2024-25 season with a 20-14-2 record in 36 games along with 2.66 goals against average, a .902 save percentage and four shutouts.

With Arturs Silovs no longer part of the organization, it'll be up to Nikita Tolopilo, Jiri Patera and Ty Young to help push Abbotsford back to the Calder Cup Playoffs and so far, it's been a tough task as they currently sit last in the Pacific Division and Western Conference with a 2-8-2 record through 12 games.

Tolopilo could return to game action as soon as Saturday, if his recovery trends in the right direction, with Abbotsford kicking off a six-game road trip with a stop in Southern California against the San Diego Gulls.