The Canucks are not sharing a whole lot of information on Roberto Luongo's injury status.
So, what exactly does "week-to-week" mean?
It all seems a little strange, the act that played out in Vancouver Monday around goaltender, captain, and undisputed Canucks meal ticket Roberto Luongo.
There was that MRI that was supposed to happen on Sunday. But the Canucks let it slide until Monday because, well, he’s only the most important player they have.
So what was the hurry?
"He’s having his MRI today and we’ll know later on during the day," head coach Alain Vigneault proclaimed after the morning skate on Monday, as if some great new medical procedure were being undertaken. "He met our doctors yesterday and they suggested he do an MRI, and that’s what we’re going to do."
As obvious as that course of action might seem, Canucks GM Mike Gillis was every bit that obtuse when he declared prior to the evening face off that the time frame on Luongo’s injury would be "week-to-week."
And Gary Bettman wonders why nobody bets the National Hockey League.
We suppose the Canucks could have fallen back on "lower-body injury." And they might have, had word not leaked during the game Saturday in Pittsburgh that it was a groin.
But "week-to-week?"
That falls somewhere between, "We don’t really know," and, "We have a pretty good idea how long he’ll be out, but why on earth would we tell you?"
Luongo was leaning towards the former when he spoke with reporters before the game.
"We don’t know," he admitted, when asked how long the pulled groin might take to heal. "It is the first time I have had an injury like this. I will be working hard with the training staff and the medical guys, try to get it back as soon as possible. But I really don’t know how long it is going to take."
Even though the Montreal publication La Presse was already reporting Monday afternoon that Luongo would miss four or five weeks, the way the Canucks are handling this so far makes that time frame seem like a best-case scenario.
"You never know, it could be less than five weeks, but I do not think it is three weeks," said Luongo’s agent, Gilles Lupien.
The good news is that Luongo does not require surgery. A goalie coming off a pulled groin is bad enough. Groin surgery can end a season.
I’ll be honest: I didn’t like the Vancouver Canucks much this season. I didn’t have Vancouver as a playoff team, and so far, I’ve been dead wrong.
Vancouver just carded consecutive road wins over the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins, and with Curtis Sanford in net Monday night and the pall of Luongo’s injury hanging over GM Place, the Canucks scored late in regulation and then scored a dramatic overtime win over the best team in the NHL.
Sanford was outstanding, and the Canucks just as impressive in withstanding the Detroit barrage, then giving some back of their own.
It has to be said when you’re talking about Vancouver: they’ve seldom been a team that can overcome a great deal of adversity, or really dig in late in the season when games begin to turn towards playoff-style hockey. Just because they are hot in November doesn’t change that trait.
But through 22 games the Canucks are fifth in the league standings, and third overall with a 2.29 team goals against average. They’re 8-0-2 in their last 10, and now 14-6-2 just past the quarter pole.
A month ago, losing Roberto Luongo long-term might have made an instant write-off of the Canucks.
Now, we’ve got to admit. We’re not quite as sure that this injury will bury the Canucks as we would have been a month ago.