VANCOUVER – As many musical toddlers and their parents can tell you, the back bone’s connected to the hip bone, and the hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone.
And interwoven through them are “core” muscles, including the adductor that Brock Boeser strained in October while making his initial return from a serious back injury that ended his rookie National Hockey League season last March.
Boeser broke a bony spur attached to his L4 vertebrae when propelled backwards by New York Islander Cal Clutterbuck into the frame of the Canucks’ bench door last March 5.
A month later, Boeser told Sportsnet he was “lucky” because the incident could have ended the 21-year-old winger’s career.
“Right after, when I was going to the hospital, that’s the thoughts you have because I was in so much pain,” Boeser said. “It was definitely scary. (But) the first thing I did when I was laying there on the ice was move my toes and legs. Then I could relax a little bit. I knew something was wrong; I just didn’t know what it was. It was still pretty scary.”
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That injury, and another to his wrist that required injections and immobilization last spring, is what Boeser was returning from when he hurt his groin during an Oct. 18 game in Winnipeg.
The Minnesotan laboured through two more games before leaving the lineup. That was a small red flag. Air-raid sirens fully blared two weeks later when, after missing two games and playing four, Boeser was again forced out of the lineup before Vancouver’s game in Detroit on Nov. 6.
Because the adductor muscle is connected to the hip bone and the hip bone is connected to the back bone.
Other than the possibility of bitumen spilling from a ruptured pipeline on its way across British Columbia, the next biggest fear on the West Coast is that something terrible might happen to Boeser or Elias Pettersson, building blocks for whatever the Canucks are going to become.
After an unsettling absence during which the team went 2-7-2 and toppled from the top of the Pacific Division, Boeser reappeared for Monday’s practice at Rogers Arena and hoped to play in Tuesday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Boeser skated on a line with Nikolay Goldobin and Pettersson, the runaway early favourite to be named the NHL’s top rookie this season. The last time they played together, the Canucks beat the Colorado Avalanche 7-6 on Nov. 2 and Boeser’s two goals and two assists were eclipsed only by Pettersson’s five-point night.
The idea of Boeser and Pettersson reuniting is exciting, especially for the players. But what the Canucks really need is for Boeser to finally be healthy and able to skate and shoot like last season when he scored 29 goals in 62 games before Clutterbuck’s hit.
“It was super hard coming back [from the back injury],” Boeser said when asked about the mental strain he has endured. “Even in the summer, people maybe thought it would be easy coming back. But it’s not easy coming back from an injury like that. It was just so traumatic. I did everything I could to get back. And then to miss some time this year, it’s frustrating. I’m really excited to get back out there … and play like I did last year. Obviously, I didn’t feel like myself those first few games.
“I feel a lot better than I did before this injury. I feel better out on the ice – feeling and shooting the puck better, moving better. I’m really excited to get back out there with Petey and Goldie.”
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Boeser insisted Monday, as the Canucks have all along, that this was strictly a groin strain unrelated to last season’s back injury. Abdominal specialists confirmed this when Boeser was sent home from a six-game road trip on Nov. 8. But it was hoped he might require only a few days of rest and rehab, and instead he missed 11 games.
Having played half of the Canucks’ 26 games, Boeser has four goals and 11 points. The production becomes far less impressive if you subtract his masterful performance against the Avalanche.
While his groin and back injuries may not be physically connected, it doesn’t mean they’re not related.
Boeser was unable to fully start his off-season training until July, and was obviously behind teammates when training camp opened in September. Struggling to catch up, literally and figuratively, he then strained an adductor in his groin area.
“Obviously, it was bothering me skating,” he said. “We all made the decision that we’d rather have me 100 per cent.
“We had to see a few doctors to make sure what the problem was and what was causing the problem. I had a feeling nothing was going to require surgery, so it was just a matter of fixing the injury and getting all the pain to go away.”
While the Canucks were playing three games in four nights in California last week, extending their losing streak to 0-7-1 before beating the Kings 4-2 on Saturday, Boeser skated daily with skills coach Glenn Carnegie in Vancouver.
“As a coach, when a player is hurt, you can’t dwell on it,” head coach Travis Green said Monday. “You hope for the best and hope he’s not long-term. And it’s been a little while; it hasn’t been like a short injury. But I try not to worry about it and when they’re back, they’re back. And you hope they’re back as soon as they can be.”
And then you pray they stay healthy.
