At times, the pain in Brandon Sutter’s back felt like a knife had been stuck and twisted into it.
“I felt pretty crappy for about two weeks there,” Sutter said Thursday after the Vancouver Canucks’ morning skate, and before their evening home game against the Arizona Coyotes ( 7 p.m., SNETP TV, SNET 650AM).
Sutter has been out of the lineup for the past four weeks — until now the centre’s injury was listed as only “upper-body.”
He was close to returning last week, he implied, but with the NHL team leaving for a five-game road trip Sutter stayed back in Vancouver to work one-on-one with skills coach Glenn Carnegie.
“I made sure I banked like a week of feeling good before I jumped back into it,” he said. “It’s tough, you want to get back in but you’ve got to be smart about it.”
It wasn’t until he started testing his back in on-ice workouts about a week before that when he started to feel real relief.
“Actually on the ice I felt better than I did walking around or sitting — sitting was terrible — but seems like we’re getting back into where I want to be. I’m feeling good now.”
This latest injury popped up just three games into Sutter’s return from a groin strain, something that wasn’t directly related to his current issue. But given how connected everything is in one’s legs, back and abdomen, a link can’t be completely dismissed, he admitted.
“When you’re a young guy, you don’t feel like you have to deal with any of that stuff but then all of a sudden, a couple things start breaking down and you realize you have maybe certain weaknesses in your body you didn’t know you had.
“And for me it’s always been kind of in that core, you know pelvis area stuff. This was more of a back thing but it all is kind of related.”
But his back seems settled now and he’s regained his strength. And yes, he’s relieved.
Looking back and looking forward
Even though most of the Canucks are off next week for the NHL All-Star break, the playoff hunt is now on their minds.
“We’ve already been in that mindset,” defenceman Troy Stecher said. After Thursday’s crucial divisional game against the Coyotes, the Canucks will host the San Jose Sharks on Saturday before getting more than a week off.
The Canucks’ losses last week to the Tampa Bay Lightning (9-2) and Florida Panthers (5-2) were even more disappointing, given that context.
“Obviously the start to the road trip was quite embarrassing and not the way we want to play, but in saying that I think it showed a lot of maturity in our group to rebound and get back to our winning ways right away,” Stecher said.
“We didn’t dwell on it. It just shows the maturity of our group in trying to become a better team and understanding that every day is a new day to work on something new. We obviously would have liked to get a point in Winnipeg (Canucks lost 4-0 on Tuesday) to make it a .500 trip but we’re still in a good spot and now I gotta take care of home.”
Tocchet’s Kessel dig
Coyotes’ coach Rick Tocchet was named Thursday as Gerard Gallant’s replacement as the Pacific Division’s All-Star Game coach, following Gallant’s dismissal by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper was originally selected to the game as the Coyotes’ representative, but is still out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. Tocchet being selected means Arizona will now have a representative in St. Louis for the Jan. 25 3-on-3 exhibition.
“It’s a weird situation. You know Spuddy going it’s … he deserves to be behind the bench,” Tocchet said, referring to Gallant. “But it’s good to represent the Coyotes. Kemps can’t go, I think we need somebody there. I wish somebody had some skates with them they could play in it but this is the next best thing.”
Then he brought the house down with a cutting line about one of his star wingers. Phil Kessel, it seems, has been ribbing his coach a bit about the late-in-the-day honour.
Kessel’s sister Amanda has been picked to play in the women’s game that will be featured as part of the festivities in St. Louis.
“I might try to coach the women’s team, so that there’s one Kessel who will listen to me,” Tocchet quipped, to one of the bigger laughs heard this season at Rogers Arena.
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