Ryan Johnson placed on injured reserve – What does this mean for Grabner?
Entry posted by Opmac
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<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/08/aug1809_Johnson02_rr.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed">Rogers Sportsnet Canucks game host @sportsnetmurph is reporting center Ryan Johnson has been placed on injured reserve, which means his foot injury will keep him out of the lineup for at least one week. This brings the Canucks active roster down from the maximum of 23 to 22 players.
With Johnson on injured reserve, this will enable the Canucks to call-up a forward from the Manitoba Moose with Michael Grabner as the leading candidate.
However, the Canucks may be in no rush to call anybody up given the Canucks have won two straight games and Darcy Hordichuk's strong play last night. In 8:03 of ice time, Hordichuk had a team-high six hits with the Raymond, Bernier, Kesler, Glass, and Bieksa next with two hits each and drew a penalty in the third period on Steve Staios by driving hard to the net.
Since being sent down on December 19, Grabner has yet to get into a game as the Moose just finished a one week Christmas break. The Moose host the Abbotsford Heat tonight and Grabner is expected to be in the lineup playing on a line with Marty Murray and Matt Pettinger.
Although Grabner's demotion was not officially deemed as for conditioning purposes by the Canucks, if it were the Canucks probably would want him to get into a few more games before a call-up.
Mikael Samuelsson will have to pickup his play or he will find himself on the third line soon. Samuelsson has one point in five games and is simply not scoring enough for a top-six forward or making contributions in other areas.
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