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Canucks Mikael Samuelsson out indefinitely after surgery for torn tendon and sports hernia

Brendan Morrison, Miikka Kiprusoff, Mason Raymond

Vancouver Canucks’ Mikael Samuelsson, of Sweden, celebrates after scoring against the Calgary Flames during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

AP

While you may not have noticed over the last few games for Vancouver, they’re doing well in spite of being without one of their key forwards. Mikael Samuelsson was knocked out of Game 5 of Vancouver’s series against Nashville and hasn’t played in any of Vancouver’s three games since then and for good reason too.

Vancouver announced that Samuelsson successfully underwent surgery to repair a torn adductor tendon and a sports hernia and will be out indefinitely the rest of the playoffs. Considering how serious the injuries sound, you’d have to believe that Samuelsson is done for the remainder of the playoffs.

Through 11 games in the playoffs, Samuelsson had a goal and two assists. Through the regular season Samuelsson was a key depth contributor for the Canucks scoring 18 goals and adding 32 assists. Samuelsson’s role also as a former Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings gave them some veteran experience.

That said, Vancouver isn’t exactly missing Samuelsson in the playoffs as they’ve gotten superhuman play from Ryan Kesler in the Nashville series and the Sedin twins are doing everything imaginable against the Sharks. When those three haven’t been getting it done, they’ve gotten great support play from Alex Burrows and Chris Higgins instead. We’ll get to see how much not having Samuelsson affects their play the rest of the way through the playoffs and whether or not that shot to their depth comes with a price.