HC Rick Tocchet clears the air about $58,000,000 Vancouver Canucks D-man playing for AHL affiliate as part of conditioning stint

Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet cleared up confusion surrounding defenseman Filip Hronek potentially playing conditioning games with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks.

There were reports that the $58 million blueliner was close to returning from injury and will play in the minors as part of conditioning stint. However, Tocchet shot down those reports following the Canucks' 2-1 OT loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.

"No, no, no... he'd kill me if I put him out there,"Tocchet said when asked about Hronek joining Abbotsford.

Hronek underwent surgery on Dec. 3 to address a lower-body injury and was originally expected to miss around eight weeks. He last played for Vancouver on Nov. 27 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Now five weeks removed from surgery, it appears that the 27-year-old defenseman is progressing quicker than anticipated in his recovery. Tocchet stressed that Hronek is training hard to expedite his return.

"So I give him a lot of credit. And he'll be going down there practicing. So I don't know he's gonna be back, but I will tell he's expedited a lot of things under his rehab." Tocchet added.

The positive injury update on Hronek comes at an opportune time for the Canucks after losing forward Dakota Joshua and goaltender Thatcher Demko to injuries. Vancouver saw captain Quinn Hughes back from a two-week absence, but top center Elias Pettersson remains a game-time decision.

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HC Rick Tocchet reflects on Vancouver Canucks' OT loss to Washington Capitals

Rick Tocchet offered a measured assessment of the Vancouver Canucks's performance in 2-1 overtime loss to the Capitals.

"Yeah, played a good hockey game. That's a top team in the league, and I thought we did a nice job. Guys worked hard," Tocchet said.

Despite the narrow loss, Tocchet expressed optimism about building on the team's effort.

“We've got to build off this. Keep playing to the identity. Everybody did something, contributed tonight.”

The coach acknowledged the heavy workload on star defenseman Quinn Hughes, who returned after missing four games with an upper-body injury. Hughes logged in 27:13 but noted the challenge of managing his ice time.

"We can’t play (Quinn) Hughes the whole game I don't have an answer for that. You know, we had some chances, unfortunate what happened," he said.

Next, the Vancouver Canucks face the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday at PNC Arena.