Surprisingly, Pius Suter is being evaluated for an injury following the Corey Perry incident

The preseason game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers on Monday evening was eventful and provided plenty of cause for reflection and discussion. Ultimately, the Oilers emerged victorious after a shootout 3-2.

Corey Perry secured the first star of the game, partly thanks to his goal that tied the game at 1-1 at the start of the final period. He was also physically as usual and was restless, which was also evident in his duel with Pius Suter from the Canucks.

The reason Perry did this was because he was upset about how Suter mishandled Connor McDavid in an incident in the third period. But even though the notoriously tough guy dropped his gloves, the Canucks forward didn't particularly want to fight, resulting in the melee being much ado about nothing.

Possible injury for Suter?

At least it seemed that way. The first thing that was noticed on Tuesday was that Suter wasn't on the ice for practice at Rogers Arena.

After practice, Sportsnet 650 and Canucks play-by-play commentator Brendan Batcherlor was among the media who spoke with Rick Tocchet about Suter's absence. The Canucks' head coach made a surprise admission that the 28-year-old was being evaluated for a possible injury following his collision with Perry.

Of course, Canucks fans will be hoping that this is just a precautionary measure and/or that there is nothing serious wrong with Suter. It would be somewhat ironic if he were to injure himself after attempting not getting too physical with Perry.

An important role in the Canucks' squad

Suter is expected to play a key role for the Canucks as a fourth-line center in his second season in Vancouver. Even if he's slated for the bottom line, he's still an invaluable player who would be higher up the rankings on other teams.

In that regard, the former Detroit Red Wing spent the majority of the 2023-24 season playing alongside JT Miller and Brock Boeser. Among other things, he scored 29 points in 67 games and set personal bests for a season with a rating of +17 and 54.4 Corsi For% in all situations.