Canucks’ Chris Tanev leaves game vs. Blackhawks with upper-body injury

Vancouver Canucks centre Brandon Sutter, celebrates beside Chris Tanev, left. (Kelvin Kuo/AP)

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Chris Tanev suffered an upper-body injury against the Chicago Blackhawks and will not return to Thursday’s game.

It’s unclear when the injury occurred but Tanev’s last shift was only 11 seconds long and came near the end of the first period.

After the game — which the Blackhawks won 5-2 — head coach Travis Green didn’t have any update on Tanev. Green also wouldn’t say whether the veteran would be available for Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Tanev, 29, has appeared in all 16 games for the Canucks this season but has struggled to remain healthy in recent years. He hasn’t played in more than 55 games in each of the last three seasons and has only played in 70 once over his 10 seasons in the NHL.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.