Canucks: Tanner Pearson appears recovered from hand injury

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Tanner Pearson is keeping mum but he sure looks ready for his comeback.

The Vancouver Canucks winger has been skating for at least the last two weeks in the Vancouver area. His shooting efforts show no ill effects of the devastating hand injury he had to fight through for the last eight months.

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Pearson broke a bone in his left hand during a game in November and was expected to be out for only a few weeks. But a post-operative infection set in and he needed a series of followup procedures, including wearing a special intravenous line to deliver antibiotics 24/7 to the infected area.

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By early January it was clear he wouldn’t be able to return. His teammates grew frustrated with how his case had been handled, with Quinn Hughes speaking out at one point.

At the end of the 2022-23 season, there were doubts whether Pearson would ever play hockey again. At the Canucks’ end-of-season media availability, Pearson said being able to play with his kids again was his priority. 

Vancouver Canucks left-winger Tanner Pearson, who broke his hand during a game last November, stands to leave after the NHL hockey team’s end of season news conference, in Vancouver, on Saturday, April 15, 2023. Photo by DARRYL DYCK /THE CANADIAN PRESS

He’s clearly progressed.

Last week in Richmond at Troy Stecher’s pro camp and at this week’s skates at the University of B.C., Pearson has been a full participant in drills and scrimmages. He’s been firing pucks at the net in a manner that suggests he’s recovered.

He has, as of yet, to speak with reporters about it, though his friend and teammate Brock Boeser spoke glowingly about Pearson’s recovery on Wednesday.

“I went and watched him the other day skate and I saw him shoot right away and it got me fired up,” Boeser said with a smile.

“Just for one of your buddies to go through something like that, and him missing the whole season, it’s hard. He’s a guy that was really important to our team last year and we needed him but I’m just so happy for him and happy that he’s back out here and happy that it wasn’t worse.”

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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Canucks: ‘I’m just trying to get my hand back,’ says Tanner Pearson

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