The Vancouver Canucks took to warmups without defenseman Tom Willander ahead of Saturday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers. He will miss a third straight game after sitting out of the last two with a lower-body injury sustained on Tuesday. This update should keep Guillaume Brisebois in the lineup.

Willander’s absence will continue to weigh on the Canucks blue-line. The second-year pro is the only Canucks defenseman without a negative plus-minus. He has recorded three assists, four penalty minutes, 10 hits, and 17 shot blocks in 16 games so far. He’s yet to find a scoring groove after a 21-point rookie season – but is on pace for more shots (63), hits (53), and blocks (89) than last season. More than that, Willander is facing much tougher competition. He has averaged 20 minutes of ice time a night and played a career-high 25:43 on October 13th.

Willander is an evolving piece of the Canucks’ defense. His next chance to return to the lineup will be Monday’s matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Other notes from around the league:

• Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly exited Saturday’s matchup against the Montreal Canadiens with a lower-body injury. He appeared to sustain the injury while blocking a shot from Canadiens’ center Nick Suzuki. Rielly played just 5:45 before his exit. Oliver Ekman-Larsson recorded the second 20-minute game of his season while stepping up for Rielly’s absence. He closed the night with three hits and a plus-one. Dakota Mermis would shift into the lineup if Rielly was forced to miss more time. Mermis has one point in three games on the year so far. Toronto would need to find a new spark on the blue-line without Rielly, who leads the defense with 12 points in 17 games.
• Bowen Byram’s agent, Darren Ferris, says the defender won’t return to the Chicago Blackhawks until he sees a “certain specialist” according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Headlines. Byram has missed 10-straight games, and 11 this season, with an unspecified, upper-body injury. He was slated to fill Chicago’s top defender role after signing a six-year, $75MM contract this summer. Byram recorded one assist and a minus-seven in six games before his injury, while averaging more than 24 minutes a night. He will be a core piece of Chicago’s climb up from a 4-12-1 record to start the season once he’s back to full health.