Article content

His hands have carried him back to the National Hockey League, but his knee could take him out.

Swedish winger Anton Rodin, who failed in his first attempt to play professional hockey in North America but has been one of the most impressive Vancouver Canucks during the pre-season, missed practice Friday and may be unavailable for the team’s season-opener against the Calgary Flames next Saturday.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canucks saw Rodin setback coming, but knee injury still hurts Back to video

Rodin is experiencing soreness and swelling his knee, which was surgically repaired last January after the 25-year-old suffered a severed tendon in an Elite League game in Sweden. Unable to properly train over the summer, Rodin began skating fully only a week before training camp and the Canucks always knew that the forward might require time off.

“I think it’s playing a lot of hockey in a short period,” general manager Jim Benning said of Rodin’s setback.

“The injury got aggravated and so he’s going to have to take a step back. We’re going to give him a few days or week off here to get the swelling down, and from there just rehab so he’s a 100 per cent for us. We’re going to need him at 100 per cent.”