The Vancouver Canucks assigned centre Cody Hodgson to the Brampton Battalion on Tuesday.
Hodgson, a 19-year-old who had one goal and one assist for two points in six National Hockey League preseason games, was hampered by a bulging disc suffered while training in July.
“By no means is it a demotion,” Lorne Henning, Vancouver's assistant general manager, told the newspaper The Province. “We think it's the best step for him. Unfortunately, he had the back and that set him back in his conditioning and he was kind of a step behind.
“It's good that he's going to get in and he's not going to be waiting here with the nine games, and I don't think that helps anybody. We want to get him back and get him playing."
Hodgson, a Markham, Ont., resident, who was selected 10th overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, can't be recalled by the Canucks until the Battalion’s Ontario Hockey League season has ended.
“I’m shocked,” said Stan Butler, Battalion director of hockey operations and head coach. “I didn’t really expect to be discussing this. Cody has been a great player here for three seasons and he has been the heart and pulse of this team. I felt very strongly that he would make the Canucks this season.”
Hodgson’s return moves the Troops’ live roster to 26 players, comprising 15 forwards, nine defencemen and two goaltenders. The Battalion, which has lost its first three games, hosts the Saginaw Spirit at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Butler said he had no idea when Hodgson will play.
“I’m sure he’s in transit right now and at the right time he’ll call me and we’ll go from there.”
Battalion captain Hodgson led the team in scoring last season with 43 goals and 49 assists for 92 points in 53 games on the way to capturing the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player and the Canadian Hockey League’s Player of the Year honours. He had 11 goals and 20 assists for 31 points in 21 playoff games as the Troops went to the OHL Championship Series.
In leading Canada to gold at the World Junior Championship at Ottawa in January, Hodgson was the tournament’s leading scorer with five goals and 11 assists for 16 points, earning all-star team recognition.
A first-round pick in the 2006 OHL Priority Selection, Hodgson is tied with Raffi Torres for second place on the Battalion’s career scoring list with 223 points from 106 goals and 117 assists in 184 games. Hodgson is the club’s all-time leader in game-winning goals with 22 and is third in goals, assists and both power-play goals and assists.
Two other players eligible to return to the Battalion remain in the professional ranks. Centre Matt Duchene is with the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, while left winger Evgeny Grachev was assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack on Sunday by the American Hockey League club’s parent New York Rangers.
Info from: http://www.battalionhockey.com/hm/inside.php?sid=4&id=5089
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