Bad news for Elias Pettersson and Nils Hoglander.

The Vancouver Canucks were already going to have an uphill battle ahead when it comes to fighting their way back into a playoff spot at this point in the season, but on Monday things unquestionably took a significant turn for the worse.

Head coach Rick Tocchet has confirmed that both star forward Elias Pettersson as well as forward Nils Hoglander have both been sent back home to Vancouver, a clear indication that neither man will be participating in any more games during the team's current road trip.

That represents a significant chunk of the games remaining on the schedule for the Canucks, including a game today against the New Jersey Devils, a game on Wednesday against the New York Islanders, a game on Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets and they will end their road trip on Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets.

The Canucks currently sit 5 points back of the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card spot, but things aren't as bleak as they seem given that the Canucks currently have 2 games in hand with which they could significantly close that gap. The Canucks also have to worry about the Calgary Flames who currently sit 1 point ahead of them in the standings, with the Flames also having played 1 less game than the Canucks.

Unfortunately for the Canucks the timing of these two injuries couldn't have possibly come at a more unfortunate time and is going to make what was an already daunting challenge even more difficult moving forward.

Tocchet did not provide a timeline for either man's recovery, which of course means that their absence could very easily extend beyond this road trip as well depending on the severity of these injuries.