Bruce Boudreau shares some bad news on Brandon Sutter.

The Vancouver Canucks got some bad news on Sunday and considering the source of the news there's little doubt as to it's accuracy.

A report from Canucks beat reporter Jeff Paterson has revealed that veteran forward Brandon Sutter is now expected to miss all of the 2021 - 2022 regular season and you have to wonder what this might mean for his career in the National Hockey League moving forward. That information came courtesy of Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau, who admitted that he does not believe he will see Sutter in his lineup at any point this season.

Sutter was laid low by a particularly bad bought of Covid and has been describe as someone suffering from "long haul" Covid on several occasions. The fact that it has now been the better part of 11 months since he first contracted the virus is a big time concern and as I've already stated it does make you wonder what lies ahead for the 32 year old veteran centerman.

Sutter was an important faceoff man for the Canucks over the course of the last several seasons but he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this current campaign and, again, what will come next for him after his contract expires is a mystery at this time.

Most recently he appeared in 43 games for the Canucks during the 2020 - 2021 season where he recorded 9 goals and 3 assists, finishing with a plus minus rating of - 9 on the season.

Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this news for fans in Vancouver will be all the questions that are left hanging in the air regarding his status, but I suspect that this is the last we are going to hear on the Brandon Sutter front for some time given that the Canucks have now effectively shut him down for the remainder of the season.

At the end of the day there are things in the world that take precedence over the sport of hockey and Sutter's long term health is definitely one of those. I want to wish him a full and hopefully speedy recovery from this long haul Covid, and hopefully we can see him back on the ice in the NHL sooner rather than later.