Canucks’ Mikheyev is ‘banged up,’ not a healthy scratch for Game 5

It appears that a prominent player may be out longer than anticipated.

Ilya Mikheyev of the Vancouver Canucks is “banged up” and is regarded as day-to-day due to an unidentified injury, according to Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy. Earlier on Thursday, it was already decided that he would not play in Game 5 of the Pacific Division Finals against the Edmonton Oilers.

Mikheyev was noticeably absent from line rushes in the lead-up to the game.

The Russian winger has played each of the first 10 games of the playoffs, but has yet to score a point. He has registered a plus-minus of -4 thus far, averaging 12:02 of ice time, playing 13:57 in the Canucks’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Oilers in Game 2 last Friday.

Mikheyev had been playing on a line with Elias Petterson and Linus Karlsson. Karlsson was moved to be an extra forward for Game 5, while Petterson is jumping on the wing with Elias Lindholm and Nils Hoglander.

Mikheyev ended the 2023-24 regular season with 11 goals and 31 points in 78 games, last scoring a goal on March 13 against the Colorado Avalanche. He had to miss the first few games of the season, recovering from a knee injury that ended his 2022-23 campaign.

In 270 career NHL appearances, Mikheyev has scored 60 goals and 71 assists, including four points in 29 playoff games. All of those points came in the first round in 2022, while with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The bench in Hollywood is getting even lighter.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Kings announced they have mutually parted ways with assistant coach Trent Yawney.

According to a release, the move takes effect immediately, with the search for a replacement beginning after the team hires a new head coach.

“We appreciate all that Trent has contributed over the past five seasons,” vice president and general manager Rob Blake said in a release. “And thank him for his dedication to the organization.”

Yawney had been serving as an assistant coach with the Kings since the 2019-20 season. He was working alongside Todd McLellan before he was fired this past February. Jim Hiller took over the head coach job on an interim basis, helping guide Los Angeles to a third-place finish in the Pacific Division before being knocked out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers.

Yawney has been coaching at the professional level since he hung up the skates at the end of the 1998-99 season. He has been an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks (1999-00), San Jose Sharks (2008-11), Anaheim Ducks (2014-18) and Edmonton Oilers (2018-19). The Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan native was also the head coach for the Chicago Blackhawks from the 2005-06 season, and partway through the 2006-07 campaign before being fired in November of that season. He was replaced by Denis Savard.

In his playing career, Yawney appeared in 593 NHL games, scoring 27 goals and 129 points, accumulating 783 penalty minutes. He also scored 26 points in 60 playoff games. Yawney was a member of the 1988 Canadian Olympic Team in Calgary.