Rick Rypien granted leave of absence
The Vancouver Canucks have granted forward Rick Rypien an indefinite leave of absence from the team in order to deal with personal issues.
Rypien was not at practice with the team on Thursday 25 November, and when defenseman Kevin Bieksa was pulled aside by general manager Mike Gillis, it was presumed that the club had made a trade. However, after practice, Vancouver released a statement saying
they had granted Rypien a leave of absence and refused to speak any further on the matter.
Rypien has been granted an indefinite leave of absence before by the Canucks. In 2008-09 the 26-year-old was given extended leave in order to deal with personal issues. Rypien has struggled to remain in the Vancouver line-up since joining the team, missing
157 games due to injury, illness and suspension.
Earlier in the season, Rypien was handed a six-game suspension for grabbing a Minnesota Wild fan on his way to the dressing room after being kicked out of the game.
The Coleman, Alberta native has regularly been a healthy scratch for the Canucks since receiving his suspension. The youngster has struggled to find his game this season, having difficultly remaining in the line-up and not stacking up the penalty minutes
he is generally known for.
The loss of Rypien for an extended period of time is unlikely to hurt a very skilled Canucks side, which has played tremendous hockey in 2010-11. At the moment the Canucks sit first in the Northwest Division and third in the Western Conference with 11 wins
and 25 points.
With Rypien out of the line-up, the Canucks are likely to give more ice time to Peter Schaefer, while testing out youngsters Mario Bliznak and Guillaume Desbiens.
So far this season Rypien has only managed one assist in nine games.
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