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Ben Hutton out 3-to-6 weeks with fractured hand

VANCOUVER, BC - DECEMBER 28: Ben Hutton #27 of the Vancouver Canucks skates up ice with the puck during their NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena December 28, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)'n
Ben Hutton #27 of the Vancouver Canucks skates up ice with the puck during their NHL game against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena December 28, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)’n

The Vancouver Canucks will be without defenseman Ben Hutton for the next three-to-six weeks because of a “small fracture in his hand,” the team announced Tuesday.

Hutton was injured when he blocked a shot on Jan. 6 against the Calgary Flames and has missed Vancouver’s last three games with what the team had previously called an upper body injury.

Hutton ranks third on the Canucks in ice-time per-game at 20:58 and has four goals and 11 points in 41 games played. He owns a minus-0.87 adjusted 5-on-5 CF% Rel and a 46.88 adjusted 5-on-5 CF%. Earlier in the season, the Canucks signed the 23-year-old Hutton to a two-year contract extension worth $5.6 million.

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The Province pointed out how Hutton’s injury impacts the team’s expansion draft plans.

Alex Biega is three games shy of qualifying as an option for the “veteran defenceman who must be made available in the expansion draft” category. Every team must make at least one defenceman who has played 70 games in the last two seasons available in the Vegas expansion draft. Luca Sbisa became eligible after playing 29 games this season; Biega needed just 19 but started the year as the Canucks’ 8th defenceman and didn’t get a sniff of action until December (though he did dress as a forward in late October).

Hutton remaining out of the lineup means Biega playing three more games seems nearly inevitable — unless he too gets injured, of course.

The Vancouver defense has been hit hard by injuries this season with regulars Alexander Edler, Erik Gudbranson and Christopher Tanev all missing prolonged periods of time. Gudbranson is still out because of a wrist issue.

After six-game winning streak the Canucks have lost four games in a row, but three of those defeats have come either in overtime or by shootout. The Canucks are just two points back of the Los Angeles Kings for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. They are also three points behind the Calgary Flames.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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