Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter leave Canucks trip after injuries

The Vancouver Canucks were bit badly by the injury bug in their 3-1 Tuesday night win over the Colorado Avalanche.

On Wednesday the team announced defenseman Alex Edler and forward Brandon Sutter both left the team’s road trip because of injuries sustained in the game. Edler suffered a fractured fibula and Sutter suffered a fractured jaw. The Canucks did not give a timeline for both players.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted out that with Edler the “initial sense” was he could miss 2-3 weeks. Vancouver general manager Jim Benning said they were going to do “more scans” on Edler to check the severity of the injury.

Sutter had returned for four games after missing 33 after hernia surgery. Defenseman Dan Hamhuis returned on Feb. 6 after missing almost a month with a broken jaw. General manager Jim Benning noted that the team was finally healthy.

"I was excited because even though we lost those two games to Columbus and Calgary I could see signs that we were skating good. We just didn't have any puck luck around the net,” Benning said. "It's upsetting, but we just have to keep moving forward with the guys we have and they will have to pick up the slack.

Edler’s injury came from blocking a Tyson Barrie shot. Sutter took a puck to the mouth.

Even with the win at Colorado, the Canucks are four points out of the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Vancouver has 54 points while Nashville and Colorado, the two Wild Card teams, both have 58.

There are questions if losing such key players could lead to a drop off with the Canucks and whether the team should deal off aging assets. Dan Hamhuis is a pending unrestricted free agent and there have been rumors about possibly trading him before the deadline.

Sutter had nine points in 20 games this season and won 52.5 percent of his faceoffs. Edler had 20 points in 52 games while averaging 24:27 of ice-time.

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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! Follow @joshuacooper