The Vancouver Canucks will enter training camp with a group of young players they hope can help be the future of the franchise, and lead the team back to the playoffs.
But it's unclear if and when one of those players might be available.
On Monday, the Canucks announced defenseman Olli Juolevi will undergo a microdiscectomy procedure on a disc in his lower back.
"Juolevi began experiencing some discomfort during offseason training and, after imaging and consultation with the team's medical staff, it was determined this would be the best course of action to prepare for next season," the team release read.
Juolevi, selected No. 5 overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, has yet to make his debut for Vancouver. He then signed his entry-level contract with Vancouver, but reported back to the OHL and the London Knights and recorded 42 points in 58 games in his 18-year-old season.
The following season, Juolevi was loaned to TPS in Liiga, the Finnish league, again sliding his entry-level deal another year.
At 20 years old, it was assumed Juolevi would come to training camp with Vancouver and attempt to make the NHL roster or, at the very least, transition to AHL Utica.
The Canucks recently signed another one of their top, European prospects, Eliass Pettesson, who had a huge 19-year-old season in the Swedish Hockey League. Pettersson had recently suffered a thumb injury playing at the IIHF World Championships, but reportedly will be at full capacity come training camp.
In a recent interview with NHL.com, general manager Jim Benning said he expects Pettersson to make the Canucks Opening Night roster.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on Elias but we feel real strong about his ability to make plays and add skill to our team," Benning said. "A lot will be determined when he comes to training camp."
There will be openings on the Canucks roster up front with the retirement of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, something Benning referenced in Pettersson's possible role, and how Benning thinks the Canucks will build their roster moving forward.
"For us it's going to be about that next group of core players we're going to win with," he said. "We started this process a few years ago with (Bo) Horvat kind of being our first guy. He's played the last four years for us and we're developing him to be the next core piece for us. We took (Brock) Boeser in my second draft here (2015, No. 23) and we think he's another piece to our puzzle we can win with. Pettersson is another. It's about finding that next group of core players we can win with in the next six, eight, 10 years."
The Canucks own the seventh pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, and were already thin on the blue line before Juolevi's injury. There could be a number of defensemen available in that spot, from Quinn Hughes, to Noah Dobson, to Adam Boqvist.