Canucks’ Rutherford says he’s investigating Pearson situation

Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford is investigating everything that has occurred with injured forward Tanner Pearson, he told TSN’s Farhan Lalji on Friday.

General manager Patrik Allvin announced Thursday that Pearson would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing a second surgery on his injured hand following a setback in his recovery.

That surgery was the second procedure on the 30-year-old’s hand since the original surgery took place in November.

Rutherford says he’s trying to arrange a conference call with all parties to determine, “If there’s something we could have done better and do better going forward,” and he’s hoping Pearson and his agent will participate.

According to Rutherford, the procedure was performed by the Canucks’ hand surgeon, who he believes is one of the best in Vancouver.

The 73-year-old also told Lalji that Pearson did have a second opinion earlier in the process and if he wanted to get more input and another opinion, “We would encourage him to do that, if that’s what they want going forward.”

He also said that he hasn’t heard from the league or the Players’ Association on the matter.

Pearson has been sidelined since Nov. 9 and has one goal and five points in 14 games this season.

Canucks’ defenceman Quinn Hughes expressed concern for his teammate on Thursday and said that the team did not handle matters correctly.

“I feel bad for him. I mean, it wasn’t handled properly, and you know, it’s not really a good situation he’s got there and hopefully he’s going to be all right,” said Hughes.

On Friday, Hughes said he wasn't trying to direct blame and attributed his comments to frustration over what Pearson has been through.