Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser will miss at least two games with an upper-body injury, the team announced Sunday.

Boeser will be reassessed following the Canucks' contest against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old winger suffered the injury during the third period of Saturday's loss to the Calgary Flames.

Boeser has tallied 16 goals and 45 points through 56 games this season.

Vancouver has dropped four straight contests and has scored just seven goals during that stretch. However, the Canucks remain atop the Pacific Division by one point.

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Boston Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon has been suspended two games for an illegal check to the head of Arizona Coyotes forward Derek Stepan, the NHL's Department of Player Safety announced Sunday.

The incident occurred late in the first period of Saturday's contest.

Lauzon was given a match penalty for the hit. Stepan was able to play the rest of the game after laying on the ice for a few moments.

The 22-year-old Lauzon has appeared in only seven games for the Bruins this season, notching one goal.

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The governing bodies of international sport and hockey have taken a big step in negotiations over the NHL's potential Olympic participation in 2022.

Following a meeting earlier this week, the IOC and IIHF indicated a willingness to address the issues the league has raised about taking part in the Beijing Games, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

That's a significant shift from what the IOC and IIHF indicated months earlier, although NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league still wants to tie Olympic participation to the ongoing CBA talks, Friedman added.

On Saturday's edition of Sportsnet's "Saturday Headlines," Friedman explained which concessions the IOC and IIHF are open to discussing.

"That includes insurance, that includes travel costs, and it also includes the marketing rights - the ability to use the Olympic video (of) the players themselves on the league's and the players' own platforms," he said.

Friedman added the NHLPA is encouraged by this latest development.

"The players do feel that, hey, this addresses everything that's been a concern," he continued. "It addresses everything that's (been) brought up, and the union and the players also feel that ... the CBA goes past the next date of the Olympics in February 2022. They don't think it should matter, but the fact is, wherever the negotiations go, this is a huge step from the governing bodies to get the players to go."

The NHL and NHLPA will resume CBA talks this week. The current agreement will run through the 2021-22 season, after the NHLPA chose not to opt out back in September. The union's decision came after the NHL decided not to exercise its own option to reopen the agreement in August.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman previously expressed the league's reluctance to take part in the 2022 Olympics, saying in January that "we're very comfortable not going." Back in November, he called Olympic participation "incredibly disruptive" to the NHL season.

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Beginning in 2020-21, no St. Louis Blues player will ever wear No. 44 again, as the club will retire Chris Pronger's jersey at a date to be determined once next season's schedule is released.

Pronger will become the eighth player in Blues history to have his number retired, joining Al MacInnis (No. 2), Bob Gassoff (3), Bob Plager (5), Barclay Plager (8), Brian Sutter (11), Brett Hull (16), and Bernie Federko (24).

The imposing former defenseman played nine of his 18 seasons with the Blues, suiting up for St. Louis between 1995-96 and 2003-04.

He won the Hart and Norris trophies as a member of the club in 2000 and ranks 26th all time in points among blue-liners with 698 in 1,167 games.

Pronger racked up 356 of those points in 598 contests with St. Louis while averaging a staggering 29:03 in ice time.

He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.

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Patrik Laine is scoring goals at a historic rate.

With a hat trick on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, the Winnipeg Jets forward now has 133 career goals. At 21 years old, Laine is tied with Brian Bellows for the seventh-most goals all time before turning 22.

Laine, who will turn 22 on April 19, has a chance to enter the top five, as he trails both Lemieux and Carpenter by just 12 goals.

The former second overall pick entered the NHL as an 18-year-old in 2016 and scored 36 goals in his rookie season before adding an impressive 44 in his sophomore year.

Laine is up to 23 goals and 51 points this season, already eclipsing his point total of 50 from 2018-19. Saturday's hat trick was the eighth of his career, according to the Winnipeg Sun's Scott Billeck.

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The Arizona Coyotes are believed to have committed at least 20 recruiting violations by fitness testing draft-eligible players, TSN's Darren Dreger reports.

The news of Arizona's alleged violations first became public in late January. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and a team of lawyers are currently managing the case, and there's no firm timeline on when a decision will be reached, Dreger added.

Physical testing of draft-eligible players prior to the NHL combine is prohibited under league rules. Multiple teams from the CHL, which governs Canada's three major junior leagues - the OHL, WHL, and QMJHL - apparently reported contact from the Coyotes to the NHL.

The Coyotes released a brief statement on the matter on Jan. 30.

"We are aware of the reports," the statement read. "We have discussed the matter with the NHL and we will have no further comment at this time."

If the Coyotes are found guilty, each violation can carry a fine of $250,000 or more, according to Dreger.

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