The Vancouver Canucks may have to wait a little longer for captain Roberto Luongo to return to the lineup.
Luongo was experiencing pain while making "dynamic movements" in practice and as a result, will not take to the ice again until the pain subsides. His status remains week-to-week.
"For some time, Roberto has been feeling some soreness when he was doing some dynamic excursuses on the ice," head coach Alain Vigneault said. "When it was in a controlled environment he was fine but when he was more dynamic, the soreness was there. Until that soreness completely goes away, he's going to be off the ice."
The All-Star netminder originally had hoped to make his return from the groin injury this weekend against the Oilers, however Luongo did not make the trip with the team to Edmonton.
"We have to wait and see when he's 100 percent because we're only going to bring him back when he's 100 percent," said Vigneault.
The Vancouver Sun reported that the 29-year old keeper suffered a setback when he left Canucks' practice early on Wednesday without talking to reporters.
The two-time all-star has been sidelined since November 22nd after suffering an injury in the first period during a victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Luongo, who continues to lead all Western Conference goaltenders in fan balloting for the All-Star game, has been spectacular in net for the Canucks this season sporting an 11-5-2 record with a 2.17 goals against average and .928 save percentage in 19 games this season.
Curtis Sanford and Cory Schneider will continue to split starts until Luongo is able to return.
