Vancouver Canucks centre Dakota Joshua of Dearborn, Michigan is recovering from testicular cancer according to Rogers Sportsnet on Tuesday. Joshua has spent the last four seasons in the National Hockey League. He was with the St. Louis Blues from 2020 to 2022, and has spent the last two seasons with the Canucks.
Details of Joshua’s diagnosis
A lump on Joshua’s testicle was found earlier in the summer. Doctors then successfully performed surgery to remove the tumour. Do not be surprised if Joshua will have tests in the future to ensure the cancer does not return or does not spread.
Dakota Joshua in 2023-24
It was a breakout 2023-24 season for Joshua. In 63 games, he had career highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), plus/minus (+19), game-winning goals (five), shots on goal (84), blocked shots (40), and hits (245). The fact that Joshua had career-highs in eight categories is noteworthy when considering he only played 63 games in 2023-24, compared to 79 games in 2022-23. Joshua also had 60 penalty minutes in 2023-24, which matched his total from 2022-23. He also had one power-play point (matched career-high from 2022-23), 34 faceoff wins, 29 takeaways and 24 giveaways.
Joshua’s power-play point this past season came on March 31, 2024. It came in a 3-2 Canucks win over the Anaheim Ducks. Joshua scored from left winger Pius Suter of Zurich, Switzerland, and defenseman Filip Hronek of Hraedc Kralove, Czech Republic. At the time, the Canucks went up 2-0 at 9:34 of the second period. It was one of two goals in the game for Joshua, as he scored the game-winning goal on an all-American goal from Conor Garland of Scituate, Massachusetts and J.T. Miller of East Palestine, Ohio, with two minutes and 13 seconds left in the third period to break a 2-2 deadlock.
Joshua had another two goal game earlier in the season. On December 14, he accomplished the feat in a dominant 4-0 Canucks win over the Florida Panthers, the eventual Stanley Cup champion.
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