"The Vancouver Canucks may have to start next season without their top goal-scorer.

Winger Alex Burrows had shoulder surgery last week to repair a torn labrum and it is far from certain he will be ready to play when the Canucks open the regular season in early October.

Paul Corbeil, Burrows' agent, said Monday that he does not expect Burrows to be ready for training camp and suggested he could also miss the early part of the regular season.

"He may not be ready to play until sometime in October or November," Corbeil said.

Burrows' injury is the same one winger Pavol Demitra had last season and the Canucks will have their fingers crossed that his recovery goes better than Demitra's did. Demitra required a second surgery before he finally returned after missing the first 47 games of the regular season.

Corbeil said Burrows' shoulder began bothering him in the second half of the season, but said his client was determined to finish the season.

"He played with that during the season, but you know Alex is a big warrior," Corbeil said.

Canuck assistant general manager Laurence Gilman said Burrows' play was affected by the injury, especially in the playoffs. "He clearly played with pain in the playoffs," Gilman said. "It definitely impacted his effectiveness. But Alex didn't want to come out of our lineup and wanted to play through the pain."

Burrows, 29, led the team with a career-high 35 goals in the regular season, but his production waned late in the season and in the playoffs. Burrows did not score in the team's last six regular-season games and two of his three playoff goals were empty-netters."