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The Vancouver Canucks' immediate fortunes are in the hands of former Maple Leafs goaltender Andrew Raycroft, who will substitute for an injured Roberto Luongo over the next week.

But the NHL club's long-term fortunes still rest with Luongo, head coach Alain Vigneault and general manager Mike Gillis, the trio that mismanaged a groin injury to the franchise player last season and now faces another test to his health and well being.

Yesterday, Luongo revealed he has a broken rib. He and Vigneault said he will miss about one week. At the very least, Raycroft and Cory Schneider, a former first-round pick recalled from the farm, will play a back-to-back series in California, beginning tonight against the Los Angeles Kings.

"It's frustrating because I was really starting to feel good about my game and the way I was playing," Luongo said.

The Canucks entered last night in 10th place in the Western Conference after a 6-6-0 start. They play six games in the next nine days and are missing six forwards, a defenceman and Luongo because of injuries.

"We obviously have a big challenge in front of us here," Vigneault said. "You don't replace a Roberto Luongo and you don't replace a Daniel Sedin."

Luongo is admittedly stubborn about injuries and has little experience with them. He suffered a similar rib ailment several years ago that cost him one week, but after pulling a groin last November, Luongo was skating within days and clearly pushing to return.

It is no secret the goalie has his own rules when it comes to Canucks management, and it usually extends to when he plays and practises. But when Luongo suffered a setback last December and missed an additional month, the organization had egg on its face and the Canucks won just nine of the 24 games in his absence.

"It's about healing so that you don't have issues the rest of the year," Luongo said yesterday, noting he was dealing with a broken bone, which can be demonstrably healed, not a strained muscle, which is more of a guessing game. "It's not about sucking it up and playing."

"We will be cautious and he will have the requisite amount of time to be back 100 per cent," Gillis added. "We're not going to manage it any differently than with any other player. He'll play when he's healthy."

Luongo, a candidate for the Canadian Olympic team, suffered the hairline fracture against the Leafs on Saturday, when a harmless-looking Niklas Hagman shot in the third period struck the seam of his chest protector.

He shut out the Edmonton Oilers the next night, but the pain became progressively worse against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, when Luongo allowed four goals in the third period of a 5-4 defeat. The final period was not a glowing audition for Detroit's Steve Yzerman and Mike Babcock - the executive director and head coach, respectively, of Canada's Olympic team - but Luongo did make several excellent saves earlier in the game and finished with 37 stops.

"I was playing well and I was feeling good," Luongo said of staying in the game. "Obviously it was painful to move around, but I kind of wanted to finish the game if I could tolerate it."

Raycroft, meanwhile, was signed as a free agent for precisely this reason and will receive an opportunity to silence doubters in Toronto and cure the Chicken Little flu in B.C. The former NHL rookie-of-the-year couldn't secure the No. 1 job in the country's No. 1 hockey market and joined Vancouver this summer knowing he would be a seldom-used backup.

"People aren't expecting much, but I don't think that makes a difference," Raycroft said. "That's not to say if I go out and lose six in a row they're not going to be ready to lynch me. I've played in Canada and know what that's like. From that respect, it doesn't take the pressure off."

Vigneault has said he planned on using Raycroft for 15 to 20 games this year, but had yet to give him a start and had called on him for just two relief appearances. The 29-year-old goalie said he simply wanted to be solid and convince his new teammates that they can trust him when Luongo is on the bench or sidelines.

"It's not my first year in the league - believe it or not I've been around for 10 years, and I've kind of seen every different position and every different place to be on a team," Raycroft said. "He has set the bar pretty high here in terms of what people expect in a goalie. That's not necessarily a negative thing for me, but I can't be Roberto Luongo. I have to be me."