Vancouver Canucks winger Dakota Joshua has announced he鈥檒l miss the start of training camp following surgery for testicular cancer.

Joshua said in a statement posted to social media by the team Tuesday that he felt a lump on one of his testicles this summer and later had surgery to successfully remove the tumour.

The 28-year-old from Dearborn, Mich., said he plans on returning to play 鈥渁s soon as possible鈥� and is 鈥渨orking hard every day鈥� to rejoin his teammates.

Joshua said the last several weeks have been 鈥渆xtremely challenging鈥� and encouraged men to get checked regularly for testicular cancer.

The six-foot-three, 206-pound forward had a career-high 18 goals and 14 assists in 63 games for the Canucks last season and signed a new four-year, US$13-million deal with Vancouver at the end of June.

The Canucks are set to open their training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday.