Sunday December 28 - Vancouver Canucks at Anaheim Ducks - 5:00 p.m - CITY-TV, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 20-11-2 42 points fourth in Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: 23-8-6 52 points first in Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks get back to work today with an early 5:00 matchup against the Anaheim Ducks as part of the Rogers Hometown Hockey series. That means you'll find the game on CITY-TV.
The Canucks are coming off a five-day break after their 7-1 trouncing of the Arizona Coyotes last Monday. The Ducks' last opponent was also the Coyotes: fell 2-1 in the shootout on a crazy shootout winner from Shane Doan—his stick exploded as he shot the puck, and he scored anyway.
Frederik Andersen did get the start last night in Glendale. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau won't commit to a starter for tonight's game, so we'll have to wait and see whether the Canucks catch Andersen on the second half of a back-to-back or if we get the pleasure of seeing the unpredictable Ilya Bryzgalov in action.
Ducks star Corey Perry has had a rough season. When he has played, he's been good, with 14 goals and 22 points in 23 games. But Perry missed five games as one of the early victims of the mumps, then returned for just 10 games before suffering a knee injury on a Keith Ballard hip check on December 5.
Perry's close to returning, but Boudreau says he won't play tonight.
Dany Heatley should be in action—freshly returned from groin surgery but still looking for his first point as a Duck. Tim Jackman's sidelined after being on the wrong end of the hit that got John Scott of the San Jose Sharks suspended for four games. For the first time all year, the Ducks' defense is intact.
Ryan Kesler has been the hottest Duck over the last couple of weeks, and is sure to be fired up again to play his old teammates from Vancouver. Kesler is second in Anaheim scoring with 12 goals and 27 points—now well ahead of Nick Bonino, who sits at eight goals and 21 points.
Like many Canucks, Bonino is now on a one-game point streak after the pre-Christmas blowout against Arizona. Hopefully he can keep it going tonight.
Jannik Hansen is now really, for sure, officially cleared to play and expected to return to his usual spot on the fourth line. That bumps Tom Sestito back to the press box—although Willie Desjardins was more complimentary of Sestito at Saturday's practice than he was after last Monday's game.
From Steve Ewen at
The Province:
“He played well last game. He skated well. But Hansen’s been good for us. We’ve got other guys that have been good for us. We’ll see how it goes. He (Sestito) may not get in, but he had a good game,” said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins.
A couple of other lineup notes:
• Derek Dorsett will be moved up to the second line tonight, playing with Nick Bonino and Chris Higgins, while Alex Burrows plays with Hansen and Bo Horvat. Expect to also see Dorsett in front of the net on the second power-play unit. With 11 points in 31 games, Dorsett's on pace for his best-ever year offensively: his previous career high was 20 points with Columbus in 2011-12, the year he led the NHL with 235 penalty minutes.
Dorsett has earned a chance at more offensive opportunities. I'm interested to see what he can do with this chance.
• Zack Kassian practiced with the team on Saturday but skated with Sestito in a fourth defensive pair. Don't expect him back in action tonight.
• During the holiday break, the Canucks returned spare defenseman Alex Biega to Utica, then recalled Bobby Sanguinetti in his place. This is Sanguinetti's second recall of the year, though he has yet to get into a game with the big club.
There was some talk in the comments yesterday about Sanguinetti no longer being waiver exempt, but that doesn't appear to be the case. CapGeek is the best source I've found for the intricacies of waiver rules, and
here's their scoop on Sanguinetti.
According to The Hockey News website, Sanguinetti was placed on waivers on September 27, before the season began, so it sounds like this scenario applies to him (from CapGeek):
The waiver calculator does not account for players who have already cleared waivers during the 2014-15 season (ie. prior to opening day) and, since then, have not played in 10 or more NHL games cumulative and not spent more than 30 days cumulative on an NHL roster. In these cases, players will appear to require waivers when they are exempt.
So far, Sanguinetti has had only a couple of days with the Canucks and hasn't appeared in a game. As long as his time is managed carefully, Vancouver doesn't appear to be at risk of losing him anytime soon.
As for whether or not he'll see any game action? That's a discussion for another day.
Enjoy the game tonight!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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