Tuesday December 5 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Carolina Hurricanes - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 27 GP, 13-10-4, 30 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Carolina Hurricanes: 25 GP, 11-9-5, 27 pts, seventh in Metropolitan Division
Without the fanfare of Daniel's big ceremony and Derek Dorsett's appearance from Saturday night, will the Vancouver Canucks be able to keep their positive momentum rolling when they host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena?
Brace yourself for some empty seats tonight. The Hurricanes rank 30th in the league in home attendance, drawing an average of just 11,863 fans per game
according to ESPN. They're not much of a draw on the road, either—also ranking 30th out of 31 teams. Combine those two stats and they come out last—literally, no NHL team gets seen less than the Carolina Hurricanes.
I wonder if we'll see any Canes jerseys at all in the stands tonight? Now that Eddie Lack has been traded away, the team has no ex-Canucks and no B.C.-born players. The closest would be Derek Ryan, the 30-year-old late bloomer who hails from Spokane, Washington.
There was lots of talk before the season started about how the Hurricanes would be turning the corner this year thanks to a surplus of young talent and some stability in goal with the arrival of Scott Darling. But in the Metro division, the New Jersey Devils stole the Hurricanes' thunder—if you don't mind me stirring together a couple of weather patterns. At two games above .500, they're on track for about 88 points—right where they landed the last two seasons, well below the Eastern Conference playoff cutline.
Carolina's also struggling on the road. With their road record of 4-7-1, only the New York Rangers and Arizona Coyotes have collected less points away from home so far this season.
Tonight's game is the first of a six-game road trip for the Hurricanes, which will take them through California and on to Vegas before wrapping up in Buffalo. The Canes are coming off a 3-2 overtime win against Florida on Saturday night.
Other than veteran Lee Stempniak, who's sidelined indefinitely, the team is healthy. Scott Darling is expected to get the nod in net after Cam Ward earned the win last Saturday. Darling has been getting the majority of the work but has been just OK so far in Carolina—7-7-5 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.
One interesting story out of Carolina this year has been the strange case of Victor Rask. Drafted in the second round out of Sweden back in 2011, Rask quickly established himself as an NHL player when he joined the team in 2014-15. In July of 2016, the Hurricanes re-signed the RFA to a six-year deal with a cap hit of $4 million a season.
He started the 2016-17 season just fine, with 32 points in 42 games, but then fell off a cliff with just 10 points in the final 40 games. The drought carried over to this season, where he had just five points in 18 games before being healthy-scratched for two games a couple of weeks ago.
Player development is not always a linear process...
Since returning to the lineup, Rask has two points in five games. He saw his ice time climb to 17:51 on Saturday against Florida, one of his highest totals of the season. It'll be interesting to see how he's deployed and what he brings tonight.
As for the Canucks, after a full practice on Monday their morning skate today is very sparsely attended.
As a rule, Travis Green doesn't like to mess with his lineup too much after a win, so I'll be expecting to see Jacob Markstrom in net once again.
Troy Stecher is good to go despite getting banged up on Saturday against the Leafs.
Brandon Sutter and Erik Gudbranson remain on the sidelines.
The Canucks will be looking to win two in a row at Rogers Arena for the first time this year.
A couple of other items of note today:
Forbes released its annual NHL franchise valuations this morning:
Overall, the situation in the league is very rosy, with overall franchise valuations up by 15 percent this year.
The Canucks landed in eighth spot on the list with a value of $730 million. That's an increase of just 4 percent that's well below the league average and appears to be pegged mostly to the recent drop in attendance. They're the third-ranked Canadian team, behind Toronto and Montreal.
Finally, World Junior roster announcements are rolling out this week, with loads of Canucks content.
Team USA will make its announcement at 2 p.m. PT Tuesday. That roster is expected to include Will Lockwood.
Canada's team will be announced on Wednesday and is expected to include Canucks prospect Michael DiPietro in net and probably Jonah Gadjovich up front, with Kole Lind on the bubble.
Also Wednesday:
This could shake down as the most intriguing World Juniors ever for Canucks fans. We'll know a lot more in the next 24 hours.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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