In the Hockey is For Everyone afternoon gameday slot, the Vancouver Canucks and Columbus Blue Jackets clash on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2024.
The Canucks are this season’s western conference powerhouse, having six NHL All Star representatives — head coach Rick Tochett, forwards Elias Petterson, Brock Boeser, and JT Miller; defenseman Quinn Hughes; and starting goaltender Thatcher Demko.
At the time of this writing, the Canucks are first in the league and on a five game winning streak, dominating the Eastern Conference.
Vancouver had a busy summer retooling the roster under the former Penguins brass into their new vision.
Out
Vitaly Kratsov headed to the KHL.
Ethan Bear signed with Washington.
Brady Keeper signed with Montreal. Tanner Pearson was traded to Montreal.
Colin Delia signed with Winnipeg.
Kyle Burroughs joined San Jose.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson was bought out of his contract and signed with Florida.
Justin Dowling signed with New Jersey.
Travis Dermottt joined Arizona after being left unqualified.
Spencer Martin was claimed off waivers by Columbus just before the season began.
In
Sam Lafferty was acquired via trade from Toronto.
Casey DeSmith was acquired via trade from Montreal.
Pius Suter and Teddy Bleuger signed as free agents.
Ian Cole, Carson Soucy, and Matt Irwin signed as defenders.
This is their first meeting of two, playing each other twice in the next 12 days.
Elvis is in against Demko.
Projected Lineups
Vancouver Canucks
Elias Pettersson—JT Miller—Brock Boeser Dakota Joshua—Teddy Bleuger—Connor Garland Ilya Mikheyev—Pius Suter—Andrei Kuzmenko Nils Hoglander—Nils Aman—Sam Lafferty
Quinn Hughes—Fillip Hronek Carson Soucy—Tyler Myers Nikita Zadarov—Ian Cole
Thatcher Demko Casey DeSmith
Injured — Phil Di Giuseppe, Tucker Poolman
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau—Cole Sillinger—Yegor Chinakov Kent Johnson—Adam Fantilli—Emil Bemstrom Dmitry Voronkov—Jack Roslovic—Kirill Marchenko Alexandre Texier—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth
Damon Severson—Adam Boqvist Ivan Provorov—Andrew Peeke Jake Bean—Erik Gudbranson
Elvis Merzlikins Spencer Martin
Scratched — Mathieu Olivier, David Jiricek, Daniil Tarasov
Injured — Nick Blankenburg, Boone Jenner, Patrik Laine, Zach Werenski
Players to Watch
Vancouver — Quinn Hughes — potential Norris winner.
Columbus — Sean Kuraly — back from injury, it is great to see him after what occurred in Toronto.
Predicted Final Score
VAN - 4
CBJ - 1