Friday November 24 - Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils - 4 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 22 GP, 11-8-3, 25 pts, fourth in Pacific Division New Jersey Devils: 21 GP, 12-5-4, 28 pts, second in Metropolitan Division
We'll see some changes on the right side of the defense tonight as the Vancouver Canucks look for their third-straight road win at Prudential Centre against the New Jersey Devils.
Erik Gudbranson's out, Troy Stecher's in and Chris Tanev's a maybe.
Stecher in for Gudbranson tonight vs NJ. If Tanev cleared, Biega probably comes out. Really interesting decision comes when Gudbranson ready to go. Out about a week with a shoulder injury. #CrowdedCanucks
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) November 24, 2017
Jacob Markstrom returns to the net for his 16th start of the year after making 36 saves to earn the win in Philly on Tuesday. That'll put him more than halfway to his career high of 30 starts when he was backing up Ryan Miller in 2015-16.
Up front, Brock Boeser will have a tough challenge to keep his torrid scoring pace going. With four goals already on this trip, tonight he'll face the impenetrable wall that is Cory Schneider in the New Jersey net. Working once again with goalie coach Rollie Melanson this season, Schneider got his only shutout of the year so far when he stopped 37 shots as the Devils beat the Canucks 2-0 at Rogers Arena back on November 1.
Rick Dhaliwal got a couple of great quotes about Boeser from his college coach Brad Berry on Thursday.
Berry on Boeser : "I am not surprised at all the goals, he's a shooter with a very quick release. He worked hard in the summer and the #Canucks have handled him properly, making him earn it."
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) November 23, 2017
Berry : "Brock is just as humble as Jonathan Toews who we had here at ND. After a goal they both point to the guy who set them up. Just a great kid." #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) November 23, 2017
Tonight is Hockey Fights Cancer night in New Jersey, which carries extra significance thanks to forward Brian Boyle. After being diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia during training camp, Boyle made his return to the ice in the Devils' game against Vancouver. He has a goal and two assists in 11 games so far and is averaging 14:32 of ice time per game—his highest total since back in 2011-12, when he was with the New York Rangers.
The surprising Devils are still sitting high in the Metropolitan Division standings, but they have cooled off since stretching their hot start to 9-2-0 against the Canucks earlier this month. In their last 10 games, New Jersey is 3-3-4, most recently with a 3-2 overtime loss to Boston on Wednesday. Over the same stretch, the Canucks are 5-4-1.
New Jersey trade acquisition Marcus Johansson was injured early in that game in Vancouver and has been sidelined ever since with a concussion. He's now back on the ice skating, but isn't expected to play until sometime next week.
Since that time, the Devils have also lost Kyle Palmieri to a broken foot and Mirco Mueller to a broken collarbone. Travis Zajac has returned to the lineup after suffering an offseason pectoral tear, but is pointless so far in four games.
Taylor Hall is leading the Devils in scoring with 21 points in 21 games, skating with rookies Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. The sixth-round pick Bratt has slowed down after his torrid start, with just two points in his last eight games, but his high-profile role shows that coach John Hynes still likes what he's seeing from the 19-year-old, as well as first-overall pick Hischier.
I had to laugh when I saw Taylor Hall's response to Elliotte Friedman when he was asked if he was thinking that this was the year he'd finally make the playoffs, in this week's 31 Thoughts.
“Not yet,… he answered. “Not because I don’t believe it, but because there are still things we need to fix. We can score, but we depend on our goalies too much. Maybe with [Travis Zajac] coming back, we will be better.…He thought about it a little more.
“We are going to be right there [battling for a spot]… but I’m not ready to say anything is for sure.…
The other big news today was Jim Benning's appearance on TSN1040. The Canucks general manager has been laying low, media-wise, so far this year, but has been a topic of conversation since the news surfaced that he's now in the last year of his contract.
So, this is the money quote:
#Canucks Benning on contract talks: Preliminary stages of conversations with Francesco Aquilini & confident it will get done. No timeline on when it will get done.
— TSN Radio Vancouver (@TSN1040) November 24, 2017
Benning has company around the league, as general managers like Ken Holland in Detroit, Doug Armstrong in St. Louis and Lou Lamoreillo in Toronto are also in the final years of their deals.
Bob McKenzie made a good point in this TSN radio hit, when he suggested that there's a trend away from re-upping general managers a year before their deals expire. Nothing crazy happened in Calgary last year when Brad Treliving reached "UFA status" before re-signing on May 1.
I guess the bottom line as far as the Canucks are concerned is why feel the need to do anything right now," McKenzie said. "Let's let the season unfold, let's get a better handle of where we're at and we'll talk to Jim in due course and it's really up to him just to keep doing his job and wait to see how they decide how to proceed.
Benning's a forthright guy. I believe he would be proceeding in good faith.
As I mentioned in a comment section a few days ago, I also think Benning has shown a solid climb up the learning curve since he took the reins in Vancouver at the beginning of the 2014-15 season. The organization and scouting staff have been revamped significantly, the prospect depth is unprecedented, and he's hitting more than he's missing these days when it comes to player acquisition.
The Derrick Pouliot trade is looking like one of his best and he's proving us all wrong about Thomas Vanek.
His record's not perfect, but no GM's is. The Loui Eriksson deal is still the biggest question mark, we're still hoping for more from Sam Gagner and Benning takes heat for his Gudbranson deal—although it's not like Jared McCann is ripping it up in Florida. He had seven points in 29 NHL games last year and has five points in 10 games this year—and has missed 10 games with a lower-body injury.
The Anton Rodin situation didn't pan out and the Tryamkin situation was highly unfortunate, but on balance, I think Benning's doing much better than he was in the early stages of his tenure as a first-time GM. He seems to be learning from his mistakes and may still have upside, so I'd rather see him given a chance to continue than upset the apple cart again by bringing in somebody new.
What say you?