Tuesday March 22 - Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 71 GP, 27-32-12, 66 pts, sixth in Pacific Division Winnipeg Jets: 72 GP, 29-37-6, 64 pts, seventh in Central Division
Ed Willes of The Province sets the stage nicely for the first outing of the Vancouver Canucks' current three game road trip, against the Winnipeg Jets:
Tuesday night, the Canucks and Jets meet in a contest which is of massive importance to the bizarro race for Auston Matthews but of little significance to the rest of the hockey world. The Jets sit 29th in the 30-team NHL. The Canucks are tied for 27th just two points ahead. Last season the Canucks finished with 101 points and second in the Pacific while the Jets finished with 99, beating out the L.A. Kings (!) for the final playoff spot in the West.
I have to admit, I take some consolation in the fact that the Jets—and the Calgary Flames, as well—have been caught in basically the same downward spiral as the Canucks this year.
I look at that Winnipeg lineup, with high-end talent like Dustin Byfuglien and Blake Wheeler, emerging stars like Mark Scheifele, Jacob Trouba and Nikolaj Ehlers and a list of prospects like Connor Hellebuyck, Josh Morrissey and Kyle Connor waiting in the wings, and I see so much potential.
Heck, The Hockey News put the Jets on the cover of its Future Watch issue last summer, pegging the team as the 2019 Stanley Cup champions.
A lot can happen in the next three years, for sure. Tonight, the only real matter of consequence for Winnipeg and Vancouver will be that quest for a stronger draft position.
Still, the Canucks really need to show a stronger effort after Daniel Sedin called out his teammates after Saturday's loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Daniel didn't name names—his remarks were directed at the team as a whole but the kids seem to be getting the lion's share of the attention, especially after Willie Desjardins also threw some barbs in their direction last week.
Daniel tempered his comments a little bit on Monday:
More Daniel Sedin: "I look back. Where was I when I was 19? Back in Sweden. But a maturity level still needs to be there on a daily basis.…
— Ben Kuzma (@benkuzma) March 21, 2016
The kids say they're getting the message:
Virtanen on D. Sedin: "He’s absolutely right. The last push here, guys have to still battle. We don’t want our identity to be a losing one."
— Ben Kuzma (@benkuzma) March 21, 2016
McCann on D. Sedin: "You take it to heart. We have to win battles and we can’t use our age as an excuse. He’s just pushing us to be better."
— Ben Kuzma (@benkuzma) March 21, 2016
Alex Burrows was praised by his coach on Monday for sending the right message by playing while ill over the weekend.
“Burrows showed up because we needed him,… Willie told Ben Kuzma. “That could have been a bad game and he did his part to show up and help us. Those are things that young guys sometimes don’t even see. They just take it for granted that he’s okay. Those are valuable lessons that you can miss along the way."
Perhaps that's part of the reason why Burrows was moved up to skate with the Sedins during line rushes on Monday? We'll have to wait and see if that's how Willie deploys his troops tonight.
Even if the lines are shuffled, after a well-attended morning skate in Winnipeg today, it sounds like it'll be up to the same group that got torched for 50 shots against on Saturday to try to find its way out of this funk:
Coach Desjardins doesn't anticipate any lineup changes tonight, although Yannick Weber is the closest of the injured players to returning.
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) March 22, 2016
Weber, Derek Dorsett and Jannik Hansen are all with the team and skating, so they could return sometime during this trip.
If you missed it, Willie Desjardins also confirmed on Monday that Alex Edler, Brandon Sutter and Radim Vrbata have all been shut down for the season.
Vrbata suffered a knee injury against Edmonton on Friday that draws his time with the Canucks to a close with 44-46-90 in 142 games. He has been consistently inconsistent throughout his career and his 63 points with Vancouver in 2014-15 were an all-time high, so maybe this year's dropoff was all but inevitable?
Sutter has been skating for a little while since suffering a fractured jaw on Feb. 9, but his return date is now close enough to the end of the season that there's no point trying to push him to get back.
@ShaneElliott WD said this morning, if they'd made playoffs Sutter would have been available. Said recovery was slightly behind schedule
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) March 21, 2016
Over in Winnipeg, their injured list also continues to grow. The latest addition is defenseman Toby Enstrom:
"Toby is having surgery on Thursday on his knee." -Maurice. He says Enstrom has been dealing with the injury since November.
— Winnipeg Jets (@NHLJets) March 22, 2016
Defenceman Julian Melchiori has been recalled from the Manitoba Moose on an emergency basis to fill Enstrom's spot.
Other regulars on the sidelines for the Jets include Bryan Little, Grant Clitsome and Mathieu Perreault. Ehlers, Joel Armia and Mark Stuart all practiced with the team on Monday but won't play tonight.
Delta, B.C. native Nic Petan celebrates his 21st birthday today on the third game of his latest recall from the Moose—skating on the Jets' top line tonight with Scheifele and Wheeler. And Canuck-killer Marko Dano returns to the lineup tonight after missing the Jets' last game on Sunday due to illness.
Ondrej Pavelec is expected to start in goal for the Jets. No word on whether the Canucks will go back to Ryan Miller after his strong performance on Saturday or continue alternating their netminders.
Looking Ahead
I have been so obsessed with the Canucks' two top NCAA stars that I haven't been paying much attention to some of their other prospects.
Anton Rodin isn't a typical "prospect." He's a 25-year-old who was drafted by the Canucks in 2009 and spent two years with the organization as part of the Chicago Wolves before returning to his home country of Sweden in 2013.
He was having a breakout season with Brynas this year before suffering a serious injury due to a skate cut during a practice in January.
Rodin was leading Swedish Elite League in scoring before suffering a serious leg injury, He should be healthy in a few weeks.
— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) March 22, 2016
Now that Brynas' season is over, word is that the Canucks are working to finalize a contract with Rodin this week. Sounds like he won't be ready to play this year, but I wonder if he'll come over to spend some time with the team before the end of the season?
Also, quick updates on some members of the Canucks' draft class of 2015 who are not named Brock Boeser:
Dmitry Zhukenov was chosen in the fourth round, 114th overall:
#Canucks prospect Dmitry Zhukenov finishes his QMJHL season as the 5th highest scoring rookie with 57 points (15-42-57) in 64 games
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) March 22, 2016
Carl Neill was chosen in the fifth round, 144th overall:
#Canucks prospect Carl Neill finishes the his QMJHL season as the 5th highest scoring defenceman with 50 PTS (8-42-50) in 64 games
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) March 22, 2016
And Adam Gaudette was chosen in the fifth round, 149th overall. He plays for Northeastern, the team that knocked out Boston College in the Hockey East tournament last weekend:
#Canucks prospect Adam Gaudette is a #HockeyEast Champion! He was on the ice for all 3 Northeastern goals and scored 1 of them himself.
— Pass it to Bulis (@passittobulis) March 20, 2016
Gaudette was named Hockey East's rookie of the week for his performance last week.
Northeastern is also part of this weekend's NCAA tournament, and playoffs begin this week in the QMJHL. Zhukenov's #10 Chicoutimi team will play Cape Breton, Neill's #15 Sherbrooke will play #2 Shawinigan and third-round pick Guillaume Brisebois and #14 Acadie-Bathurst will take on #3 Saint John.