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CBJ G49 @ Vancouver Canucks — Controversy |
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The Columbus Blue Jackets conclude their season series with the Vancouver Canucks.
The first meeting was in the early part of the season, where the Canucks were being known as the chokers, from having multi goal leads to losing their opponents in the same game.
It was the Jackets' first home win of the season; highlighted by an overtime game winning goal by Vladislav Gavrikov.
That was Columbus' fourth game of the season.
This was under the Bruce Broudreau led team, and is now led by the Pittsburgh brass. Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin fired former assistant coach Rick Tocchett alongside legend Sergei Gonchar; assistant Mike Yeo; and Columbus legend Adam Foote to be on his staff.
The Canucks are remaining middling team for the exception of letting their captain be available for trade. Bo Horvat was the 9th overall selection in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. Horvat is the team's leading goal scorer with 31 goals in 48 games this season. Horvat is a pending UFA, with a cap hit at $5.5M. Half retained will be at $2.75M.
Columbus was mentioned extremely early in the season, but not anymore. Personally, him and Boston is a marriage bound to happen based on his style of play and salary. New Jersey would be hilarious for the laughs; they could've kept him instead of getting Bridgeport starter Corey Schneider.
The Canucks have recently extended Russian rookie Andrei Kuzmenko to a two year, $11M contract extension. Kuzmenko, 26, has 43 points in 47 games on the season. Kuzmenko has 4 goals in his last 5 games. This is a now move to keep cheap goal scoring by replacing his salary with their leader.
The Canucks are evaluating their team, and are figuring out new lineups and pairings for the future. Reports are they're looking at moving basically everyone, but their higher priorities now are Horvat; defended Tyler Myers; and winger Brock Boeser. OEL; Thatcher Demko; Quin Hughes; Connor Garland; and I've heard one mention of Elias Petterson. If I was smart, I'd keep the pillars between the Swede forward, American winger and defender and goalie; and move JT Miller. No attitude like that is acceptable in a locker room and on the ice. What a miserable thing to have on the roster.
Projected Lineups
Vancouver Canucks
Jack Studnicka--Bo Horvat--Brock Boeser
Ilya Mikheyev--Elias Pettersson--Andrei Kuzmenko
Sheldon Dries--JT Miller--Connor Garland
Dakota Joshua--Curtis Lazar--Phil Di Giuseppe
Oliver Ekman-Larsson--Tyler Myers
Quinn Hughes--Luke Schenn
Travis Dermott--Kyle Burroughs
Spencer Martin
Colin Dellia
Scratched -- Lane Pederson, Riley Stillman, Ethan Bear
Injured -- Thatcher Demko, Michael Ferland, Tucker Poolman, Tanner Pearson
Columbus Blue Jackets
Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Patrik Laine
Gustav Nyquist—Cole Sillinger—Kent Johnson
Emil Bemstrom—Jack Roslovic—Kirill Marchenko
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Mathieu Olivier
Vladislav Gavrikov—Adam Boqvist
Tim Breni—Erik Gudbranson
Andrew Peeke—Nick Blankenburg
Joonas Korpisalo
Elvis Merzlikins
Scratched — Liam Foudy, Gavin Bayreuther
Injured — Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Jake Bean, Justin Danforth, Yegor Chinakov
Players to Watch
Vancouver — Bo Horvat. For sure the last time Columbus fans see him in a Vancouver jersey. He is also their All Star selected by the league.
Columbus — Vladislav Gavrikov — been rumored to the Oilers; how will he match against the Oilers’ best players?
Predicted Final Score
VAN: 2
CBJ : 4
What are your thoughts? More to come...
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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