St. Louis Blues at Vancouver Canucks - Wednesday February 26 - 7:30 pm - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks 27-24-9 - 63 points - fifth in Pacific Division - 10th in Western Conference
St. Louis Blues 39-12-6 - 84 points - first in Central Division - second in Western Conference
Here we go. The Vancouver Canucks continue their journey to—somewhere—tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Will it be a road to redemption or postseason elimination?
The Canucks have taken to the ice for their morning skate, and it's now confirmed: Ryan Kesler won't play.
Meanwhile,
Not wanting to miss out on the air miles accumulated by his brother, Henrik had to travel to Sweden to deal with his personal issues earlier in the week. If he's not ready to go by game time, the Canucks really could be icing a forward group that's anchored down the middle by Jordan Schroeder, Zac Dalpe, Brad Richardson and Kellan Lain. No offense to those guys, but it's not exactly the blazing lineup the team will need if they hope to mount their home stretch attack.
Chris Tanev remains sidelined with his broken thumb and Andrew Alberts continues to have symptoms from his December concussion. Kevin Bieksa and Alex Burrows both practiced on Tuesday and are expected to play.
Ben Kuzma of
The Province is
projecting that the Canucks will have to go 14-4-4 the rest of the way in order to accumulate the 95 points they'd need to make the postseason. Dizzying, but this team has been nothing but streaky this year and did put up a 10-1-2 record in December. Maybe March will be equally productive?
For their part, St. Louis had a league-best 10 players called to Sochi. They came back with golds for defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester of Canada, silvers for Alexander Steen and Patrick Berglund of Sweden, and no hardware for USA's David Backes, T.J. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk, Russia's Vladimir Tarasenko and Slovakia's Jaroslav Halak.
Vladimir Sobotka of the Czech Republic was injured in early February. He didn't participate in the tournament and won't be with the Blues tonight in Vancouver.
Halak will start for the Blues after a brutal Olympics for Slovakia, where he recorded a nasty 5.13 goals-against after giving up eight goals in just over four periods. Peter Budaj wasn't much better, so the Slovaks ended up going with their third-stringer in their elimination game against the Czechs, which they lost 5-3.
For the Canucks, expect to see Eddie Lack get the start in net. Despite the Blues' 21-point lead over Vancouver in the current standings, the Canucks are 2-0-0 against St. Louis so far this year, with Lack backstopping both those victories. The Blues are 5-1-3 against Canadian teams this season, so their only regulation loss was the 2-1 win by Vancouver at Rogers Arena back in early January.
Trade Talks:
With one week to go till the trade deadline, there still hasn't been a single deal.
NHL.com has gotten in on the action with the Martin St. Louis rumors in Tampa Bay,
reporting that the team captain has had discussions with Steve Yzerman regarding his future with the team. He has a no-movement clause, but the landscape shifts significantly if he's looking for a change of scenery.
St. Louis has one more year on his current deal after this, with a cap hit of $5.625 million, and has 56 points in 58 games this year. With his combination of leadership and offensive production, he would be an attractive asset if Yzerman's really willing to move him.
Bob McKenzie of TSN is stirring the pot
here in "Insider Trading" as he suggests that there's plenty of interest in both Alex Edler and Ryan Kesler. He admits that a potential injury to Kesler could be a stumbling block, as could the players' no-movement clauses.
I agree that every player should be available for the right price, but my instincts are that the team should stand pat on both these players unless an unbelievable offer comes along. Torts talked during the break about committing to getting the best out of Edler. I'd like to give him more than a week to try before pulling the pin.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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