With their fortunes trending downward, it's probably not a bad thing that the Vancouver Canucks are hitting the road for the next seven games, with their five-day bye week wedged in as well.
There's no way to get points on days off, and the Canucks have plenty of those—13 off-days in total before they return to Rogers Arena on January 23. The light schedule could see the team slide even further down the NHL standings this month.
When most of the fanbase is more interested in a high draft lottery pick than a playoff spot, that's not a huge issue. Those days off also give injured players like Bo Horvat more time to heal—and give us time to focus on the big-picture questions that loom for the organization.
Canucks president Trevor Linden tried to slow the roll of speculation by stepping in front of the assembled media after practice on Wednesday to address some of those organizational questions. Here's the complete presser, if you'd care to partake:
His non-committal responses are telling in their own way:
• Nothing is imminent with Erik Gudbranson, either in terms of a trade or a possible new contract for the impending unrestricted free agent. Since his return from injury on December 19, Guddy is sixth in average ice time among Canucks defensemen—in the same ballpark as Ben Hutton and Troy Stecher at 16:33 per game. He has two assists, no penalty minutes, and is a minus-two. He leads the defensemen by a slight margin with 17 hits (though Alex Biega averages more hits per game) and is in the middle of pack with seven blocks and four giveaways.
• Nothing is imminent, either, on a new contract for general manager Jim Benning:
• And no, we won't see Thatcher Demko in net in Vancouver anytime soon.
We're now seven and a half weeks away from the February 26 trade deadline—which comes right on the heels of the end of the Olympics. With or without a contract, Benning will have some big decisions to make about the future of the Canucks before that time.
And speaking of the future, we've got two big semifinal games on tap today at the World Junior Championship:
United States vs. Sweden - 1 p.m. PT
Will Lockwood's injury at the Winter Classic means we won't get to see a Canuck-vs-Canuck showdown at this stage, but I'm very interested to see how these two teams stack up against each other.
The U.S. finished the preliminary round with a 2-1-1 record for eight points, finishing second in Group A, before eliminating Russia by a score of 4-2 in their quarterfinal game. Casey Middlestadt has been the U.S. standout, leading the entire tournament with 10 points in five games so far—good news for the local fanbase in Buffalo, since he was an eighth-overall pick by the Sabres last June.
The Americans have relied on Joseph Woll in net—a third-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2016 whose .905 save percentage ranks him fifth among the tournament's starting goaltenders.
As for Sweden, they're the only undefeated team in the tournament, going a perfect 4-0-0 in the preliminary round. They've been led offensively by the line of Lias Andersson, Alex Nylander (another Sabres prospect) and the Canucks' Elias Pettersson. Each member of the trio has six points so far in the tournament, but the group was quiet in Sweden's 3-2 quarterfinal win over Slovakia. That could be due in part to an injury to the captain Andersson, who saw limited icetime in the second half of the quarterfinal but who says he'll play today.
For Canucks fans, Elias Pettersson has dazzled with some highlight-reel goals, but has been playing through an illness for most of the tournament.
The Sweden/U.S. game will also be a showcase for Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The projected first-overall pick in the 2018 draft has six assists so far in the tournament and has lived up to his enormous hype levels on the talented Swedish team.
Canada vs. Czech Republic - 5 p.m. PT
Canada's record so far in the tournament is blemished only by its shootout loss to the U.S. at the outdoor game in the preliminary round—unusual circumstances, for sure. Outscoring their opponents 21-6, Canada finished the preliminary round with a tournament-leading plus-15 goal differential before a cakewalk 8-2 win over the Swiss in their quarterfinal game.
The Canadians' balanced scoring attack has prevented any individual skater from emerging as a particular standout. I'd say goaltender Carter Hart has been the brightest star so far, with his 1.96 goals-against average and .920 save percentage.
Canucks prospect Jonah Gadjovich was named player of the game in Canada's 6-0 win over Slovakia, where he scored both of his goals. He also has one assist and is a plus-three but has seen relatively limited ice time compared to Canada's other forwards—averaging 12:22 per game.
Unlike the Swiss going into the quarterfinal, Czech coach Filip Pesan is not conceding today's game in advance. “We can’t take stupid penalties,” he told
Mark Masters of TSN. “We have to play an active way and not just be waiting to see what they’re going to do to us. We can’t just play defence, because we’d be under pressure the whole game. It’s not the way to win the game. We have to have confidence with the puck and move it fast. And be strong on the puck. We'll be ready and we want to beat them."
Today's game is huge for the Czechs, who haven't reached a World Junior semifinal since 2005. They finished second behind Sweden in Group B with a 3-0-0-1 record before knocking out Olli Juolevi and the Finns in the shootout in the quarterfinal—when Canucks' prospect Juolevi was named Finland's player of the game.
Czech goalie Josef Korenar has been excellent, with his .922 save percentage, and the Czechs have been dynamic up front. Martin Necas, the 12th-overall pick of the Carolina Hurricanes last June, sits second in tournament scoring with nine points, Tampa Bay prospect Libor Hajek leads all defensemen with seven points and draft-eligible Filip Zadina of the Halifax Mooseheads has turned heads with five goals and six points. The Czechs have plenty of firepower and should send lots of rubber at Carter Hart today.
This stage of the tournament is usually where World Juniors usually goes to the next level. The kids play hard and show loads of skill, but also tend to make enough mistakes to keep the final outcomes utterly unpredictable.
Enjoy the games!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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