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Quinn Hughes meets the media but doesn't hit the ice, Canucks host Rangers |
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Wednesday March 13 - Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Rangers - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 69 GP, 28-32-9, 65 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
New York Rangers: 69 GP, 28-28-13, 69 pts, seventh in Atlantic Division
Quinn Hughes has arrived.
This video does a nice job of walking us through Quinn's thoughts and the events of the last few days, including some detail on his injury and his mindset on signing with the Canucks.
I always find it amusing to see hockey players schlepping all their gear through airports. There's no way for these guys to fly under the radar.
When Hughes met with the media in Vancouver on Wednesday morning, he said he'd had an MRI on his ankle and is staying off the ice, per the team's wishes, while he waits for the results. As I found when speaking to him during his time with Team USA, he's very forthright. And he's eager to get going.
The Canucks further shored up their blue line on Tuesday with the announcement that they have signed 24-year-old Princeton defenseman Josh Teves to a one-year contract.
One year is the longest entry-level deal allowed under the CBA for a player his age. The plan is for him to join the Canucks here in Vancouver for the rest of the season, then re-up this summer as a restricted free agent.
After the Hughes and Teves signings, the Canucks are now at 48 contracts, two away from the maximum. So there is still room to sign Will Lockwood next week if the team so desires.
There has also been a little bit of chatter about Tyler Madden potentially wanting to turn pro at the end of this season. Though he's just finishing his freshman year, he's actually only one month younger than Quinn: he'll turn 20 in November.
Madden has had a breakout year with Northeastern, with 26 points in 31 games. He was an impact player for Team USA at World Juniors and plays bigger than you'd expect from a guy who's 5'11" and 150 pounds. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year, the Huskies won their second-straight Beanpot tournament back in February and finished third in the Hockey East standings. They're now heading into their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal against No. 6 Maine this weekend. Ranked ninth in the nation in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey men's college hockey poll, Madden and the Huskies could still be playing for awhile.
Madden has cooled off a bit during the second half of his season; it'll be interesting to see what he can bring during his first college hockey playoffs.
As for the Canucks: Wednesday's morning skate was an optional, so we don't have a full breakdown of lines and pairings. Here's the update from the blue line:
Based on this update and the pairings from Tuesday's practice, I expect we'll see Edler/Biega, Brisebois/Stecher and Sautner/Tanev tonight. I like it.
Guillaume Brisebois hasn't seen any game action since his most recent recall. His two previous games were both on the road, so this will be his Rogers Arena debut in front of the home fans, wearing No. 56.
Up front:
Travis Green told the media that he's still undecided about whether he'll make any changes to his forward lines. After getting the hook against Vegas last Saturday, Jacob Markstrom will return to the net.
Markstrom will likely to go head-to-head against Swedish goaltending icon Henrik Lundqvist, who got the night off in the New York Rangers' 3-2 overtime loss in Edmonton on Monday but is expected to get the nod against Vancouver. The King celebrated his 37th birthday on March 2, but is having a pretty solid season with the rebuilding Rangers: he's 18-17-10 for the year, with a 2.99 GAA and .909 save percentage.
All things considered, the Rangers' first season under new coach David Quinn has gone about as well as could be expected. The team has continued its aggressive rebuilding strategy, moving out veterans Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes at this year's trade deadline. The Rangers have gotten a career year out of another Swede, Mika Zibanejad, who has already shattered his previous personal best with a team-leading 65 points in 69 games.
The offense drops off pretty quickly from there, but the Rangers have been actively integrating young players into their lineup and have gotten good results so far from new acquisition Brendan Lemieux. Coming back as part of the return when Kevin Hayes was traded to Winnipeg, Claude's kid has seen his average ice time jump from about seven and a half minutes a game with the Jets up to more than 12 with the Rangers, and has put up five points in seven games since switching teams—the same totals that Hayes has so far in Winnipeg.
Lemieux made headlines on Monday when he recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick against the Oilers.
The Rangers have been celebrating the 25th anniversary of their 1994 Stanley Cup win over Vancouver all season, so tonight's game is a special one for them, even with the late start time.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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