The hockey world is grinding back into gear after the three-day holiday break.
I imagine most of the Vancouver Canucks' players and staff enjoyed their time off, riding the high of their first three-game winning streak since October. They'll practice at Rogers Arena on Friday, then host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
With Alex Edler now healthy, the Canucks officially "loaned" Jalen Chatfield to Utica before their last game on Monday. Michael DiPietro, who'd been on emergency recall, was also re-assigned to the Comets on Tuesday, after Thatcher Demko backed up Jacob Markstrom in the win over Edmonton.
On the injury front, Brandon Sutter was placed on the injured reserve list on Monday as he missed his third-straight game. No details on what's ailing him except that it's an upper-body issue that's not related to the groin problem that kept him out for a month earlier this season.
Josh Leivo is also currently on I.R. with the broken kneecap that he suffered last week against Vegas. His recovery time is estimated at two to three months, so he'll probably be moved to LTIR at some point if cap space is needed.
Tyler Graovac is the third player on the regular injured list. He has now been out since December 1 with a cracked bone in his foot. Micheal Ferland is the lone player currently on the long-term injured list, out since December 12 with his latest concussion.
Ferland will need to miss a minimum of 10 games or 24 days before he can be re-activated. He has missed seven games so far, so the earliest he'll be able to return to the Canucks' lineup will be January 4, against the New York Rangers.
With those moves, the Canucks spent the holidays with 22 players on their active roster. That'll save them a few bucks against the salary cap.
The Canucks have just two games on tap for the rest of 2019:
Saturday, December 28 - at home to Los Angeles
- the Kings still sit last in the Western Conference; they're tied with Anaheim and San Jose with 34 points, but they've played the most games
- L.A. went into the holiday on a two-game losing streak after having gone 4-0-2 in their previous six games
- the Kings will face the Canucks in the second game of a back-to-back — they're one of 11 teams in action on Friday, playing in San Jose
Sunday, December 29 - on the road in Calgary
- the Flames come out of the holiday break just one point ahead of Vancouver
- Calgary will have a chance to leapfrog Edmonton into third place in the Pacific when they visit the Oilers on Friday night
After those two games, the Canucks get another three days off. The New Year will begin with home games against Chicago and the Rangers before a wacky five-game road trip that starts off with sun and fun in Tampa and Florida before returning north to frigid Buffalo, Minnesota and Winnipeg. Then, it's two divisional home games against Arizona and San Jose before the eight-day bye week/All-Star Break.
With two games left to play in the calendar year, the Canucks are 35-32-11 for 81 points in 78 games so far in 2019. That ranks them 24th overall in the league — St. Louis is first with 119 points and Toronto sits in the middle in 16th place, with 90 points.
But the Canucks are at the low end of the spectrum for games played. Their .519 winning percentage bumps them up a couple more spots, to 22nd.
Let's see how that compares to the other calendar years since the transition began out of the Gillis era:
Over the full decade since January 1, 2010, the Canucks are 386-304-93 for 865 points in 783 games and a .552 points percentage. That puts them smack in the middle of the league — 16th in total points and 17th in points percentage — even though, as Iain MacIntyre points out, they've been anything but average in this 10-year period.
The @Canucks were statistically average this decade, which is amazing because during this period they were almost never average.
I feel like the Sportsnet headline writer has done MacIntyre a bit of a disservice here — he definitely chose the "most memorable" moments rather than the "top" ones. And if that's the criteria, I don't think I'd argue.
Off the top of my head, I'd say that for pure emotional impact, the three "best" moments of the last decade would be:
1. The Dragon-slayer goal vs. Chicago, 2011
2. The Stanchion goal vs. San Jose, 2011
3. Petey's first goal, 2018
Ten years from now, I wonder if we'll be talking about goals by Nils Hoglander and Vasily Podkolzin in this space?
Both Canucks prospects potted beauties in the first day of World Junior Championship action on Boxing Day.
Hoglander made all the highlight reels with another amazing lacrosse-style goal and was named player of the game for his team as the Swedes came from behind to extend their preliminary-round winning streak to 49 games with a 3-2 win over the defending gold medalists from Finland on Thursday in Trinec.
I was doing stats for this game on Thursday. It was even more special to see the play develop in real time.
As for Podkolzin, his Russian team fell 4-3 to the host Czechs, but he wore an "A" for Russia, played a solid 17:44, finished with a plus-one, and showed great hand-eye coordination on his first goal of the tournament.
Condensed highlights of #Canucks prospect Vasili Podkolzin vs CZE
Podkolzin was solid playing in all situations including a tough 5on3 PK at the end of the game. Was impressed by his ability to find teammates in open space today. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ZKoTWIPVdn
Toni Utunen also wore an "A" in a losing cause for the Finns. He played his usual quiet, steady game, 16:22 with no shots and an even plus-minus.
Canucks' sixth-rounder Karel Plasek didn't make the initial Czech roster, but is still with the team. He could be activated after Jakub Lauko suffered a painful-looking MCL injury early in Thursday's game against Russia — and has now announced that he's out for the rest of the tournament.
#NHLBruins prospect Jakub Lauko is done for the tournament with MCL injury. Karel Plasek or Vojtech Strondala will be added to the roster. https://t.co/3MdBd0Spzb
Just two games on the World Junior schedule on Friday. Slovakia survived a scare from Khazakhstan, squeaking out a 3-1 win in a closely contested game, and Germany - newly promoted to the top division this year - is down 2-1 to USA after one period of their game in Ostrava as I type this.
Podkolzin and Hoglander will both be back in action on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT, when Russia plays Canada in Ostrava and the Swedes face Switzerland in Trinec.
The Utica Comets also get back into action on Friday, hosting the Hershey Bears at 4 p.m. PT, then visiting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday before finishing out their year on New Year's Eve against Rochester. Like their parent club, the Comets went into the holiday break on a three-game winning streak. With a record of 18-10-1-2, they sit third in the AHL's North Division as play begins on Friday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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