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Chaput, Megna, Bachman on waivers, Canucks close out preseason with a win |
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Saturday September 30 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Edmonton Oilers 2
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were dangerous, but the Vancouver Canucks found a way to skate with the improved Edmonton Oilers and end their preseason on a winning note at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.
Here are your highlights:
Thanks to a long list of penalties for both sides, Markus Granlund stood out as the Canucks' offensive star. Granlund plays on the power play and the penalty kill, so he led all Vancouver forwards with 19:13 of ice time and scored a gorgeous and important goal, shorthanded, just after the Oilers had gone up 2-1 on a five-on-three power play.
I've said this before—making just $900,000 in a contract year, expect to see Granlund break out this season. I'm not too worried about opening-night line combinations because I expect they'll be very fluid through the first 10-20 games. Travis Green has a lot of options.
Versatile players include Granlund and Alex Burmistrov, who can play all three forward positions. Sam Gagner can be a centre or a wing and Loui Eriksson and Thomas Vanek can play both sides.
As good as Granlund's game was on Saturday, I didn't love him in the middle at five-on-five. He went 3-for-14 in the faceoff circle and I could see him scrambling to try to win draws by any means necessary in the third period. He was 1-for-6 against Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 1-for-3 against Mark Letestu and 1-for-3 against Ryan Strome.
Alex Burmistrov probably earned himself some fans on Saturday with his sweet setup of Jake Virtanen for the game's opening goal.
We even saw some production from Loui Eriksson, who chipped in what proved to be the game-winner on the power play with 7:19 to play in the third.
That's the type of goal I remember Eriksson scoring with regularity against the Canucks back when he played for Dallas. I fully expect him to return to form this year—he has talked about how he's properly settled in the city now, which takes some time for a family with four young kids.
Protecting the lead in the third, Travis Green reverted to some familiar Willie Desjardins tactics, benching his kids Boeser and Virtanen while deploying the likes of Jayson Megna.
The team did hang on for the win—impressive against a tough Oilers team, especially when they were outshot 27-17 on the night. Jacob Markstrom deserves accolades for his effort. Both goalies were terrific in these last two games—so far, the battle for playing time in net is yielding optimal results.
As promised, the Canucks did make some roster cuts today. Megna-and-Chaput are almost as inseparable as the Sedins these days!
Once again, all players on waivers cleared on Saturday, including Anton Rodin. He'll report to Utica once his U.S. work visa is sorted out.
Speaking of Utica, the Comets dropped a 3-2 decision to Syracuse in their first preseason action on Saturday. Nikolay Goldobin and Cameron Darcy scored the Comets' goals.
Utica cut three players today to help make room for the new arrivals. Nobody we saw at Canucks camp.
The Comets are back in action today against the Crunch in Syracuse. Once again, game time is 2 p.m. PT.
Also out east, Adam Gaudette made quite a statement in Northeastern's preseason game against U. PEI. With two goals and two assists, he was named first start in the Huskies' 9-1 blowout win.
It's going to be a lot of fun to watch the Canucks prospects doing their thing in all their various leagues this year. These daily graphics from Ryan Biech are a big help in keeping track!
After today's cuts, the Canucks need to make a couple more moves.
The team still has nine defensemen in the mix. Andrey Pedan seemed to have a lot of momentum in the discussions I saw all around the web on Saturday, but I'm still not sold. He has been good in preseason, but he has a reputation for inconsistency. Nobody knows that better than Travis Green, who has had him for the better part of the last three seasons—and was scratching him on the regular toward the end of last season, when Utica was winning all those games and pushing for a playoff spot.
I can't carve up Patrick Wiercioch and Alex Biega for getting toasted by McDavid and Draisaitl on that last-second goal in the first period last night. That happens to the best of 'em around the NHL.
The forward situation is also interesting. Jake Virtanen did everything he could to make his case with his fourth goal in six preseason games, while Brock Boeser seems to have wilted a bit in the face of tougher competition. With no special teams action, Jake played just 8:39 on Saturday. Boeser got 2:49 of power-play time and 11:26 in total, but delivered a completely blank stat line. It's like he wasn't even there!
There has been a big momentum shift this week. At this point, I think there'd be more of a fuss if Virtanen gets sent to Utica than if it happens to Boeser.
Darren Archibald was also pretty quiet, with one blocked shot attempt and three hits in 12:06 of ice time, including 1:13 on the penalty kill.
I'd say he's still in the mix. Right now, we're in a holding pattern.
The Canucks need to submit their opening-night roster on Tuesday, so I believe tomorrow will be their last chance to make cut-downs. We'll have clarity soon!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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