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Brandon Sutter's back for Canucks' important divisional battle vs. Coyotes

January 16, 2020, 2:25 PM ET [230 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thursday January 16 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Arizona Coyotes - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet 650

Vancouver Canucks: 47 GP, 25-18-4, 54 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
Arizona Coyotes: 49 GP, 26-18-5, first in Pacific Division

It isn't quite a face-off for first place, but there's a lot on the line for both teams when the Vancouver Canucks meet the Arizona Coyotes for the first time this season at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.

Both clubs are in the thick of the mix in the Western Conference playoff race. The Coyotes come into the game with a three-point edge over Vancouver. And even though they've played two more games than the Canucks, Arizona also has a slight edge in points percentage — 13th in the league at .582 while Vancouver is tied for 14th with Winnipeg and Columbus, at .574.

Though the Flames and Oilers sit between Arizona and Vancouver in the Pacific Division standings, they're a hair below the Canucks in points percentage, tied at .573.

At this point, it really looks like we'll be scoreboard watching for the rest of the season. And given how willing teams have been to make big-time coaching changes in hopes of gaining an edge, I can't help thinking that next month's trade deadline could turn out to be verrrrrrry interesting.

Early in the season, the Coyotes' success came on the back of Darcy Kuemper, the 29-year-old journeyman goalie who found his game while he was with the Los Angeles Kings during the 2017-18 season, then built on that foundation after he was traded to Arizona at the 2018 trade deadline.

Kuemper had a 10-1-3 record with a .932 save percentage with the Kings, so his success isn't completely attributable to Arizona's system or goaltending coach Corey Schwab. But Kuemper showed his record in L.A. was no fluke when he posted a .925 save percentage in 55 games with the Coyotes last season, after presumed No. 1 Antti Raanta spent much of the year on the sidelines due to injury.

This year, Kuemper was 15-8-2 with a .929 save percentage and 2.17 goals-against when he was knocked out of action just before Christmas. At that point, the Coyotes were tied with Vegas at the top of the Pacific with 46 points — six up on Vancouver.

Since Kuemper went out, they've gone 5-5-1 off seven appearances each from Raanta and from 23-year-old Adin Hill of Comox, B.C. (Yes, there have been some two-goalie games along the way). Over the last two weeks, Raanta has been dealing with a lower-body injury of his own, so Hill has been carrying the load. Raanta did practice on Wednesday, so it's unclear at this point which goalie the Canucks will face. If Hill plays, it'll be his first-ever NHL start in his home province and his first-ever game against the Canucks.

There was talk last season that Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet should be in the running for the Jack Adams Award after he kept his team in the hunt for a playoff spot until the late stages despite a monumental volume of key injuries. They ended up ninth in the Western Conference with 86 points, four behind eighth-place Colorado and five ahead of Vancouver.

This year, things are going a lot better. As of last week, they were the big purple bubble about a third of the way across the graph:



The large-ish size of their bubble is largely due to Niklas Hjalmarsson's fractured fibula, which happened when he blocked a shot during the Coyotes' fourth game of the season. The workhorse blueliner returned to the lineup last Sunday after missing three months of action so other than the goalies, the Coyotes are healthy except for our favourite whiskey drinker, Brad Richardson, who suffered a lower-body injury in Arizona's 6-3 win over San Jose on Tuesday and has now been placed on injured reserve.

Replacing Richardson on the roster? Another old friend, Michael Chaput, who was dealt to the Coyotes from Montreal at the 2019 trade deadline. He has also had a couple of other call-ups from the AHL earlier this season, but has yet to get into an NHL game this year.

Here's a look at how the Coyotes rolled their lines against the Sharks on Tuesday:



Thursday night will be Canucks fans' first chance to properly process the reality that Phil Kessel and Taylor Hall both play for Arizona now.

Kessel's performing below his usual pace, with 11 goals and 30 points in 49 games so far this season. After going pointless in three games, including against his old team, the Penguins, he had a great night against the Sharks on Tuesday, with two goals and an assist on six shots.

As for Hall? He has been pretty solid since landing in the desert a month ago. In 14 games, he has 13 points, including five in his last two games.

Meanwhile, it looks like Brandon Sutter will be returning to the Vancouver lineup on Thursday after missing the last 12 games, bumping Tim Schaller off the fourth line.



As you saw above, the Canucks' total man-games lost have still been among the highest in the league this season. The differences from past years are that the defense has been much healthier (knock on wood) and that the missing forwards have come mostly out of the bottom six.

But it's another frustrating season for Sutter, who played 26 games in 2018-19 and has suited up for just 22 of 47 so far this year. It's hard to believe he's already in the fourth season of that five-year extension he signed when he was traded to the Canucks back in 2015 — and also hard to believe what a grind it's been for him, health-wise, after he showed great durability earlier in his career.

Thursday is also the Canucks' annual Hockey Talks night, in support of mental health and in honour of the late Rick Rypien. I was so impressed to see Tyler Motte willing to come out and tell the story of his battle with anxiety and depression and how he has found ways to manage his condition.



Let's wrap up with a dazzler from Brogan Rafferty in Utica's Wednesday win over Hartford — a game that saw them jump out to a 5-0 first-period lead but ultimately need an overtime goal from Lukas Jasek to secure the two points after the Wolf Pack fought all the way back.



Rafferty's emergence as a right-side defenseman should certainly give the Canucks' brass some food for thought with the trade deadline approaching — especially with Chris Tanev on his way to unrestricted free agency and Troy Stecher eligible for arbitration this summer off the $2.325 million he's earning this season.

However — I don't imagine that Jim Benning is going to simply bank on Rafferty without having a chance to get a look at him in NHL games. And I doubt he'll be willing to bring him up for evaluation purposes with every point so important to the playoff race right now.

Unless there's an injury, I expect Rafferty is going to be stuck in Utica. His entry-level deal extends through the end of the 2020-21 season before he reaches restricted free agency.

We'll have plenty of time to speculate about prospects, roster moves and the trade deadline during the upcoming bye week/All-Star break, which starts Sunday, so I'll leave it there for now.

Enjoy the game!
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