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Can Holtby, Miller light a spark that ignites the Canucks' stalled engine? |
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Two days after he gave J.T. Miller a piece of his mind for weak defensive work, Braden Holtby will return to the net as the Vancouver Canucks finish out their three-game series against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.
It's the first time that Holtby will play in back-to-back games since he joined the Canucks as a free agent.
At the conclusion of Saturday's 5-1 loss, Kevin Bieksa lamented that the Canucks weren't showing any pushback as they were getting embarrassed by Toronto. Coming from him, who would stick his nose in to try to fire up his teammates when things were going badly, it's fair comment. I got the sense that he would have liked to be able to do the job himself.
I think the group is literally beaten down at this point, physically as much as mentally. It takes energy to initiate, and I don't anybody has much gas left in the tank.
As we start the week, the Canucks have still played two more games than any other team in the league. They'll finally get two consecutive days off starting Tuesday, as they make their way back to Vancouver ahead of four straight games against the Flames — three at home, followed by one in Calgary.
Holtby did show some fire on Saturday. And with few other options, it seems like Travis Green is going to try to use that moment as something to build off.
For his part, Miller seems to have taken the moment in stride. Or, at least, is saying the right things.
We know of one other lineup change for Vancouver: Olli Juolevi will return to the blue line after sitting out the last six games. Last time he played, he picked up his first career NHL goal in the Canucks' first game of their series against Ottawa.
Juolevi was moved to the taxi squad on Saturday to make room for the recalls of Loui Eriksson and Justin Bailey. No Canucks defenseman currently on the main roster — except Quinn Hughes — can be moved to the taxi squad without being subject to waivers, so it would make sense that either Eriksson or Bailey will be re-assigned.
I hope Bailey gets to stay up — and get another game. I get frustrated when Green pumps the tires of a player like him when he's inserting him into the lineup, then gives him just 6:32 of ice time.
Not only did Bailey have two first-period shots, his first one at 8:57 was the first shot attempt of any kind by a Canucks player after two early Alex Edler penalties and a power-play goal by the Leafs.
The only other player to finish in single digits in ice time was Eriksson, who played just 9:16. Yes, he hasn't played a game since August 23, Game 1 of the series against Vegas. But the guy who was supposed to help steady the team defensively finished as a minus-2, while Bailey was even.
Interestingly, Loui's ice time diminished as the game went on. He played 4:13 in the first period and 3:59 in the second, then just 1:04 in the third — all at even strength.
Bailey did get more of a chance later. Also with no special-teams time, he played 2:15, then 1:50, then 2:27.
But that difference might be mostly due to three Vancouver power plays in the third period. Eriksson's linemate, Horvat, saw 4:52 of power-play ice time in the final frame, so it makes sense that his line wasn't used much during the 5-on-5 stretches.
For whatever it's worth, the Holtby/Miller incident occurred after Miller had a goal called back on a Coach's Challenge.
Miller's producing at a better than a point-a-game pace again this season, but goals have been much harder for him to come by. He has just three so far, which would pro-rate out to 13 over 69 games, taking into account that he missed he first three games while he was in Covid protocol. That's less than half of the 27 goals he potted last season. It's not a stretch to think that disallowed goal felt extra disappointing.
That is the first Coach's Challenge to be used against the Canucks this season. The Canucks have issued two challenges of their own, and been wrong both times — in two of the Montreal games in Vancouver, on Jan. 21 and 23.
But I guess it could be worse. On Sunday, the NHL Situation Room and the on-ice linesmen bungled an offside challenge by Columbus in the Blue Jackets' game against Carolina, awarding the Hurricanes the goal and giving Columbus the minor penalty with 1:15 left in the second period. In the intermission, it was determined that the play *was* offside. The penalty was wiped off the board, allowing the Blue Jackets to start the third at 5-on-5, but the goal was left to stand. And the Hurricanes went on to win by a single goal, 6-5. That's gotta be tough to swallow.
Anyway — as for the Leafs, they lost Wayne Simmonds on Saturday with what has now been diagnosed as a broken wrist, so he won't be in the lineup on Monday. As a potential replacement, the Leafs signed Scott Sabourin, who they'd had on an AHL-only deal, to a two-way contract. But he won't draw in against Vancouver. Instead, Sheldon Keefe is going to go to an 11-7 structure, with defenseman Rasmus Sandin making his season debut.
Simmonds comes out of the lineup with five goals in his last six games, including two against the Canucks on Saturday. He also got the W in his fight with Jordie Benn on Thursday.
Finally, trade rumours. It seems like Jake Virtanen and Adam Gaudette's names are now officially 'out there' — and Boston fans are proposing a deal that would involve Jake DeBrusk.
I'm sure Gaudette would be thrilled to go back to his hometown — and would probably thrive as a Bruin. And I like DeBrusk, so I'm surprised to see that he had just one assist in six games this season before suffering a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the last five games. He practiced with the team for the first time on Monday and is expected to get back into the lineup on Wednesday.
Now in his fourth season, DeBrusk has been pretty consistently good for 20-ish goals and 40-ish points through his career to date — a little better than the production that we saw from both Virtanen and Gaudette last season. DeBrusk is also more balanced in terms of goals and assists. At 24, he's the right age to fit into the Canucks' core group, and he brings cost certainty at a cap hit of $3.675 million for the next two seasons.
But what's going on with him this year, and why have Bruins fans soured on him? And am I the only one who still thinks about Cam Neely when the idea of trading a young, B.C.-born right winger to the Bruins is raised?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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