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Elias Pettersson injury update, the North Division schedule & Covid Comets |
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After two days off to rest and recuperate, the Vancouver Canucks got back on the ice on Saturday for a practice at Rogers Arena.
The biggest news of the day was not so good. It's already confirmed that Elias Pettersson and Jay Beagle won't be fit to re-join the team when it gets back into game action against the Calgary Flames next Wednesday.
There is some chatter, now, that Pettersson's injury is more serious than was originally thought and that he may still be out for awhile.
Petey had 21 points in 26 games before he was hurt, but had overcome his slow start to produce at a point-a-game rate over his last 20 games, and had seven points in his last five games.
Before he was injured, the Canucks were averaging 2.81 goals per game, ranked 19th in the league. Since he's been sidelined, that number has dropped to 2.18, which ties the team for 28th overall.
It really is amazing that Vancouver managed to cobble together a 7-3-1 record over that stretch — especially while also giving up an average of 2.64 goals a game.
Since Pettersson went down, Bo Horvat has led the way offensively, with 11 points in 11 games. J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser are next, with eight points, followed by Nils Hoglander and Quinn Hughes with six points each.
Horvat's average ice time has gone from 19:09 before Pettersson was injured to 20:30 per game after March 2, while Miller's has spiked even more since he has moved to the middle — from 20:30 up to 22:32.
If you're interested in learning more about Miller, he gave a pretty candid interview to John Scott on the 'Dropping the Gloves' podcast this week.
Miller talked a lot about his early days with the New York Rangers, including not having a great relationship with Alain Vigneault and coming to camp out of shape once, early in his career. Maybe part of the reason why he seemed to take Jake Virtanen under his wing a bit during his first season in Vancouver?
He also talked about moving on to Tampa and subsequently being traded to Vancouver. How, at 28 years old, all he wants now is to win, and the thinking that went into his fight with Ben Chiarot a couple of weeks ago.
The interview is worth a listen if you're jonesing for some fresh Canucks content.
As for me? I'm not really minding the break. I've felt this before in condensed seasons like the 2012-13 season after the lockout and even 2013-14 with the Olympic break: The pace is so relentless that we don't really get a chance to feel anticipation or get excited for a game.
Personally, I'll be ecstatic to say goodbye to the North Division. I know Sportsnet is thrilled with the ratings that it's getting, having two Canadian markets tuning in for all its national broadcasts. But I miss seeing the other 24 teams and seeing matchups that could give us a better idea of how, say, Toronto compares to Colorado or even how the Canucks compare to the L.A. Kings right now.
Because I also write about the Flyers, I have a reasonably good handle on what's happening in the East Division — where Philadelphia has been struggling mightily and the Rangers are now surging after a tough start to their season.
But I don't feel like I've had a chance to buy into the Kirill Kaprizov hype coming out of Minnesota, or to understand how Florida has become a powerhouse — hanging tough with Tampa Bay and Carolina near the top of the Central Division, and with Lightning castoff Carter Verhaeghe leading the Panthers with 15 goals. What??
And then there's Seattle. I want the I-5 rivalry to build from the beginning, with the Canucks and Kraken playing four or five times next season. And the less we see of the Canadiens, the better!
But for now, we have no real choice but to scoreboard-watch the Canadian teams — especially Calgary and Montreal, the teams the Canucks will most likely need to pass if they can achieve the near-impossible and sneak into the playoffs.
The Habs are still sidelined due to their Covid issues — and there's word that their schedule when they return might not be what's currently on the books.
After the Oilers missed three games in Montreal last week, there's some talk that the plan might be to keep Edmonton out east now, rather than forcing them to come back for another trip before the end of the season.
The Oilers are scheduled to play the Leafs again in Toronto on Monday, then are supposed to be off until the weekend, when they host Calgary on Friday and Vancouver on Saturday.
If Edmonton does stay out east, Vancouver's schedule may also be impacted, so stay tuned. I would think that an announcement should come on Monday if all is well at the Bell Centre and the Canadiens are ready to return to game action.
As for the Flames, they snapped their four-game losing streak with a tidy 4-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, to move level with the Canucks at 35 points in the standings.
Calgary and Winnipeg will go at it one more time on Monday before the Flames visit the Canucks on Wednesday.
Two other quick notes before I sign off for today:
• Still no timeline for the Utica Comets to return to the ice. Their scheduled games this weekend against Syracuse and Rochester were both postponed. The Comets have now been off the ice for two and a half weeks, since March 10, and missed seven games. Only two have been rescheduled so far — and one of those new dates is barely a week away, on Monday, April 5.
Here's the rundown of what has happened. Sounds like there were two positive tests on the Comets initially, followed by another one about a week later.
Stay tuned to see if the Comets can get back into action for the next game on their current schedule, at home against Syracuse this Wednesday.
• No surprise here, but Elliotte Friedman announced on Saturday's Headlines feature on Hockey Night in Canada that Travis Hamonic has no intention of waiving his no-movement clause for a trade-deadline deal. Friedman said that the Carolina Hurricanes had expressed interest in the tough right-shot defender, but Hamonic wasn't interested.
There's some hope that injured Brandon Sutter could be back in the Vancouver lineup on Wednesday, and that Tanner Pearson might not be as far away from a return as was originally believed. So the Canucks could still have some trade chips on the table. And with extra bodies like Jimmy Vesey and Travis Boyd around now, they should have enough forwards to ice a decent lineup even if Jim Benning does decide to do some selling on or before April 12.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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