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Pettersson, Hughes have arrived; Canucks beat Jets; roster cuts announced |
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Sunday October 3 - Vancouver Canucks 3 - Winnipeg Jets 2
Sunday was a busy day for the Vancouver Canucks. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes were re-introduced to the media after returning to Vancouver with their new contracts in hand. The Canucks then beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 with fans in attendance at Rogers Arena for the first time in more than 18 months. And as the game was winding down, the Canucks announced their first round of training camp cuts, trimming 16 players from the roster.
Also, Jim Benning held a press conference to discuss Petey and Quinn's new contracts. He also touched on a few other personnel issues.
Most notably, he acknowledged that Travis Hamonic's situation is still up in the air.
"He's not here because of personal matters, and as soon as he clears those up, we expect him to be in here," Benning said. "I don't know when that's going to happen, but I talk to his agent on a daily basis and and he talks to Travis. So we'll just have to be patient and support the player the best we can. When he's ready, he'll be here."
It'll be interesting to see who Hughes plays with while Hamonic is absent.
"I thought me and Hammer were really clicking towards the end (of last season)," Hughes said. "I like him off the ice, too, so that always helps, and we had a good thing going.
"I haven't talked to him in, probably, a month. So I'm not really sure what the situation is and I don't want to comment on that."
Benning didn't make any indication that he'd be looking to bring in any help from outside to shore up the right side while Hamonic is absent. When I saw Brogan Rafferty and Jalen Chatfield both on waivers yesterday, I wondered if he might bring one of them back into the fold, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
As for the other players who are absent from camp, Benning still has no timeline for Brandon Sutter, who he said is "still undergoing some testing." And while Tyler Motte is in camp and has been skating outside the main group, Benning said he's also not expected to start the season.
As for Brock Boeser, his "maintenance day" last week has now turned into him being unavailable for the rest of preseason. That's worrisome — especially when he seemed to get off to such a good start at the beginning of training camp.
On the bright side, we did see two players get their first preseason action in Sunday's game against the Jets. Centre Carson Focht is back after apparently suffering an injury during the Canucks' rookie camp. And right-side defenseman Madison Bowey made his first appearance since being picked up from Chicago for expansion draft purposes at the 2021 trade deadline.
Though Bowey played a total of just four NHL games last season, the 26-year-old does have 153 total games of NHL experience. And at 6'2" and 202 pounds, he has good size, too.
On Sunday, he was paired with Jack Rathbone, and the pair did well. Rathbone was on the ice for all three Canucks goals. Bowey finished plus-two, logged three hits, and picked up the primary assist on Nic Petan's four-on-four goal in the second period, feeding a pinpoint pass into the slot.
I found it interesting that Nic Petan got another look on Sunday, too. Referred to as a 'placeholder' for Elias Pettersson earlier in camp, he was deployed on the wing against the Jets, on a line with J.T. Miller and Alex Chiasson, and on tons of special-teams time. At 19:20, the only forwards who played more were Bo Horvat (20:20) and Miller (19:40).
After what I thought was a bit of a shaky game in Calgary on Friday night, Petan was much stronger against the Jets. Still being deployed in a top-six spot, I wonder if Green would have faith in him to do the necessary mucking at the bottom of the lineup when the team gets healthier. One positive sign for him is that he's getting a look on the penalty kill, where the club has admitted it needs help after losing Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel over the summer, and with Sutter and Motte currently on the shelf. Petan logged 2:14 shorthanded on Sunday as the Canucks went a perfect 3-for-3 on the kill against a Jets team that was missing most of its top stars.
Vancouver's other goals came from Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson, who were named the third and first stars of the game, respectively. As the third member of that line, Nils Hoglander also had a strong game, while Conor Garland and Will Lockwood stirred things up in the bottom six.
Here was Sunday's full lineup:
But the Lockwood-Focht-Podkolzin lineup struggled defensively — on the ice for both Winnipeg goals. And while Vancouver went 0-for-6 with the man advantage, Podkolzin saw virtually no special-teams time — just five seconds on the power play.
Now a minus-four in three games and still looking for his first preseason point, I'm no longer certain that Podkolzin is a lock for the big club to start the season. Something to keep an eye on.
Travis Green did mention after the game that Podz's partner in crime, Danila Klimovich, has been dealing with a minor injury, but should be back with the group soon.
He was not on the list of 16 players that the Canucks re-assigned on Sunday.
Nothing too surprising:
• Two players were officially assigned to their junior clubs: Viktor Persson (Kamloops) and Connor Lockhart (Erie)
• Four players were placed on waivers, in order to be assigned to Abbotsford: forwards John Stevens and Sheldon Rempal, defenseman Devante Stephens and goaltender Spencer Martin
• Three players under NHL contract who don't require waivers were assigned to Abbotsford: forward Karel Plasek, defenseman Jett Woo and goaltender Arturs Silovs
• Seven players without NHL contracts were assigned to Abbotsford: forwards Jarid Lukosevicius, Vincent Arseneau, Ethan Keppen, Tristen Nielsen and Chase Wouters and defensemen Ashton Sautner and Alex Kannok-Liepert
All players who dressed on Sunday remain in camp, as do Sheldon Dries, Jonah Gadjovich, Matthew Highmore, Zack MacEwen, Olli Juolevi and Luke Schenn.
In net, Jaroslav Halak made his first start in a Vancouver uniform on Sunday. He looked fine but he wasn't busy, stopping nine of 10 shots through the first two periods. Mikey DiPietro took over in the third and was beat for one goal on eight shots, a quick strike off an offensive-zone draw for the Jets.
The Canucks are off on Monday, then will host Seattle on Tuesday before finishing out their preseason with a home-and-home against the Oilers — in Edmonton on Thursday, then back at Rogers Arena on Saturday night. Hughes and Pettersson hit the ice in Vancouver for a brief twirl before their presser on Sunday. There seems to be a feeling that if all goes well, they could be ready to dress for Thursday's game.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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