Wednesday November 17 - Colorado Avalanche at Vancouver Canucks - 6 p.m.
The Vancouver Canucks can go a long way toward extinguishing their latest tire fire with a competitive game against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night, as they open a three-game homestand at Rogers Arena.
Puck drop is an hour earlier than usual, at 6 p.m. PT. And the game is being nationally televised on Sportsnet, so the rubberneckers who have heard all the concern over the last week will get a chance to see the team for themselves.
For better or worse, the Avs are a perfect litmus test, too — the same team that started this downward spiral last week by outshooting Vancouver 12-3 and jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period in Denver, on the way to a 7-1 smackdown.
The Canucks will have Travis Hamonic back in the lineup on Wednesday. Travis Green reported that the blueliner didn't end up playing in Abbotsford over the weekend because he had taken a puck to the face in Vancouver's last home game, against Anaheim, and was having some trouble breathing.
Green also confirmed that Hamonic will be considered fully vaccinated when the Canucks head east next week, for a five-game road trip that will include stops in Pittsburgh, Columbus, Boston, Montreal — and, presuming their Covid outbreak has run its course by then, Ottawa on December 1st.
With 10 players now in Covid protocol, the Senators have had their games this week postponed. After last season, that may not seem like too big a deal. But I wrote yesterday about how it could put the NHL's Olympic participation in February in jeopardy if similar situations arise over the next couple of months.
Here's how the Canucks practiced on Tuesday at Rogers Arena.
With Tyler Motte back in the mix, that gives Travis Green more options at the bottom of the forward group.
I don't mind the idea of Justin Bailey taking a seat in the press box on Wednesday. He has appeared in every game since he was recalled from Abbotsford on October 26, but is pointless, a minus-4, and the team has an expected goals rate of -17.42 when he's on the ice at 5-on-5, according to
Natural Stat Trick. That's worse than all forwards except Motte, who only has a one-game sample size.
Tops in that category, by the way — among both forwards and defensemen — is Nils Hoglander, which I think would match most peoples' eye test. Interesting, though, to see Tyler Myers ranked second, followed by Bo Horvat, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tanner Pearson.
If anything, those numbers also serve as a reminder that, before last week's road trip, the Canucks were playing pretty well at 5-on-5. Mostly, they just needed to start capitalizing on the power play and keeping the puck out of the net on the penalty kill.
Also interesting to see the Lotto Line back together — and good news to see Luke Schenn back in the mix on defense, as well as Hamonic and the no-longer-suspended Tucker Poolman.
With the early start time against the Avs, there's no morning skate or morning media availability on Wednesday.
As for Colorado, they've played just once since seeing the Canucks last Thursday, taking down San Jose by a 6-2 score on home ice on Saturday. Wednesday's game is the opener for their two-game road trip, which will also see them visit Seattle for the first time on Friday.
There will be a couple of tweaks from last week. Bowen Byram is with the team on the trip, but has been in concussion protocol. He did practice once after taking an elbow to the head from Bo Horvat last week, but was shut down after not feeling well.
Also, the Avs picked up depth forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel on waivers from the Philadephia Flyers over the weekend. He has a reputation as a high-energy player and a strong forechecker, but is also prone to taking undisciplined penalties.
J.T. Compher was injured against the Sharks on Saturday, which opens up a spot for Aube-Kubel in the forward group.
Here's how the lines rolled at Tuesday's practice in Denver.
Aube-Kubel also took some reps with the first power-play unit — usage he certainly didn't see in Philadelphia.
As far as all the off-ice noise, that's Elliotte Friedman's lead story in a new '32 Thoughts' blog, which dropped Wednesday morning.
Friedman reports that Canucks ownership met on Monday, and Francesco Aquilini met with Jim Benning on Tuesday, but that the club has no immediate irons in the fire as far as making changes — and that senior management hirings must be handled with care right now, in the wake of the recent dismissals of Stan Bowman in Chicago and Bob Murray in Anaheim.
There's some talk that fan reaction on Wednesday night could influence ownership's course of action. I suppose when the only major in-season move the organization has made while the Aquilinis have been in charge came the day after the "Fire Gillis" chants rang out at Rogers Arena, there is some precedent. But I still feel like that incident is an outlier.
And it has been barely a month since Francesco went to bat for Jim during his season-opening radio appearance on Sportsnet 650.
Of course, the results are exactly the thing that's missing, despite the Canucks' decent start on their season-opening road trip.
Will the team step up with a good performance on Wednesday and relieve the pressure that everyone is feeling?
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