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Canucks will try to right their ship vs. the Canes without Hughes, Boeser |
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Monday October 24 - Carolina Hurricanes at Vancouver Canucks - 7:30 p.m. - Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet One
After a weekend of turmoil, the Vancouver Canucks return to the ice at Rogers Arena on Monday night, to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
I'm sure you've heard all the tales of woe from Saturday's home-opener against Buffalo by now: the 5-1 defeat, the low-effort third period, and the fans so disgruntled that we saw jerseys thrown on the ice and heard a steady hum of boos, including most of the way through the third-period 'Sweet Caroline' singalong.
For more, including Bruce Boudreau's disappointment and thoughts on where the team goes from here, you can check out my Hockey News story from Sunday:
After Jim Rutherford further fanned the flames of hysteria by daring to suggest that a 'rebuild' may indeed be required by the Canucks when he guested on 'After Hours' on Saturday night, there are reports that Elliotte Friedman said on his '32 Thoughts' podcast on Monday that Rutherford also stopped by the Canucks' dressing room on Sunday.
Given Bruce Boudreau's frustration at the Canucks' lack of 5-on-5 production — and general frustration with, well, everything — it's not surprising that forward lines were shaken up at practice on Sunday.
You'll see that Nils Hoglander is back in the mix. It was said that his assignment to Abbotsford on Saturday was just a 'paper' transaction to make room for Noah Juulsen on the roster against Buffalo. He didn't play an AHL game and is now back in the lineup because Brock Boeser is out — listed as day-to-day.
Though Boeser was said to have been able to skate while he was recovering from his preseason hand surgery, he looked to me like he was lacking pace on Saturday against Buffalo. I notice a couple of disappointing plays where he did a poor job of protecting the puck — so I'm not sure if that's still a hand thing, or if he might be suffering from a different ailment.
Though he's still looking for his first goal of the year, he did manage four assists on the road trip.
And yes, I misread Quinn Hughes' absence from Saturday's morning skate. He is indeed sidelined. And while we still don't know what his issue is, the club announced Monday that he is now considered to be week-to-week.
Tucker Poolman has also been officially added to injured reserve — Boudreau said Sunday that he has been having some good days and some not-so-good days, which is a problem when dealing with a head injury. Travis Dermott is also still week-to-week after suffering a head injury of his own, and Riley Stillman is day-to-day.
Noah Juulsen was recalled to play on Saturday against Buffalo, and logged 11:18 of ice time. He was returned to Abbotsford on Sunday, but did not suit up for the Baby Canucks in their 7-4 loss to the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena.
And because righty Kyle Burroughs actually ended up playing with righty Luke Schenn on Saturday against Buffalo, it makes sense that Monday's AHL recall is left-shot blueliner Guillaume Brisebois — the third-round pick from 2015 who is now 25 years old and still has just 10 games of NHL experience on his resume.
That sets up the team with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jack Rathbone and Brisebois on the left against Carolina on Monday night, with Tyler Myers, Schenn and Burroughs on the right.
It'll be interesting to see if Boudreau's "look in the mirror" speech has an impact on the effort levels we see on Monday night against a very good Hurricanes team.
If there's an opening for the home side, it's probably that Carolina is playing the last game of a long western road trip, and eager to be heading home. Though their games have been nicely spaced out, their five-game trip started 10 days ago in San Jose. They then spent four days in Seattle before heading north — losing 6-4 in Edmonton on Thursday and 3-2 in overtime in Calgary on Saturday to drop to 3-1-1 for the year to date.
After signing as an unrestricted free agent with Carolina during the offseason, Ondrej Kase is dealing with another head injury and is unavailable against the Canucks on Monday. Other than that, the team is basically healthy. I'm looking forward to my first opportunity to see 2020 first-round pick Seth Jarvis play live — on the first line with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen. And this will be Brent Burns' first visit to Vancouver as a member of the Hurricanes, after he was acquired in an offseason trade.
Also on the blue line, look for former Canuck Jalen Chatfield. After spending most of last season with the Hurricanes' AHL affiliate in Chicago, Chatfield has suited up for all five of Carolina's NHL games so far this season, and is averaging 13:05 a game. On Monday, he's expected to be paired with 24-year-old Dylan Coghlan of Duncan, B.C., who was the asset the Canes extracted from Vegas for being willing to take the contract of Max Pacioretty off the Golden Knights' hands.
Freddy Andersen was the first goalie off the ice at Monday's morning skate, suggesting that he'll get the start against the Canucks. He's 2-1-0 so far this season, with a .920 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average. But after allowing just one goal in each of his two games, he gave up five when he took the loss in Edmonton last Thursday.
It's Diwali Night at Rogers Arena on Monday — which the organization usually does up very well. And note the later start time: puck drop is not until 7:30 p.m. on Monday night.
Very curious to see what happens. Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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