As the Vancouver Canucks and their fans bask in the thrill of their opening-night win over Calgary, some sobering news dropped on Thursday when Chris Tanev missed practise.
The team is tight-lipped about the situation, but it doesn't sound too dire:
As Jim Jamieson of
The Province frets in this article about the team's lack of defensive depth, he also mentions that Bo Horvat's expected to start skating with the team again this weekend. After hearing Trevor Linden refer to Horvat's injury as "week by week" a couple of days ago, it sounds like the timeline for his return is quicker than I'd anticipated.
In other prospect news from the farm, junior scoring sensation Dane Fox has failed to make the Utica Comets roster and has been dropped down one league, to Kalamazoo of the ECHL.
The Canucks will practise again at 11 a.m. on Friday ahead of their home opener against the Oilers on Saturday night—where the team is building a celebratory atmosphere that includes a free drink for everybody!
Click here for the rundown of festivities. Doors open at 5:30 at Rogers Arena tomorrow.
Last night, plenty of ex-Canucks and Canucks trade targets made headlines during a busy Thursday in the NHL. In case you missed any of it, here's a rundown of the key events:
• After being held pointless and going minus-two against the Canucks in his debut as a Calgary Flame, Mason Raymond exploded for three goals to help guide the Flames to a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Raymond opened his season with a game-winner last year when he played for Toronto and managed a 19 goal season.
• The Anaheim Ducks dropped their season-opener to Pittsburgh by a score of 6-4, but Ryan Kesler was a bright spot. Kesler had a goal and two assists and was solid in the face-off circle at 54 percent, but finished up with a minus-one for the night.
• Habs fans are raving about the contribution that Manny Malhotra is making to their team. Malhotra has been over 68 percent in the face-off circle in both of Montreal's first two games, and is being singled out as a powerful voice of leadership in a room that won't have a captain this year. I'm really happy for him that his comeback has been such a success.
• Cody Hodgson started the season as a third-line left winger for Buffalo, playing on a line with rookie Sam Reinhart and new Sabres captain Brian Gionta. Hodgson finished the night with just one shot on goal as the Sabres fell 3-1 to Columbus, but went 4-0 in the face-off circle while Reinhart got massacred.
• Tough blow for Michael Grabner, who underwent sports hernia surgery on Thursday and will be out of the Islanders' lineup indefinitely
• Three power play goals from the Tampa Bay Lightning led to a 3-2 overtime win over Roberto Luongo, Willie Mitchell and the Florida Panthers—a pretty close game between one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and one of the worst. I love
this paragraph from the recap at NHL.com:
Luongo proved he would be tough to score on in the first five minutes of the game when he withstood waves of traffic in front of him. The Lightning's best chance of the period came when defenseman Jason Garrison controlled of a loose puck and had a clear path from the slot, but Garrison's slap shot was stopped and gathered by Luongo.
• And, a quick check-in on our favourite local-boy trade targets. Evander Kane played just three shifts for the Winnipeg Jets before leaving the game with a knee injury after a collision with Mark Schiefele. And the Columbus Blue Jackets are not thrilled with Ryan Johansen's conditioning, though I guess that's to be expected after such a long holdout. He had a a decent game, with one assist, and did well on his draws.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»