Vancouer Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers - Saturday October 11 - 7:00 - CBC
I know, "It's a New Game," but I can't help thinking back on the Canucks' home opener against Edmonton last year.
After opening the season with a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, the 2013-14 Vancouver Canucks collected their first "W" of the season with a 6-2 win over the Oilers at Rogers Arena.
Last year, Canucks brass promised great new game presentation details, including lights embedded in the glass around the rink and a stunning opening video. This season, they're promising more exciting in-rink entertainment as well as the new food options and a free beverage for every fan.
We should have known exactly what we were in for when last year's coach lost his mind on Oilers assistant Keith Acton after a fight between Ryan Kesler and Acton's son Will, with Hockey Night in Canada lovingly capturing every unhinged moment.
I can't imagine we'll see this sort of incensed finger-pointing from Willie Desjardins tonight. He'll be looking to make a different sort of impression in his first game that counts at Rogers Arena.
One area where he's differentiating himself is with how he runs his practices. On Friday, he even led the team through shootout drills! In the video above, he talks about how he'll likely weigh about 75 percent of his future shootout choices on what he's seeing in these practice drills, but admits that there's no way to simulate the pressure of a game situation.
Willie's shootout candidates will be the ones who show good, strong moves and don't lose confidence. As he points out, a 25 percent conversion rate in the shootout is great, so even the best have to expect to be unsuccessful on at least three of every four attempts.
Desjardins also mentioned that he's hopeful that Chris Tanev will be ready to play tonight after missing practice for the last two days. It'll likely be a game-time decision and if he can't go, Yannick Weber will draw in.
Frank Corrado was assigned to the Utica Comets on Friday, so that should mean that he's healthy enough to get back on the ice.
He's arriving too late to be included on the Comets' official opening-day lineup, which you can see
here. As well as Corrado, another late addition to the team is former Oilers forward Ryan Jones, who was signed to a tryout contract on October 9.
Yesterday, GloveHandStrong asked what's happened to Joe Cannata. He's no longer listed in the Utica lineup, and isn't showing up
on the roster for the ECHL K-Wings, either.
Thank goodness for Twitter!
Looks like Cannata will be starting the season in Ontario, California. The Reign are also an ECHL team, officially affiliated with the Los Angeles Kings and the Winnipeg Jets. I guess they had enough room on their roster that they could add another goalie.
As for the Oilers, they opened their season with a 5-2 loss, at home, to the Calgary Flames, who were playing the second game of a back-to-back. Not a good omen for Edmonton's annual "this is our year!" attempt to climb out of the Pacific Division basement.
No word yet on whether Dallas Eakins will insert young defensemen Darnell Nurse or Oscar Klefbom into tonight's lineup but after giving up five goals to the Flames, the defense couldn't get much worse. Could it?
Prized free-agent signing Mark Fayne was the worst of the bunch with a minus-three in Edmonton's first game, while Justin Schultz was minus-two.
Dallas Eakins admits that he's worried about his team's mental fragility. On the
Oilers' blog, he said, "I don’t want last year and all the years before that have gone on, to turn this into a giant snowball rolling. Here it goes again."
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