Friday January 30 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Buffalo Sabres - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 26-17-3, 55 points, third in Pacific Division
Buffalo Sabres: 14-32-3, 31 points, eighth in Atlantic Division
Today's scene-set was supposed to be about Ryan Miller facing his old team, the Buffalo Sabres, for the first time. Instead, Trader Jim snuck in an unexpected deal late last night when he shipped the rights to 18-year-old Gustav Forsling to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for 22-year-old defenseman Adam Clendening.
Clendening has been officially recalled by the team but will not be playing tonight:
I'll have more on the trade in a bit. First, some other details on tonight's game.
Forward Ronalds Kenins has arrived in town and is taking Friday morning's optional skate. He'll be in tonight. Willie said after yesterday's practice that the team had expected Brad Richardson to be back in the lineup after his ankle injury, but that obviously hasn't happened yet. Though it doesn't sound like he'll be out for too much longer, it also doesn't sound like his return is imminent.
Willie also said that the shakeups we saw at yesterday's practice were more about options than definite new pairings, though I now wonder if yesterday's situation on defense was done, in part, with the knowledge that a new body was likely on the way. He said that they know what they have with Alex Burrows on the power play, so they wanted to slide in Nick Bonino and get him acclimated in case they want to go with a different look.
The Canucks are coming off a disheartening loss against the best team in the league, and now preparing to play the worst. After San Jose beat Anaheim last night to snap the Ducks' six-game winning streak, the Sharks are now three points up on the Canucks—a gap that has opened up quickly.
For their part, Buffalo lived up to its reputation last night in Edmonton, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Oilers for their 13th straight loss.
Ryan Miller will be facing his old team for the first time after choosing not to start against the Sabres five weeks after he was traded to the St. Louis Blues last season.
He's not shying away from his emotional attachment to the club where he spent so many years, but Kevin Woodley of
NHL.com reports that Miller's No. 1 goal is to pick up the two points for Vancouver. "This is a chance to play against a team, an organization that meant, that does mean, a lot to me and I want to compete hard and play well," Miller said. "That's the best way to do your business."
Miller's matchup and the Canucks' new faces will overshadow another round of Kassian vs. Cody, as the two players who were traded for each other in 2012 meet up yet again.
Kassian's situation in Vancouver has been dissected every which way but one thing's for sure—no one's talking any more about how the Canucks would have been better off to have kept Cody Hodgson.
After signing a six-year contract with an average annual value of $4.25 million, Hodgson has fallen off a cliff this season. He has just two goals and five assists in 48 games and is one of the Sabres' worst plus-minus players at minus-21, now playing primarily in a bottom-six role. Hodgson was minus-two last night in Edmonton.
Buffalo's starting goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, was injured during the All-Star Break. Jhonas Enroth played last night in Edmonton, with Matt Hackett backing up. No word yet on who will get the start for the Sabres tonight but it could be Hackett, a 24-year-old with 21 games of NHL experience. If he plays tonight, it'll be his first start this season. Hopefully it won't be a repeat of the Joni Ortio incident for the Canucks!
One other note—big defenseman and perpetual trade target Tyler Myers was injured blocking a shot last night in Edmonton but coach Ted Nolan told reporters after the game that he should be healthy enough to play tonight.
Tradewinds: Adam Clendening
Even though Adam Clendening won't join the Canucks lineup tonight, it's worth taking a moment to gather some first impressions of this trade.
My first reaction was disappointment: Gustav Forsling really impressed at this year's World Junior Championship. When was the last time that happened for Vancouver? Have the Canucks ever had a WJC All-Star before in their history?
That being said, fifth-round pick Forsling is still on the small side, listed at 176 pounds on NHL.com, and his fantastic power-play production did taper off as the World Junior tournament moved into the medal rounds. Strangely, he also has just five points in 35 games with Linkoping of the Swedish League, so it's not like his offensive production has been a constant throughout the season.
Though Forsling certainly showed dazzling potential this Christmas in Toronto, he doesn't turn 19 till June and is probably several years away from being an NHL contributor. Benning may have just sold high on a prospect with a very uncertain future—or he may have just traded away a future power-play great.
For his part, Clendening's stock has fallen this year with the Blackhawks. A first team AHL All-Star who put up 12 goals and 47 assists in 74 games last season, this Niagara Falls, New York native was expected to join the Blackhawks full-time this season.
Instead, Clendening has played just four NHL games and his production has dropped off in Rockford, where he has just one goal, 12 assists and is a minus-4 in 38 games. Meanwhile, the 'Hawks have used Swedish defenseman David Rundblad (28 games) and American Trevor van Riemsyk (18 games) on their right side rather than heir-apparent Clendening.
He is a right shot, which definitely fills a need for the Canucks and probably puts Yannick Weber's job in the most jeopardy. But he's not especially big at 6'0" and 190 pounds, and doesn't appear to play an especially physical game.
One of Clendening's four NHL games this season was Chicago's Nov. 23 visit to Vancouver, which the Canucks won 4-1. I have no particular memories of him: the stat sheet shows that he was a minus-1 in 14:10 of ice time and took a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass.
On the positive side of the ledger, Clendening played his college hockey at Boston University, which I'm guessing is where he got on Jim Benning's radar. Here's the breakdown on Clendening from Allan Muir of
Sports Illustrated.
A scout reminded SI.com this morning that Clendening is still a work in progress and will need time to improve his skating and defensive awareness, but described him as “a very poised player who could quarterback a power play.”
We'll have a couple of days to gather more information on Clendening before he makes his Canucks debut but for now, what's your first impression of the deal? I'm going to keep this simple and make you take a stand:
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