It's go time!
I'm not sure that I've ever been so pumped about a prospects tournament.
Not only is it the beginning of what promises to be a fascinating season of hockey, we get to check in on what feels like the deepest Canucks prospect pool that I can remember—and watch how they match up against the highly-touted Connor McDavid to kick things off.
I was under the impression that McDavid was the biggest thing since Sidney Crosby but I've even seen him referenced as the most anticipated rookie to join the NHL since Eric Lindros—23 years ago.
I pointed out in my
Canucks Army piece yesterday that it's possible that McDavid won't appear in all three of the Oilers games in Penticton this weekend. The Edmonton prospects have an exhibition game back at Rexall Place against the University of Alberta on September 16, so the coaching staff may not want to subject its top prospects to four games in six nights—all before main camp gets underway.
Bob Green's the Oilers' director of player personnel. His comment above certainly makes it sound like McDavid will be in uniform tonight against Vancouver.
Tonight's game is at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be livestreamed at Canucks.com, Oilers.nhl.com and Sportsnet.ca. I hope the servers are ready!
If the stream does get bogged down, note that TSN1040 will also bring us the game on radio, with the pregame show starting at 7 p.m. Edmonton radio is on 630 CHED, available for livestreaming
here.
Here's a reminder of who's in Penticton for the Canucks this year:
Click here if you need a refresher on some of the less familiar names on that list.
I haven't been able to find any details from yesterday's Canucks practice in Penticton, but Codes1087 posted these line combos on yesterday's blog. Thanks for that!
Virtanen - Cassels - Shinkaruk
Gaunce - McCann - Fox
Zhukenov - Labate - Zalewski
Stewart - Pettit - Gardiner
Brad Ziemer confirms that rather abrasive first line in
this story in the
Vancouver Sun, which focuses on Cole Cassels.
You may remember that Cassels had his way with Connor McDavid during the OHL playoffs last spring as the Oshawa Generals marched to the Memorial Cup. I can't wait to see these two renew acquaintances.
Cassels shows McDavid no respect on the ice, but he's a fan:
“He is a fun talent to even watch from the bench. He does some amazing things. I remember he had an assist in Oshawa and it was one of the most spectacular plays that I have seen.”
Joey Kenward spoke to Utica Comets coach Travis Green, who will be running the bench tonight.
Not much to note here, except that Green says his staff has been "pretty direct" with players like Hunter Shinkaruk and Brendan Gaunce about what they wanted to see out of them this summer, and that Green's looking forward to seeing what they bring on the ice.
Other than that, like the rest of us, Green's excited about the buzz surrounding the weekend.
A couple of other quick notes to close today:
First—though I mentioned yesterday that coach Willie Desjardins is expected to be back behind the Canucks bench on or before opening night of the regular season, there's another report also making the rounds:
If the Canucks do use an interim head coach, Sekeres says it'll likely be Glen Gulutzan, who has two years of NHL head coaching experience on his resume with the Dallas Stars from 2011-2013.
Along with goaltending coach Rollie Melanson, Gulutzan is the only other holdover on the coaching staff from the Tortorella era. He seems like he has survived by keeping a very low profile, so it'll be interesting to see what happens if he finds himself in a brighter spotlight, even through training camp.
Finally, for those of you who love to build line combinations—a new possibility to consider:
I know Prust typically plays left wing—and he does shoot left—but I can see some possible benefits to having him riding shotgun with Daniel and Henrik in certain situations. Sounds like he wouldn't mind the idea, either.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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