Saturday October 24 - Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks - 7:00 p.m. - CBC, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 8 GP, 3-2-2, third in Pacific Division
Detroit Red Wings: 7 GP, 3-3-1, fifth in Atlantic Division
The Vancouver Canucks will continue to look for their first home win of the season when the Detroit Red Wings make their lone visit of the year to Rogers Arena on Saturday night.
The Canucks are now 0-2-2 at Rogers Arena: the only team in the Western Conference without at least one win on home ice after the Calgary Flames did that Calgary Flames thing and came from behind to beat Detroit 3-2 in overtime on Friday night at the Saddledome.
Vancouver's also already in the thick of a battle for playoff position. The Los Angeles Kings took over the Pacific Division lead when they won their fourth straight game on Friday night, shutting out the Carolina Hurricanes. Just two points currently separate first from fifth in the division—and if the playoffs started today, both wild card spots would go to Central Division teams.
During training camp, coach Willie Desjardins made it crystal clear that his goal was to focus on earning points right from the season's opening night. While the Canucks struggle to do that during this homestand, he has come under fire for his reluctance to use the young players on his roster in tight late-game situations.
Willie explained and defended his deployment strategies after practice on Friday.
In a nutshell, Desjardins' argument is that the kids are playing too cautiously for his liking—showing the opposition too much respect.
Jason Botchford breaks down Willie's thoughts in
The Province's blog.
“With the young players, they are trying so hard to contribute and do the right things,” Willie said.
“They don’t want to get beat. So, they back off and they give the other guy time. The guy doesn’t beat them but he has time to make a great play and that beats us.
“We have to get them more confident where they can be aggressive.
“If they get beat, they get beat. But they play the game the way they need to play it.”
That being said, Willie's still speaking in present tense when it comes to supporting the evolution of players like Sven Baertschi, Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann at the NHL level.
“I know you will look at it like these guys didn’t get that much ice time in the third or they didn’t get that.
“But you have to develop guys from junior to the NHL. There’s a growing phase. Usually, the growing phase is the American League.
“But we’re trying to miss that phase. So, sometimes there are situations in the NHL they may not be quite ready for.
“We have to try to help them go through that without losing confidence.”
The security blanket of the AHL isn't really available to this trio—for Baertschi, because he'd have to be placed on waivers and for McCann and Virtanen, because they're not old enough to play minor pro.
So, for now, the situation stands.
In terms of lines, the only question mark for the Canucks going into Saturday's game appears to be Derek Dorsett, who missed practice on Friday.
If Dorsett can't play, it shouldn't be a problem for Adam Cracknell to draw in on right wing. He's the only spare forward the team is carrying at the moment, so we'll almost certainly see McCann play his sixth NHL game, while Jake Virtanen appears in his fifth.
We don't have a definite timetable yet for Chris Higgins' return to action, but his roster situation won't directly impact the kids. Vancouver is currently carrying just 22 players on the roster and Higgins is on regular injured reserve, not the long-terim IR. So, his salary is still counting against the cap and won't change Vancouver's cap situation when he's reactivated.
So far, prospects on the farm aren't doing much to encourage the Canucks' staff to make room for them on the big club.
The intelligent and likeable defenseman Alex Biega has been named the team's new captain, but the Comets are struggling out of the gate: 1-3-0 in their first four games after their second shutout loss of the season on Friday night against Hershey. Utica has accumulated just five goals so far—three of them courtesy of a hat trick by Hunter Shinkaruk earlier in the week.
All signs indicate that the Canucks will swap Yannick Weber into the lineup tonight in place of Matt Bartkowski, in effort to generate more offense. I'm not nearly as excited about this as most people, but at this point I can see why it's something that's worth a try.
As for Detroit, they may be without their new right-shooting power-play specialist tonight. Mike Green left last night's game against Calgary in the first period after taking a heavy hit from Josh Jooris and did not return.
Green's status is uncertain for tonight's contest.
Injuries are nothing new to the Red Wings, who are still without Pavel Datsyuk after offseason ankle surgery. New coach Jeff Blashill was also forced to shuffle his lines earlier in the week after new free-agent acquisition Brad Richards was sidelined with back problems—which look like they could keep him out of the lineup for awhile.
One player to keep an eye on tonight: No. 71 for Detroit, Dylan Larkin. The 19-year-old has moved into Richards' second-line centre spot after starting his NHL career on the wing. Given Detroit's reputation for taking time to bring along young players, Larkin had to be a special talent to make the team. He's the first teenager to crack the Wings' opening-night lineup since Mike Sillinger did it back in 1990—and Sillinger only lasted three games that season. Larkin looks like he's here to stay.
Jimmy Howard played a great game for the Wings in Friday night's loss to Calgary. Expect to see Detroit's "1B" goalie, Petr Mrazek, between the pipes tonight.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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