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Vancouver Canucks Game Day: November 18 vs. Winnipeg Jets, Grenier Called |
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Wednesday November 18 - Vancouver Canucks at Winnipeg Jets - 4:30 - Sportsnet - TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 19 GP, 7-6-6, 20 pts, third in Pacific Division
Winnipeg Jets: 19 GP, 8-9-2, 18 pts, sixth in Central Division
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the Vancouver Canucks as they prepare to finish off their longest road trip of the season is that, despite the trouble they've faced, they're still clinging to a Pacific Division playoff spot.
The Canucks are 1-3-2 in the last six games but will face a Winnipeg Jets team that is also on the skids—0-5-1 in its last six games.
Tonight's game is Sportsnet's featured "Wednesday Night Hockey" broadcast, available from coast to coast.
A few lineup changes to note:
• Alex Grenier has been called up from the Utica Comets, with Hunter Shinkaruk being reassigned. Shinkaruk was basically a non-factor in Montreal, logging 9:35 of even-strength ice time on the fourth line with Adam Cracknell and Derek Dorsett. Shinkaruk was not on the ice for Cracknell's early goal against the Habs—Chris Higgins hadn't changed yet when Cracknell scored.
Given the situation and his role, it's not surprising that Shinkaruk was only a blip on the radar on Monday. Grenier's three years older and, at 6'5", seven inches taller than Shinkaruk. He also plays the right side, while Shinkaruk's a left winger. The third-round pick from 2011 will be making his NHL debut—and has been slotted onto the second line.
Note, also, that Jared McCann is being listed as the center of that second line. We're only at Game 20 of the season and we are seeing the kids take bigger and bigger roles. I'll be surprised if the Canucks release McCann or Virtanen to play for Team Canada at World Juniors in December.
Grenier will be the sixth Canuck to play his first NHL game this season, following McCann, Virtanen, Hutton, Gaunce and Shinkaruk.
Grenier is third in scoring for the Utica Comets behind Shinkaruk and—yes—Linden Vey. He's 2-5-7 in 13 games after back-to-back 17-goal seasons in the two previous years.
• Grenier is replacing the struggling Radim Vrbata in the lineup.
Vrbata picked up an assist in Montreal but was a minus-2 and was on the ice for the 3-on-3 overtime winner. At minus-11, he has become the Canucks' worst defensive player this season.
Perhaps he's struggling with some sort of nagging injury as well as a dip in confidence? I'd find it hard to believe that the Canucks have found another team to take on his $5 million salary this early in the season, especially given all his struggles.
• Alex Burrows is back with the team after the birth of his son Jacob. He made it to Vancouver in the nick of time thanks to a generous Francesco Aquilini, who gave up his seat on an overbooked flight to get Burrows home a couple hours than he would have otherwise.
• Luca Sbisa will be back on the blue line tonight.
A sight for sore eyes—I hope Sbisa delivers on all the good will he has gained while he has been sidelined!
• Sbisa's in for Yannick Weber. I'll call that an upgrade.
• Botchford says Vrbata's issue is a minor injury—and confirms what I expected to see. Ryan Miller will start in goal.
I imagine Jacob Markstrom will get a start back in Vancouver this weekend, where the Canucks play back-to-backs against Chicago and New Jersey.
So—lots to chew over there.
Weber and Vrbata's absences will also impact the power-play groupings.
As for the opponent—the Jets have just arrived home from a four-game road trip of their own, where their best result was a one-goal loss to St. Louis on Monday night. They also lost 5-3 to Minnesota, 6-3 to Dallas and 7-0 to Nashville, which has pushed them down to 28th in the league in goals against. Before that, Winnipeg had played just a single game at home after another four-game road trip, so the Jets really are in similar straits to the Canucks—they've just played their last nine games in nine different cities.
Coach Paul Maurice will be shuffling his lines in an effort to generate a different result for his team tonight in front of their always-rowdy home crowd.
It's not all doom and gloom in Winnipeg. Blake Wheeler and Bryan Little have been on fire offensively—Wheeler's tied for fourth in NHL scoring with 20 points while Little's not far behind with 18.
For Canucks fans, it'll be our first chance to see rookie Nikolaj Ehlers in an NHL setting. Ehlers started strong but has now gone 10 games without a goal. He's 4-6-10 on the season. Delta's Nic Petan has one goal in 14 games, playing mostly in a fourth-line role. He was scratched against St. Louis on Monday and isn't expected to play tonight.
To wrap up today, a few quick words about the most recent round of Bell Media layoffs.
The axe fell yesterday here in Vancouver, with longtime radio guy Jeff Paterson relieved on his duties at TSN1040. Producers Matt Baker and Cam Mitchell were also let go, as was Perry Solkowski over at CTV, who mostly covered the Whitecaps these days but who I'll always remember as the host of Canucks broadcasts back in the VTV days. Was that around '96 or so?
It sucks to see so much contraction in the industry, but this trend has been happening for a very long time.
My initial foray into media was on the radio side, way back in the day. After moving to small towns to pay my dues for a couple of years, I ended up changing my focus to DJing in nightclubs full time—and moved back to Vancouver when the club I worked at in Kamloops went into receivership, ironically enough.
I took one more spin in radio-land in the early 90s before moving on for good. Even back then, the pay was terrible, the opportunities for advancement were limited and the cutbacks were frequent and merciless.
Paterson and the others have my sympathies. It's not easy to get your feet back under you when these situations happen.
The good news, for now, is that it looks like he'll keep tweeting.
I've always appreciated his tidbits as part of the package I present to you here in this space. Hopefully he'll keep 'em coming.
Enjoy the game tonight!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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