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Vancouver Canucks Game Day as the Fallout Continues From the Trade Deadline |
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Tuesday March 1 - New York Islanders at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 61 GP, 24-25-12, 60 pts, fourth in Pacific Division
New York Islanders: 63 GP, 33-20-7, 73 pts, third in Metropolitan Division
There's no shortage of rhetoric floating around today about how the Vancouver Canucks messed up at yesterday's trade deadline by failing to move Dan Hamhuis and, to a lesser extent, Radim Vrbata.
There's not much point in piling on except to say that I really hoped that this would be the opportunity for Jim Benning to prove his doubters wrong and hit a home run.
If he had collected a similar return for Hamhuis to what Calgary got for Russell, I think a few of the more vocal members of the fanbase would have been clamouring for more, but at least there would have been a debate about the quality of the assets.
Instead, we have nothing. And Hamhuis has my deepest sympathies after going through that circus for the last week.
I suppose the situation is made worse by the fact that we've been in this situation before. In 2013, it was Roberto Luongo who wasn't dealt.
One year later, Mike Gillis couldn't close on a deal to send Ryan Kesler to Pittsburgh—a shortcoming that cost him his job just a month later.
We loved Trader Jim's decisiveness when he first took the job in Vancouver and got things done but the lustre has now faded—and without any extra picks or prospects to show for Hamhuis or Vrbata, the road to the rebuild just got a little bit longer.
It's another dark moment in a season that has had more than its share of dark moments, and it'll be debated about for a long time to come. So, let's set all that aside for now and talk about today's game.
Here's the view from the morning skate:
The forward lines have been juggled—Bo Horvat will be centering Emerson Etem and Linden Vey, while Markus Granlund lines up with Baertschi and Virtanen.
That third line is bound by the City of Abbotsford: Virtanen, of course, is from there, while Baertschi and Granlund were teammates on the AHL Abbotsford Heat. Baertschi's a year older, so he was in Abbotsford for parts of two seasons, while Granlund had just one year in the valley in 2013-14 before the franchise relocated.
Other lineup notes:
Vrbata and Hamhuis were both at today's morning skate, and Matt Bartkowski is said to be feeling well enough to play, so we should see a few more lineup tweaks at gametime.
As for the New York Islanders, they're the Canucks' last Eastern Conference opponent of the year. It's too bad they didn't roll through a week ago, when we could have lathered ourselves up about Travis Hamonic, but his name didn't merit as much as a mention in any of the deadline coverage on Monday. I wonder if Garth Snow is hoping that Hamonic's trade request will go away if he leaves it long enough?
Here's the quick-and-dirty lowdown on the lineup the Isles will be icing:
Defenceman Calvin de Haan has just been activated off injured reserve after missing a couple of weeks with a lower-body injury, which knocks Brian Strait out of the lineup.
The Islanders will also be debuting their trade-deadline acquisition, Shane Prince, who was acquired from Ottawa yesterday for a third-round pick. Prince is a 23-year-old who was drafted in the second round by Ottawa and is in his first full season in the NHL.
He has just three goals in 42 games, but is being slotted straight onto the Islanders top line with John Tavares and Ryan Strome. That's a warm welcome!
The Islanders are on Game 4 of a six-game Western trip that has seen them collect wins in Minnesota and Calgary before the team dropped a 3-1 decision to Edmonton on Sunday.
Thomas Greiss gets the nod in net tonight for the visitors—a career high 27th start of the season. Greiss has outplayed Jaroslav Halak through stretches of the season and his .930 save percentage is currently the best in the NHL, so this is not a game where the Canucks are benefiting from facing the backup.
I'm very curious to check out the mood in the arena tonight—among the fans in the crowd and the players on the ice. It's "Cult Classics" night as part of the #20in20 series, so reminiscing about Jeff Cowan "The Brabarian" may add a bit of levity to an otherwise grim game.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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