Last season, we got an early idea that the Vancouver Canucks could be in for a tough go-round when we took a close look at how their schedule broke down. Lots of long road trips during the first half of the season seemed to wear down the team, and probably helped contribute to the injury issues that ultimately exposed the franchise's lack of depth.
Before we even get into the regular season, here's a detailed breakdown of the preseason dates to note. Lots going on!
• September 4-5: training camps begin for World Cup of Hockey
• September 8-14: World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament games (various locations)
• September 16-19: Young Stars tournament featuring prospects from the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets (Penticton)
• September 17-23: World Cup of Hockey preliminary round (Toronto)
• September 22: Canucks veterans report to Rogers Arena for training camp
• September 23-26: on-ice portion of training camp (Whistler)
• September 24-25: World Cup of Hockey semifinal games
• September 27-October 1: World Cup of Hockey best-of-three final
• September 27-October 8: Canucks play seven preseason games
There doesn't appear to be the usual split-squad game this year, where simultaneous home-and-home games run against either Calgary or Edmonton. Also, no neutral-site games this year. Instead, the exhibition schedule features four home games and just three road games.
The Canucks will play the San Jose Sharks twice—first at SAP Center on Sept. 27, then at Rogers Arena on October 2. They'll also play the Edmonton Oilers twice—first at home on Sept. 28, then wrapping up the exhibition schedule at brand new Rogers Place on October 8. Also, two games against the Calgary Flames—on the road on Sept. 30, then at home on October 6, and one home game against the Arizona Coyotes on October 3.
• Oct 2: Kraft Hockeyville game in Vernon, B.C. For the second straight year, a B.C. community was named the winner of the Canadian edition Kraft Hockeyville. Because the arena in the winning community of Lumby is too small to host an NHL exhibition game, it will be played instead in Vernon—between the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers this year.
• October 8-9: Utica Comets' first exhibition games, a home-and-home against their rivals, the Syracuse Crunch.
Once again Travis Green's status with the Comets is officially up in the air.
Mike Chambers and Terry Frei of the
Denver Post have Green listed as one of four possible candidates to fill Patrick Roy's old job with the Colorado Avalanche. The other names they give include Jared Bednar, who led the Lake Erie Monsters (now renamed the Cleveland Monsters) to the 2016 Calder Cup, Washington Capital assistant Lane Lambert and another former member of the Canucks organization, Alain Vigneault's right-hand man and the current New York Rangers associate coach, Scott Arniel.
Colorado's hiring process is just beginning, so the winning candidate may or may not come from that list of names. A few other possibilities are tossed out at the end of the article—former Avs' boss Bob Hartley and two other ex-NHL head coaches, Kevin Dineen and Jacques Martin, who are both currently working as assistants.
If it takes the Avs another two weeks to make their hiring decision, that puts us into September. It'd be a blow for the Canucks if they lost Green so close to the beginning of the season, especially after former Comets assistant Paul Jerrard was also lost over the summer, to the Calgary Flames.
• October 12: NHL regular season begins
• October 15: Vancouver Canucks' first game, at home against the Calgary Flames
The regular season will begin a week later than usual due to the World Cup, and the Canucks' first game won't come for three days after that, so Vancouver will be behind in the standings before they even begin.
The season will end, as usual, on Sunday, April 9, so the Canucks are squeezing their 82 games into a window that's 10 days smaller than usual. That can't be good.
A couple of positive notes, though. Many teams will be losing their head coaches and other key management figures to the World Cup at the same time that training camp is underway. Not the Canucks, though. All hands will be on deck in Penticton and in Whistler.
The absence of six veteran bodies for the World Cup will also open up some roster spaces during preseason. For starters, I'm looking forward to getting a look at goaltender Michael Garteig and defensemen Troy Stecher, who are both rather unknown quantities at this point, as well as finally seeing Thatcher Demko and Olli Juolevi play.
Brock Boeser, of course, won't be on hand, as NCAA rules prohibit him from participating in either Young Stars or training camp. We also won't see 2016 draft pick William Lockwood, who will be starting his freshman season at Michigan this fall. The rest of this year's draftees should be on hand starting at Young Stars: Juolevi, Cole Candella, Jakob Stukel, Rodrigo Abols and Brett McKenzie, who are all coming out of the CHL.
Next week, I'll look more closely at what's in store for the Canucks once we get into the regular season.
For now—congrats to Team Canada for a bronze medal in women's soccer and the first-ever medal for Canada in race-walking—a bronze for Evan Dunfee of Richmond in the 50k event!
After four medals yesterday, including a gold for wrestler Erica Wiebe and the amazing silver for Andre De Grasse behind Usain Bolt in the men's 200-metre dash, Canada is now up to 20 medals, in 10th place overall and past the pre-Games goal of 18.
According to Wikipedia, other than the Los Angeles Games in 1984 that were boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries, Canada hasn't finished in the Top 10 countries at a Summer Olympics since Amsterdam in 1928!
Can the Canadians match the 22 medals earned in Atlanta in 1996 before all is said and done?
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