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Chaput recalled, Anders Nilsson may start as Vancouver Canucks face Sens |
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Tuesday October 17 - Vancouver Canucks at Ottawa Senators - 4:30 p.m. - Sportsnet Vancouver, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 4 GP, 1-2-1, 3 pts, fifth in Pacific Division
Ottawa Senators: 5 GP, 3-0-2, 8 pts, third in Atlantic Division
In the week since the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks battled to the shootout to decide their game at Rogers Arena, the two teams have headed in decidedly different directions.
After losing their first two games via shootouts, the Senators reversed their fortune against Vancouver, then recorded for blowout victories over Calgary (6-0) and Edmonton (6-1) before heading back to the friendly confines of Canadian Tire Centre and adding captain Erik Karlsson back into their lineup.
We do know that Karlsson stayed up to watch his team face the Canucks in Vancouver last week.
With Karlsson back in the mix, the Sens' only other injury is defenseman Ben Harpur. They weathered that storm impressively when they had to call up rookies Thomas Chabot and Christian Jaros to fill out their blue line last week. Both have now been returned to the minors—Johnny Oduya played his first game on the Sens' blue line on Saturday in Edmonton.
As for the Canucks—yes, it was Michael Chaput who was recalled from Utica on Monday.
It seems unlikely that he'll play, though. He was one of just a few players to take the optional morning skate today in Ottawa and he won't be needed to fill in for Brandon Sutter, who says he's ready to go.
After having been scratched last Saturday against Calgary, Jake Virtanen should draw back in on the wing in the absence of Loui Eriksson, while Derrick Pouliot will play his second game as a Canuck in place of Alex Edler.
According to CapFriendly, Edler was officially placed on injured reserve on Monday. Jeff Paterson reports that Eriksson was added to the list today.
Some food for thought—the Canucks gave up two goals in each of their first two games, with Edler in the lineup, and were tied 1-1 when he was injured late in the first period against Winnipeg on Thursday. That's five goals in about 138 minutes. They went on to give up three in the rest of the Jets game and five against the Flames—eight goals in about 107 minutes.
Statistically significant? I think so—even though I am intrigued to see what Michael Del Zotto does with a bigger role and whether Derrick Pouliot shows signs that he can mature into an everyday NHLer.
The big news from today's skate: we could see a switch in net, with Anders Nilsson making his first regular-season start.
With the Canucks still wary of giving too much responsibility to their young players, my attention has been drawn to the two NCAA free agents that Vancouver was said to be interested in signing during the offseason.
Remember around August 15, when we figured the Canucks hadn't missed out on much when local boy Alex Kerfoot chose to sign with Colorado and defenseman Will Butcher landed in New Jersey? The consensus seemed to be that both were small and with their late-stage development, their ceiling would probably be the AHL level?
Well, Kerfoot and Butcher both cracked their teams' NHL lineups in training camp and have been playing prominent roles on the resurgent Avs and Devils, respectively. Kerfoot has two points while skating on Colorado's second line with Matt Duchene (six points) and Nail Yakupov (five points), while Butcher has recorded eight assists in his first five games to lead all rookies in scoring.
Clearly, both players chose well when it came to assessing their opportunity to get quality ice time and a chance to succeed. I wonder what would have happened to them if they'd joined Vancouver? Would they be in the minors right now?
I'll wrap up today with Jonah Gadjovich, the second-round draft pick who signed his entry-level deal with the Canucks on Monday.
Gadjovich is 5-4-9 in eight games with the Owen Sound Attack of the OHL so far this season.
Don't forget—puck drop for the Canucks is at 4:30 this afternoon. Once again, you'll find the game on the Sportsnet Vancouver channel.
Enjoy!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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