Saturday December 22 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Winnipeg Jets - 7 p.m. - CBC, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 38 GP, 17-17-4, 38 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Winnipeg Jets: 35 GP, 23-10-2, 48 pts, first in Central Division
The Vancouver Canucks have a tough challenge ahead if they hope to go into the Christmas break with a record above .500 for the first time since November 15.
The Canucks will wrap up their homestand and play their last game at Rogers Arena in 2018 when they face the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
The Jets are on cruise control, with wins in 10 of their last 12 games. They come into Saturday's game holding down the top spot in Western Conference after a quick trip to California that saw them lose to Willie Desjardins' Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, then beat Erik Karlsson's San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Even before the Jets became an elite club, the Canucks had a tough time picking up points against their prairie rival. This season's pair of three-goal losses in Winnipeg were pretty typical.
After another day off on Friday, the Canucks rolled out these lines at Saturday's morning skate.
The Canucks are riding an eight-game streak of perfect penalty killing but will face a tough test from the Jets. Winnipeg's power play is clicking at a league-best 29 percent.
And the Jets have so many offensive weapons. Heading into Saturday's game, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler sit 5-6 in league scoring with 48 and 47 points, respectively, and Patrik Laine is tied for third in the league with 23 goals in 35 games—six behind leader Alex Ovechkin.
Since the Jets' current hot streak started on November 29, Scheifele has been the league's top scorer, with 22 points in 12 games. Wheeler is close behind with 18 points—17 of which have been assists—and Nikolaj Ehlers has 15.
You know who else has 15 points during that stretch—and in one fewer game played? Yep: Elias Pettersson. Petey's tracking nicely to pick up his second rookie-of-the-month award. He has twice as many points in December as the NHL's next-most- productive rookies: Anthony Cirelli of Tampa Bay and Colin White of Ottawa have each put up seven points so far this month.
On the injured list for Winnipeg: Andrew Copp is sidelined with a concussion and Adam Lowry is questionable after missing Thursday's game with an upper-body injury.
Troy Stecher will miss his second game for the Canucks after suffering that concussion against the Lightning on Tuesday. According to
Hockey Reference, both Sven Baertschi and Brandon Sutter are not expected to return until "at least" the beginning of January.
We've seen Sven Baertschi skating with the team for the last little while. Now, here's an update on Sutter:
The Canucks will be celebrating a major milestone tonight, as Alex Edler sets the team record for most games played by a defenseman at 782, passing Harold Snepsts. He passed Mattias Ohlund to become the defenseman with the most points in franchise history last March and continues to add to that total.
Now in the last year of his contract, Edler's name is being tossed around a lot as a potential chip at the trade deadline. I was a little surprised to realize that he'll be turning 33 in April.
Though injuries have always been an issue with Edler, he has actually been trending in a positive direction over the past few years, from 52 games in 2015-16 to 68 the following season and 70 games last year. He missed 11 games earlier this season with that knee injury so if he stays healthy the rest of the way, he'll get to 71.
His point totals have also been trending upward over the past three seasons: 20, 21, 34. He's a 3-11-14 so far this year, which extrapolates to 9-32-41 if he stays healthy. Seven of Edler's points this season have come during the last eight games, when Vancouver has gone 6-1-1.
I certainly have no complaints about the value that he has provided on his current six-year contract, which carries a cap hit of $5 million per season. The extension was signed on January 18, 2013, shortly after the NHL got back to work following the 2012 lockout. He's actually in a slight back-diving year of the deal now, making $4.5 million in real money this season.
But he does have that full no-trade clause—and if there's one thing we know about Edler, it's that he has always maintained that he has no inclination to change teams.
Though the Canucks' succession plan seems to be in full swing up front with the forwards, the situation is a lot murkier on the back end, especially with Olli Juolevi now out for the season after knee surgery and Quinn Hughes only remaining exempt from the Seattle expansion draft in 2021 if he waits until next season to sign his first pro contract.
Edler's still a very good defenseman, and my sentimental side would love to see him play his entire career in a Canucks uniform—and maybe become the fourth player in team history to hit 1,000 games as a Canuck, behind the twins and Trevor Linden.
If the Canucks can hang around a playoff spot as the trade deadline approaches, that'd also make it much tougher for Jim Benning to trade him away. It's a story that will continue to get plenty of attention between now and the February 25 trade deadline.
One other note before I sign off for today:
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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