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Boeser and Mikheyev return but Hughes is absent as opening day draws near |
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It still won't tell the whole story, but the Vancouver Canucks will need to submit their opening-day roster for the 2022-23 NHL season by 2 p.m. PT on Monday.
That roster will need to fall below the salary-cap ceiling of $82.5 million, and include between 20 and 23 players.
And it will have to include all waiver-eligible players who are still in camp — whether that's on the main roster, regular injured reserve, or long-term injured reserve.
Monday's waiver movement includes a handful of players around the league, but nothing directly affecting the Canucks. Even the ex-Canucks who were on Sunday's long list all stayed put: Josh Leivo, now in St. Louis, Michael Del Zotto in Florida, Madison Bowey in Montreal, Jayce Hawryluk in Ottawa, Nic Petan in Minnesota, Zack MacEwen in Philadelphia and Adam Gaudette in Toronto.
When the details of the Canucks' final roster are announced later on Monday, the injury and cap concerns mean that it still won't necessarily match up exactly to the Game 1 lineup in Edmonton on Wednesday.
The most recent Canucks players to clear waivers were forwards Justin Dowling and Sheldon Dries, and defenseman Christian Wolanin. No one else was placed on the waiver list on Sunday, the last opportunity for teams to move players off the main roster before Monday's deadline.
Because he's injured, Phil Di Giuseppe cannot be placed on waivers until he's healthy. Farmhand Karel Plasek, who does not require waivers, is still recovering from an injury he suffered last season, so he also can't be sent down.
This year, the Canucks have a relatively long list of players on entry-level contracts that they could assign to Abbotsford temporarily for cap-compliance purposes. But there is a complication — players on ELCs with potential performance bonuses will have those bonuses included in their cap hit if they start the season off the main roster and are later called up.
Andre Kuzmenko and Vasily Podkolzin carry the biggest potential bonus hit, at $850,000 each, so they'll almost certainly stay on the season-opening roster. The hits are smaller for Nils Hoglander ($300,000), Nils Aman and Linus Karlsson ($82,500 each) and Jack Rathbone ($0).
So with Rathbone, in particular, it would make sense for the Canucks to designate him for assignment if they need to clear a roster spot or cap space. He can also be immediately recalled if Bruce Boudreau wants to take him on the club's upcoming five-game road trip.
But performance-wise, Rathbone's make-or-break training camp ended up being just so-so. He played in five of Vancouver's seven preseason games, and while he led all defensemen on the team with 12 shots on goal and saw a good amount of power-play time, he finished without a point despite his prolific scoring touch at the AHL level.
Christian Wolanin's solid performance in training camp gave the Canucks another option on the left side. Now, so does newcomer Riley Stillman, who brings more size and physicality in his game.
Stillman had his practice debut on Sunday, wearing the same No. 61 that he has worn for most of his career and looking forward to his new opportunity.
In the short run, there may be multiple job openings on the left side — good for the bubble players but probably not-so-good for the Canucks. After he was pulled unexpectedly from the lineup of Friday's game against the Coyotes, Quinn Hughes hasn't suited up for practice on Sunday or Monday. Bruce Boudreau described his absence as a "maintenance day" on Sunday, so hopefully it's nothing serious. But every passing day without Hughes on the ice is cause for concern that he, too, might not be ready for opening night after having played just two games in preseason.
The news is better up front. Brock Boeser made his first official appearance at practice in a non-contact jersey on Sunday, and was shooting the puck well just two weeks after we first learned about his hand surgery. Boudreau has expressed hope that Boeser could be in the lineup on Wednesday.
Also, Ilya Mikheyev has joined him in non-contact gray on Monday, his first appearance since Game 1 of preseason. And after leaving last Friday's game following an awkward sandwiching by two Coyotes players and missing practice on Sunday, Conor Garland is back on the ice in a regular jersey on Monday, skating with his regular linemates Bo Horvat and Vasily Podkolzin.
If there's a silver lining, it's that the schedule for the upcoming road trip starts out fairly gently. The new NHL season kicks off with a pair of showcase games on Tuesday.
The Canucks will get their season started, along with 11 other teams, on Wednesday. Then, they'll head east for a Saturday matinee in Philadelphia (1 p.m. PT) before diving into a three-in-four with visits to Washington on Monday the 17th, Columbus on Tuesday the 18th and Minnesota on Thursday the 20th, as they start to head home.
And while we don't want to read too much into preseason statistics, it is worth nothing that Wild rookie Marco Rossi led all players in preseason with nine points — and that Marc-Andre Fleury started off with a bang, giving up just one goal in 150:01 of exhibition action. Over in Columbus, sophomore Yegor Chinakhov was the preseason goal-scoring champ, with six goals in six games.
Thatcher Demko also had a solid preseason, with four goals allowed in three appearances over 159:01 of ice time, for a 1.59 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. And while Vancouver's 42 power-play opportunities were the most of any team in preseason, their conversion rate of 16.7% put them in the middle of the pack. Penalty killing was also average — but better than last year — at 26-for-32 or 81.2%.
Offensively, three Canucks shared the preseason scoring lead. Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko each had three goals and three assists for six points — in four games for Pettersson and Kuzmenko, and five for Garland. Tanner Pearson was the accuracy champ, with two goals on six shots for a shooting percentage of 33.3%.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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