UPDATE: 1 p.m. PT Tuesday
According to multiple reports, Adam Gaudette was pulled off the ice during Tuesday's practice due to a positive Covid-19 test.
Gaudette will now be isolated and re-tested, and there will be contact tracing. It could still be a false positive, so we probably won't know anything further until Wednesday morning at the earlist.
Now, back to your regularly-scheduled blog:
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Break time is almost over.
The Vancouver Canucks are back on the ice for practice on Tuesday, ahead of what will be an interesting game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday at Rogers Arena.
While the Canucks have been resting and recharging, the Flames went 1-2-0 against the Winnipeg Jets, ending with a 5-1 loss on Monday that saw Jacob Markstrom pulled after giving up four goals on 23 shots through two periods.
The Flames have now used up their games in hand on Vancouver — and are sitting with an identical record of 16-18-3. Both teams are two points behind Montreal, which has a whopping six games in hand and gets back to work after its Covid break by hosting Edmonton on Tuesday.
As expected, the league did do some shuffling of the North Division schedule to accommodate the games that the Canadiens lost. Vancouver didn't have any games changed, but the Oilers should be a much more tired team when they host the Canucks on Saturday after playing in Montreal on Tuesday, then hosting the Flames on Friday. They'd originally been set to have three days off after beating the Leafs in overtime in Toronto on Monday; instead, they'll have two back-to-backs this week, significant travel, and only a two-day break as they head back to Alberta.
Meanwhile, the Canucks should be feeling fresh — for now, anyway. They'll play Calgary on Wednesday, then get another two days off before back-to-backs on the weekend in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
That kicks off a seven-game road trip, but it's relatively tame by Canucks standards. Winnipeg is as far from home as they'll go, and after that early back-to-back, the rest of the trip is two-game sets with a day off between each game in Winnipeg, then Calgary, then Edmonton.
By the time they get home on April 15, the trade deadline will also have come and gone.
SportsClubStats now pegs the Flames' playoff chances at 2.2 percent and Vancouver's at 0.9 percent, with Montreal at 97.6. But I'm interested to see if it actually plays out that way.
In other divisions, we're seeing that not everything is set in stone. Left for dead earlier in the year, Nashville is currently on a five-game winning streak that has moved them into fourth place in the Central Division — which I'm sure is causing David Poile to re-think his trade deadline plans.
And in the West, St. Louis is 2-5-3 in its last 10 games, while Arizona has won three in a row to move within one point of fourth place. It was expected that the Coyotes would also be sellers, but they may now want to stay the course. It'd be impressive if they make the playoffs this year after all the turmoil that the franchise has gone through.
SportsClubStats now has the Coyotes' playoff odds at 30 percent, and the Predators' at 25.2 percent. But there are still more than 20 games to go, so a lot could still change. Thinking back on past year, I seem to remember that playoff odds start changing much more dramatically as we get closer to the end of the season, with double-digit moves quite common off of a single game. That's why they call 'em high stakes, right?
Four of the 21 remaining games for the Canucks and Flames will be against each other, starting Wednesday. That will go a long way to determining which club bests the other in the North Division standings.
But while the Canucks' season series against Montreal is now over, the Flames and Habs play each other five more times, all in April.
Starting Tuesday, the Canadiens are set to play their final 25 games in 43 nights, ending May 11. That schedule includes five back-to-backs, although only one includes travel. And Montreal has already completed 18 of its road games, so they will play 15 times at home and just 10 times on the road, to finish off the year.
By comparison, the Canucks' first 25 games were played over 48 days between Jan. 13 and March 1 — and we know what that did to them. So it'll be interesting to see how the Habs hold up.
And of course, all we have to do is look back to Jordan Binnington in 2019 to see how a hot goalie can fuel a late-season winning streak.
Can Thatcher Demko be that guy? That's probably the No. 1 question.
As for the rest of the lineup, here's how the skaters are rolling out at practice on Tuesday.
It's a brand-new third line, as Travis Boyd makes his Canucks debut alongside two players who didn't practice on Sunday. Brandon Sutter missed the Canucks' last two games before the break with an undisclosed injury, and Tyler Motte didn't skate Sunday after being given what was called a maintenance day.
Also interesting — seeing Adam Gaudette moved up into a top-six role on the wing. There has been a fair amount of chatter that the Canucks would also consider him as a trade chip. The 24-year-old is on a one-way contract that pays him $950,000 this season (pro-rated, of course), and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at year's end.
Of course, his arbitration case right now wouldn't be great. After a breakout season that saw him put up 33 points in 59 games in 2019-20, Gaudette's production this season has regressed back to exactly where it was in 2018-19, at 0.21 points per game. He has four goals and seven points in 33 games and is a personal worst minus-13, which is also second-worst on the Canucks behind only Quinn Hughes.
And while Gaudette's production has seemed to pick up in the month of March, he still has just five points in 13 games this month for 0.38 points per game — still just two-thirds of his production level from last season.
I've always rooted for Gaudette, especially for the career he built for himself after originally being a fifth-round draft pick. But I'm starting to wonder if he has already hit his ceiling?
Thomas Drance is reporting that Gaudette has left during Tuesday's practice, but says he believes neither this, nor Virtanen's absence, is immediately trade related.
One other injury note: it's now official that Justin Bailey underwent shoulder surgery in New York this week, and is out for the season.
Bailey appeared in three games for the Canucks this season, after skating in two last year, but has not logged any points. He'll turn 26 in July, and be an RFA at season's end.
Meanwhile, down on the farm...the Utica Comets had another three games postponed due to Covid protocols on Tuesday.
That wipes out their games through Monday, April 5. The next one on the schedule is Friday, April 9.
The Comets now have nine games that need to be made up, and only one has been rescheduled. The AHL regular season is scheduled to wrap on May 14, but nothing has been announced yet about if or when playoffs will occur. If there is no postseason, perhaps the missed games can still be tacked on at the end?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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