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Canucks getting healthier, set to hit the road and get back into action |
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One more sleep...hopefully...
As of Tuesday morning, the NHL is set to get back into action with three games. The Vancouver Canucks are one of 14 teams set to hit the ice on Wednesday, when they open a 3-in-4 road trip in Anaheim.
But it's not smooth sailing yet. One game originally scheduled for Tuesday has been postponed, along with four on Wednesday. That brings the total number of cancellations to 70 games, but the league is trying to mitigate the impact of positive cases by re-introducing taxi squads and offering teams some salary-cap relief when they have to make call-ups.
I covered all that in a story for Forbes on Monday.
And the NHL is getting back to business just in time. As I type this, TSN has just announced that Team USA has been forced to forfeit its Tuesday game against Switzerland at World Juniors due to two positive test results among their players in Red Deer. And that could spell real trouble — Bob McKenzie reports that the club's goaltending is involved.
This year, no additional players are allowed to be added to rosters under any circumstances, so we'll see what happens from here. The USA/Switzerland game was one of just two on the Tuesday schedule, along with Canada/Austria at 4 p.m. PT.
The U.S. is next scheduled to face Sweden in the late game in Red Deer on Wednesday. Apparently the game goes into the books as a 1-0 win for Switzerland, which will certainly shake up the Group B standings even if USA is able to resume playing.
One more positive note from Monday's World Juniors action: despite just 9:47 of ice time, Canucks prospect Dmitry Zlodeyev was named Russia's player of the game in his team's 4-2 win over Switzerland.
Zlodeyev scored an impressive goal, staying with the play long after it seemed dead.
As for the Canucks — they're back on the ice at Rogers Arena for practice on Tuesday and, knock on wood, it looks like they have their full complement of players back from the Covid list.
Alex Chiasson missed practice on Sunday but was not added to the Covid list. He practiced on Tuesday, and there was eve a Matthew Highmore sighting!
Travis Green never liked to mess with a winning lineup. But the Canucks were pretty shorthanded on the back end for their last game, when they beat the Sharks 5-2 in San Jose on Dec. 16. At that time, they were missing Luke Schenn, Tucker Poolman, Brad Hunt and Juho Lammikko due to Covid protocols, and had both Kyle Burroughs and Noah Juulsen in the lineup on defense.
It's kind of amazing that both Tyler Myers and Tyler Motte went all the way through Covid protocols without missing a game. Motte tested positive on Dec. 17, one day after playing in San Jose, and Myers was added to the list a day after that, right before the Leafs game that never was.
For what it's worth, here's how the lines rolled at Sunday's practice, when Chiasson was absent.
And here's how the power-play units rolled out on Tuesday:
As for the Ducks, they're one of the five teams that the Canucks were supposed to see during what turned out to be their 12-day holiday break. Anaheim had four games postponed — a pre-Christmas trip across Western Canada, and a Monday contest against San Jose.
Even though their last game before the pause was a wild 6-5 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes, the Ducks went into the holiday break tied with Minnesota and Vegas for first place in the Western Conference with 40 points (and yes, Vegas has climbed past Edmonton and Calgary to the top of the Pacific Division, where many expected them to be this season). The Ducks have gotten to where they are by picking up points even when they don't play their best — they're 6-1-3 in their last 10 games.
And while it's youngsters like Trevor Zegras and Sonny Milano who have been drawing the lion's share of the media spotlight, the Ducks' defense corps has been robustly healthy this season — and chipping in plenty of points. Kevin Shattenkirk and Cam Fowler are fifth and sixth in team scoring, respectively.
Here's how the lines rolled for the Ducks' last game, on Dec. 17. They've been off one day less than the Canucks.
Anaheim had mostly managed to avoid Covid up till the break, but two players were added to their list on Boxing Day — Max Comtois and Sam Steel.
The Ducks have also named their taxi squad, while I haven't seen a similar announcement yet from the Canucks.
For the moment, there's no problem with availability of Abbotsford Canucks players. The AHL squad had their scheduled games for this week against the Manitoba Moose postponed on Monday. As things currently stand, they're not set to play again until Jan. 5, when they open a four-game home set against the Bakersfield Condors.
I'm happy to say this — enjoy the game on Wednesday! It'll be great to have some on-ice action to talk about in the next blog, as we see whether Bruce Boudreau can keep his streak alive and the Canucks can continue their climb up the standings.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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