Thursday March 17 - Detroit Red Wings 1 - Vancouver Canucks 0
Saturday March 19 - Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks - 7 p.m. PT
Even in the Bruce Boudreau era, the Vancouver Canucks retain the unfortunate ability to occasionally lay an egg when they should be enjoying smooth sailing.
That happened again on Thursday, when they were shut out by the Detroit Red Wings — in an unexpected goalie duel. For me, it brought back memories of the Canucks' 1-0 loss to Marc-Andre Fleury and the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 21 — when #trending forward Brandon Hagel scored the lone goal of the game.
Now up to 21 goals for the year, Hagel is the newest member of the Tampa Bay Lightning — a 23-year-old who's slightly undersized at 5'11" and 174 pounds, but who plays a well-rounded game. Originally drafted in the sixth round by Buffalo, the Blackhawks signed Hagel as a free agent in 2018 and brought him up through their system. I felt like his coming-out party was last year's World Championship, where he won a gold medal with Team Canada, but he actually had a decent 24 points in 52 games with the Blackhawks in 2020-21, in what was officially his rookie season.
Hagel's big attraction is that he's signed for two more seasons after this, at a cap hit of $1.5 million. He can be an everyday forward for the Lightning at a bargain-basement price. For them, that's worth two first-round draft picks and two young forwards who are, themselves, only in the first year of their entry-level contracts. Wow.
Of course, I bring this up because we're three days out from the 2022 trade deadline as I type this. And while there haven't been a lot of deals, the prices have been high on most of the transactions that have transpired.
This Hagel deal is incredible. What a debut for new Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson — a 33-year-old who has worked his way up after joining the Chicago organization as an intern in 2010. He had made a couple of minor deals since being named Interim GM in late October, but this is definitely his coming-out moment.
That makes me wonder whether the Canucks' rookie GM Patrik Allvin has it in him to hit a home run like that before Monday. Montreal's new boss, Kent Hughes, also pulled off a helluva deal on Wednesday when he sent Ben Chiarot to Florida in exchange for a first and a fourth, plus NCAA prospect Ty Smilanic.
Even when Chiarot was on those very defensively strong Winnipeg teams, he never really stood out to me. And while he can play both sides, he's a natural lefty — perhaps filling the spot that the Panthers hoped Olli Juolevi could take when they picked him up from the Canucks earlier this year?
But Chiarot is big, at 6'3" and 234 pounds. And the Panthers probably aren't wrong in thinking that they'll need some muscle just to get out of their division. Remember the war that was their first-round series against the Lightning last season?
If there's one positive that comes out of the Canucks' loss on Thursday, it's that trade talk becomes a little more palatable. And while the out-of-town scoreboard has generally been pretty kind to the Canucks lately, that wasn't the case on Thursday.
Nashville lost, but L.A., Edmonton, Vegas and Dallas all won. And Winnipeg won on Wednesday.
So the Canucks wake up Friday morning three points out of the second wild card (still Vegas), with Dallas two points ahead and Winnipeg just one point behind — and hosting Boston on Friday night.
SportsClubStats shows the Canucks' playoff chances dropped by a whopping 15.3% on Thursday night, down to 18%.
MoneyPuck has them down to 9.7%, just behind Winnipeg (9.8%).
Does that change your opinion on how aggressive the Canucks should be over the next 72 hours? Or have you been hoping for big deals all along?
Or, do you still believe?
Heading into Thursday's game, it seemed like the Canucks players were really embracing the moment, talking about seeing how far they could take this thing. They know what they accomplished in the bubble in 2020, and how fleeting that success was. Surely they understand that when opportunity knocks in the NHL — even very quietly — it's important to throw the door open with all your might, and not let those moments slip away.
Bruce Boudreau certainly seemed disappointed by the group's effort after Thursday's game. And when Bruce talks like this, his words carry weight.
To their credit, the Canucks have bounced back well from their bad nights under Boudreau's watch. That 7-2 stinker in Jersey was followed up by a 4-3 win over the Islanders. The 7-4 loss to Anaheim was followed by a 5-2 win over Seattle. Even the 6-3 home loss to the Islanders in early February was followed by that 3-2 home win over Toronto.
The only time the Canucks have lost consecutive games in regulation since Boudreau has been here was on the Southeast road trip in January — when they fell to Florida, Tampa Bay and Carolina.
I'm not giving the Canucks a pass just because they got 43 shots on the Red Wings on Thursday, either. They also gave up 35. And if you take a look at
Natrual Stat Trick, you'll see that they had the high-danger chances at 15-9 for Detroit in all situations in the game, with just one high-danger chance in the third period.
But maybe the adversity will help put them in a better headspace to face the Flames on Saturday night? Calgary continues to play well, with a 7-2-1 record since that 7-1 loss to the Canucks back on Feb. 24. But the Flames will be at a schedule disadvantage, hosting Buffalo on Friday. Jacob Markstrom is confirmed to start that game, too. Will the Canucks see Dan Vladar on Saturday? If they do, that should be advantageous.
Vladar has been playing a bit more lately. He's now at 8-5-1 for the year, with a .903 save percentage and respectable 2.90 goals-against average. But his last two outings, against Washington and Colorado, have both been losses. And he's at minus-5.5 goals saved above expected for the season, while Markstrom is at plus-11 — and Thatcher Demko is at plus-10.9.
Friday is a team day off for the Canucks. So we'll have to wait to confirm how Boudreau is going to handle his own goaltending choices. Vancouver's back-to-back has them facing the Flames on Saturday, then the Sabres on Sunday.
And finally — very quickly — the buzz on Friday is that the Kings could be interested in Conor Garland.
This is intriguing to me, and makes some sense. As I've said before, because Garland has only been here for a short time, I don't think the fanbase is attached to him as they are to Brock Boeser. And while Garland's contract is hefty, it's moveable.
I could see him fitting in well with the Kings' forward group. And perhaps most importantly, L.A. has a super-deep prospect pool, especially at centre. They've got a long list of talented young players who could be moved. And Rick Dhaliwal is dropping Alex Turcotte's name, which is pretty tantalizing.
We'll see what happens. But that rumour has my attention.
Enjoy Saturday's game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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