Is it time for the Vancouver Canucks to start auditioning new faces?
After closing out their four-game series with the Otawa Senators with a 6-3 loss on Wednesday afternoon, the current group looks gassed. Fresh legs and some rookie enthusiasm might help as the club lands in Toronto on Thursday for the first of five back-to-back sets to play out the string.
Kole Lind is currently on the regular roster and has been listed as a healthy scratch for the last two games. It doesn't even require a taxi-squad move to put him in the lineup, and that's exactly what Travis Green is doing.
As for who comes out, two forwards saw less than 10 minutes of ice time from Green on Wednesday.
• Zack MacEwen got into yet another fight with Brady Tkachuk and finished as a minus-two in 9:15. (Gordie Howe hat trick for Tkachuk on Wednesday, by the way)
• Jake Virtanen scored for the first time since March 20 and is now at five goals for the year. He actually finished as a plus-one, but played just 9:29.
I don't think MacEwen's physicality is needed as much against the Maple Leafs, so it'll be great to see Lind make his NHL debut. He impressed me with his hard work during training camp before the bubble last summer, and was off to a good start in Utica this season before he broke his nose, with five goals and eight points in eight games.
Lind hasn't suited up for a game since March 3. But a 22-year-old with a scoring touch who's running on adrenaline might provide a boost that the Canucks could use on Thursday against the Leafs.
As disheartening as Wednesday's loss felt, it didn't really change the landscape much. The Leafs are also coming into Thursday's game on a back-to-back with travel, after beating the Canadiens 4-1 in Montreal on Wednesday. But they've played just three games since those two losses in Vancouver last week, while the Canucks have played four. And their goaltending ship has steadied, with Jack Campbell delivering all three wins.
Does that mean the Canucks might see 'Big Sieve Dave' again on Thursday? Or will Freddie Andersen perhaps take the net for the first time in more than a month? He has been practicing with the team, and Toronto could be moving into full postseason prep mode after officially clinching their playoff spot on Wednesday — and with just seven games left on their regular-season schedule.
They'll also play the Canucks on Saturday.
And while Wednesday's loss in Ottawa certainly felt like it dropped the curtain on any playoff hopes for Vancouver, it didn't change their mathematical odds in any meaningful way, as far as
SportsClubStats is concerned.
The door remains open to the tune of about 4.5 percent. But when I look at how Montreal won three out of four when they came out of their Covid break, but has since gone 4-9-0, I worry that the toll of their condensed schedule foreshadows an equally tough road ahead for the Canucks.
Montreal has played 17 games in 30 days since returning to action. Vancouver's set for 19 in 32 when it's all said and done.
It was a relief to see Thatcher Demko back in the Vancouver net on Wednesday. But much like his 3-0 loss against the Senators last week, he didn't get a whole lot of help from the skaters in front of him.
Not surprisingly, Braden Holtby is set to start against Toronto on Thursday.
Jalen Chatfield will also draw in on defense after being scratched for the last three games. Jack Rathbone and Madison Bowey remain on the taxi squad.
For call-up purposes, taxi squad players are treated as if they're in the AHL. Teams are only entitled to four call-ups after the trade deadline, so they need to be used judiciously. That's part of the reason why Montreal got caught between a rock and hard place before they were able to activate Cole Caufield to their NHL roster this week.
As far as I can tell from
CapFriendly, it looks like Lind's recall on April 26 is the only one since April 12 that hasn't occurred under emergency conditions. So I believe the club does still have three call-ups remaining over their last 13 games, if they choose to use them.
Meanwhile, down on the farm — Mikey DiPietro needed to serve a three-day quarantine when he arrived in Utica, and coach Trent Cull has been cagey so far about when he'll get into game action.
According to reporter
Ben Birnell in Utica, netminder Jake Kielly played just one period of Wednesday's 2-1 overtime win over Syracuse, and Cull said after the game that his status didn't "seem promising."
Jonah Gadjovich had both goals for the Comets on Wednesday, his 13th and 14th of the season. That ties him for fourth in the AHL in goal-scoring despite the fact that he has appeared in only 18 games. By comparison, Cooper Marody is currently the runaway leader, with 19 goals in 33 games with Bakersfield.
And how big of a load is Gadjovich carrying? Well, Lind's five goals from earlier this season still have him tied for second on the team, with John Stevens.
The player formerly known as Sven Baertschi has reclaimed his umlaut: he's Sven Bärtschi now. But he also missed Wednesday's game with an undisclosed injury. He has 4-9-13 in 15 games but is a rather scary minus-11.
At the other end of the spectrum, it's great to see most of the best plus-minus players are the Canucks' prospects. Jett Woo leads the way at plus-seven, Jack Rathbone's plus-six, Gadjovich and Carson Focht are both plus-four and Will Lockwood is a plus-three.
Lukas Jasek is third in team scoring with 15 points in 19 games, but that comes with a minus-six.
Wednesday's home win over Syracuse was a nice bounce-back game for the Comets, who dropped a 7-1 road decision to the Crunch last Saturday.
The Comets have won three of their last four games and sit fourth by points percentage in the AHL's seven-team North Division, with an overall record of 11-7-1.
They have 10 games left on their schedule, which wraps up May 16 — three days before the Canucks. And that'll be it; there are no playoffs in the AHL this year.
As you may have heard, there has been some talk that the Comets will be relocating next season. Sounds like we could hear more on that in the next couple of weeks or so.
It does seem like this will happen. The New Jersey Devils have announced that their farm team won't be playing in Binghamton next season, and there are signs that they'll be moving to Utica — where the Utica Devils previously skated from 1987 to 1993.
From a coverage standpoint, it would be a dream for the Comets to land in Abbotsford, just a drive away. And the market isn't as isolated anymore as it was when the Calgary Flames had their affiliate there; the AHL has a legitimate West Division now.
Of course, most of those teams are located Stateside; it might still make more sense to go after a U.S. market such Salt Lake City.
It'll be tough to navigate this decision-making process when we still don't have long-term clarity on when the Covid border restrictions will finally be lifted. But it's something to watch, for sure, during what should be another very unusual offseason.
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