Tuesday October 24 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Minnesota Wild - 5 p.m. - Sportsnet Vancouver, Sportsnet 650
Vancouver Canucks: 8 GP, 4-3-1, 9 pts, third in Pacific Division
Minnesota Wild: 6 GP, 2-2-2, 6 pts, seventh in Central Division
Looking through the online chatter about the Canucks this morning, this comment from Minnesota Wild coach Bruce Boudreau jumped out at me:
I can't remember the last time an opposing coach showed the Canucks that type of respect!
Even if it's only lip service, the Vancouver Canucks are looking at a chance to grab eight of a possible 10 points on their current road trip as they face the Minnesota Wild today at Xcel Energy Center. That's an excellent outcome for a team that struggled mightily on the road last season.
One constant remains, however—injuries. Here's the latest on Troy Stecher, who left Sunday's game against Detroit after a knee-on-knee collision with Tomas Tatar in the second period.
Stecher flew back to Vancouver on Monday and can now join Alex Edler and Loui Eriksson as they also work to stay in shape and rehab their own knee injuries.
With Stecher out of action, Alex Biega will draw back into the lineup tonight against the Wild. The accumulation of injuries also led to a couple of call-ups on Monday.
The return of Patrick Wiercioch made sense. He's a lefty who can also play the right side, so he'll be a useful spare part while the Canucks wait for Edler and Stecher to return. By taking Wiercioch off the Utica roster, that also opens up an extra spot for a veteran.
But Demko? Why??
Of course, I was originally concerned that Demko's recall meant that either Jacob Markstrom or Anders Nilsson had been injured, but that's not the case.
The short version:
Demko is skating with the team in Minnesota today.
CapFriendly is showing that Eriksson was placed on long-term injured reserve on Monday. It's expected that Demko will be reassigned to the Comets before game time tonight.
As for the game...
One other significant storyline for the Canucks—tonight marks Brock Boeser's first NHL game back in his hometown rink since he made his impressive debut last March.
Tonight's game shouldn't be quite as much of a whirlwind. It'll be interesting to see how he plays with his big cheering section on hand.
For the second straight game, Thomas Vanek also has strong ties to the opposition. He played in Detroit last season, of course, and spent the two previous seasons with the Wild. The Minnesota area is still Vanek's North American home base—a key part of his development was his two years with the University of Minnesota, where he led his team with 62 points in 45 games in 2002-03 and 51 points in 38 games in 2003-04.
Seeing three roster players already lost to injury for significant periods of time, it's hard not to wonder if the Canucks are going to be testing their organizational depth again this season. But at least Vancouver started the season with a relatively healthy roster, unlike many teams—including Minnesota.
Zach Parise hasn't played this year due to ongoing back issues and has finally opted to have surgery.
I've found
this page from CBC Sports does a good job of staying up to date with injuries and health issues around the league, including timetables for return. It's also easy to get a rough idea of how teams stand compared to others simply by scrolling through.
For today's game, a quick glance reveals that the Wild are missing more of their big-name forwards than just Parise.
Charlie Coyle has a broken leg and won't be back until December and dangerous Nino Niederreiter has a high-ankle sprain that will keep him on the sidelines until November. Markus' big brother Mikael Granlund has appeared in just one game this season and has been dealing with a groin injury, but is expected to get back into the lineup tonight.
The Wild have played just six games so far this season—tied with Carolina for the fewest in the league. Tight to the cap and with lots of days off between games, they've been doing some elaborate shuffling of players to and from their AHL affiliate in an effort to save cap space.
For today's game, forwards Luke Kunin and Justin Kloos have been recalled. For the undrafted Minnesota native and University of Minnesota graduate Kloos, it'll be his first NHL game. Kunin's the Wild's first-rounder from 2016. Also an NCAA player, he's eligible for the AHL even though he's only 19. Kunin has two assists in three NHL games so far.
Devan Dubnyk will start in net for the Wild. He has struggled in the early going, with a 3.80 goals-against average and .888 save percentage in four appearances.
With that, you're up to date. The World Series starts tonight, so our game will be found on the Sportsnet Vancouver channel.
Enjoy!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»