Monday February 9 - Vancouver Canucks at Minnesota Wild - 5:00 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, TSN1040
Vancouver Canucks: 29-19-3, 61 points, third in Pacific Division
Minnesota Wild: 25-20-6, 56 points, fifth in Central Division
I wonder if the Canucks should have banked a couple of their goals from Saturday night's win over Pittsburgh? They might need to make some sort of miracle withdrawal if they want to score on the impenetrable Devan Dubnyk tonight at Xcel Energy Center.
Dubnyk has been named the NHL's First Star of the Week after posting two shutouts for the Wild last week, against Chicago and Colorado. The last goal scored against Minnesota was eight days ago, by Daniel Sedin. Back when Pete Carroll was still considered a brilliant coach.
Dubnyk now has four shutouts in nine games since joining the Wild. And with Minnesota just five points behind Vancouver and Calgary, but eight points behind Winnipeg, the Wild will be gunning for a wild card spot if they hope to make the playoffs at all.
So far, their odds are just 36.3 percent, according to
SportsClubStats.com. I suspect a win over Vancouver tonight could increase that number significantly.
But it's not like Dubnyk will *never* allow another goal. And though the Penguins switched up their goaltenders when they played Vancouver on Saturday night, the Canucks were facing a team in the same situation:
Here's a look at the Canucks' game-day skate in Minnesota, with their fathers looking on:
The lines appear to be the same as last game—which makes sense after a big win.
Nice to see Chris Tanev back in his usual pair with Alex Edler, though Ann Schmaltz of
News1130 warns that Tanev will once again be a game-day decision, as he was against Pittsburgh (when he did not play).
For the Wild, ex-Canucks Keith Ballard and Matt Cooke are on the injured list. Justin Fontaine has just been activated after a groin injury, which means Jordan Schroeder will likely be shuffled back to the press box after two games of action.
Game time's 5:00 from chilly Saint Paul, where it's sunny and minus-1 this afternoon, with more snow expected tomorrow.
Draft Lottery Breakdown
I saw some chit-chat in yesterday's comment thread, wondering about the changes that are coming for the NHL's draft lottery. Here's the scoop, from
NHL.com:
The new system is being phased in over two seasons, but this year's adjustment is minor. The odds of receiving the first-overall pick have been tweaked slightly. The biggest change is that the bottom-of-the-pack teams will have lower odds of receiving the first-overall pick than they did under the old system.
Previously, the team that finished 30th in the standings had a 25 percent chance of picking first overall—that number has now been reduced to 20 percent.
The 29th-place-team sees an even bigger drop in their odds, from 18.8 percent under the old system to 13.5 percent this year. The next two teams also see their odds reduced slightly, while the top 10 non-playoff teams will also see slightly better (though still small) odds of picking up that first-overall pick.
Check the link above for a chart of all the numbers.
The plot thickens in 2015, when the first THREE picks will all be determined by draft lottery. That means three separate draws will take place. Odds will be proportionately the same for each round, though there will be one less team in the mix for the second-overall pick, then two less teams for third-overall.
Ultimately, that gives the higher-seeded teams a better chance of getting *one of* the best picks, while it becomes possible that the team finishing 30th overall could end up picking as late as fourth.
It will also mean that the NHL should be able to extend its annual Draft Lottery telecast to a couple of hours!
Don't expect big changes in how the draft unfolds this season. But the wrinkles could have an impact starting in 2016.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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