Monday September 24 - Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings (Salt Lake City) - 6 p.m. - livestream at Canucks.com, Sportsnet 650
The Vancouver Canucks play their first of two neutral-site preseason games on Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah, as they face the Los Angeles Kings for the second time in five days.
Officially, it's a home game for the Kings. They're bringing a roster that reflects this:
Looks like we'll see Ilya Kovalchuk in a Kings uniform for the first time tonight, along with big guns Kopitar, Doughty and Jonathan Quick.
No Pettersson for the Canucks, but Horvat and Baertschi are back in the lineup. Making a quicker-than-expected recovery from his bone bruise, Loui Eriksson is on the trip and took the morning skate, although it doesn't look like he'll play tonight.
Jacob Markstrom is scheduled to play the full game, with Thatcher Demko backing up.
Here are the scratches. I'd guess we'll see most if not all of them on Tuesday night in Edmonton.
As for when and where to see tonight's game: puck drop is early, at 6 p.m. And there's no local TV for this game. You can catch the Kings' broadcast on Centre Ice or Rogers NHL Live, or watch the livestream at Canucks.com.
After Saturday's loss in Calgary, the Canucks made their latest round of roster cuts.
Three waiver-exempt players were re-assigned to Utica:
Two additional players were officially placed on waivers on Monday morning. We'll have to wait until Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT to see if Reid Boucher and Ashton Sautner clear:
Chatfield and Sautner both played on Saturday in Calgary, lending credence to Travis Green's postgame assertion that he'd always intended to play Sautner rather than Olli Juolevi.
At this point, Juolevi is the only defense prospect that remains with the Canucks, in addition to the core of eight that is returning from last season.
Kuzma has a good piece on Juolevi in
The Province.
The young Finn acknowledges that he still needs to be careful with his back in the gym but adds, "I'm feeling great right now. I’m happy with the way camp has gone and everything with my back has been positive. I have a good confidence in myself with the way I’m playing."
Alex Edler sees a bit of himself in Juolevi, and draws from his decade-plus of NHL experience to offer this advice on how the 20-year-old can make the best possible impression on his coaches:
“You have to make sure you do what you’re good at,” Edler told Kuzma. “Don’t hide out there. Don’t show too much respect on the ice, but off the ice, be respectful.
“Maybe there are some similarities to when I came in the league (2006-07). He (Juolevi) is very calm and sometimes you want to see him show more emotion. But I never did that either. Just because you don’t show it on the outside, it doesn’t mean you don’t have it on the inside to show that you want to be here.”
The cuts at forward seem reasonable, given what we saw from those players in preseason. Jonathan Dahlen was brilliant at Young Stars but wasn't able to carry over that momentum into his two NHL games.
Petrus Palmu also showed his potential at Young Stars and the Summer Showcase, but didn't stand out in his preseason games. Having played junior in the OHL, he has more small-ice experience than Dahlen, but there's no harm in having him further develop his game in the AHL.
As for Reid Boucher—I feel like he's now the third option in his role, behind Nikolay Goldobin and Brendan Leipsic. A 'tweener throughout his career, Boucher has been no stranger to the waiver wire over the past two seasons. He has cleared twice before while a member of the Canucks.
So far this year, the only player who has been claimed off waivers is winger Danick Martel, a small-but-feisty 24-year-old who played four NHL games last season with the Philadelphia Flyers. He was claimed by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
Coach Trent Cull and his crew are also making their way to Utica. The team is holding a
meet-and-greet for season ticket holders on Wednesday to get their year rolling.
The Comets play just two preseason games—a home-and-home series against Binghamton this Friday and Saturday. Their regular-season opener is one week later, when they host the Calder Cup-winning Toronto Marlies on October 5.
Not counting the injured Antoine Roussel and Wacey Hamilton, the Canucks roster is now down to 17 forwards. If the team sticks with its usual breakdown of 13 forwards and eight defensemen, that means we'll see four more cuts up front from this list before opening night:
Darren Archibald
Sven Baertschi
Jay Beagle
Brock Boeser - waiver exempt
Loui Eriksson
Sam Gagner
Adam Gaudette - waiver exempt
Brendan Gaunce
Nikolay Goldobin
Markus Granlund
Bo Horvat
Brendan Leipsic
Tyler Motte - waiver exempt
Elias Pettersson - waiver exempt
Tim Schaller
Brandon Sutter
Jake Virtanen
Safe to assume that Boeser and Pettersson won't be sent to Utica, even though they're waiver exempt? I think so.
It should be fun to see what the rest of the bubble players can do this week to try to stake their claims on a roster spot.
Enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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