Tuesday November 29 - Vancouver Canucks vs. Minnesota Wild - 7 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 22 GP, 9-11-2, 20 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Minnesota Wild: 21 GP, 11-7-3, 25 pts, third in Central Division
Change has come. With Alex Edler sidelined for at least the next month, the Vancouver Canucks will ice the NHL's youngest defense group when they open a three-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at Rogers Arena.
Should say, CBJ can get as low as 140 some nights. ARI 154.
Philip Larsen, who will draw back into the lineup, will be the old man on the blue line. He turns 27 next week, on December 7, but has just 138 games of NHL experience. Luca Sbisa is about two months younger but he's the on-ice veteran of the group with 405 games. Erik Gubranson, who turns 25 in January, has 331 games to his credit and is in his sixth NHL season.
It's the kids—Hutton, Stecher and Tryamkin—who will need to pick up the slack.
"We've got a young defence, but our young guys are playing like old guys, so it's been good. That has to continue." - Sbisa
In The Province, Ben Kuzma has the scoop on the bacterial infection that sidelined Larsen.
"I didn’t have much of an appetite and lost four or five pounds, but I’m getting back up there," said the diminutive Dane, who's listed at 6'1" and 185 pounds. "I had a rough couple of days with the infection and I have no idea how I got it. It hit me pretty fast and really knocked me out — especially the first three or four days."
With just four assists so far in his 13 games as a Canuck, Larsen knows he needs to show more than he has, especially with the sudden emergence of Troy Stecher.
"I knew coming over here that it was going to be an adjustment and I don’t think I’ve shown my best yet,” Larsen told Kuzma. "I wanted to show I can play in this league and this is a chance for me to start again fresh. But it’s always tough when you’re out for a while, if you’re sick or just not playing.
"And when you get a chance, you can’t just say: ‘Well, I wasn’t ready.’"
Alex Biega has been recalled from Utica and will most likely return to his spot as the team's seventh defenseman. With Sven Baertschi ready to roll after missing two games with a foot injury, Alex Grenier has been sent back down to the Comets without seeing any game action with the Canucks.
We won't get any definite intel on the lines till game time, it appears.
Looks to be very optional this morning for the #Canucks - 5-44-45-46-47-50-60-62-63-88 and Markstrom only on the ice.
As for the Minnesota Wild, they roll into town after having dropped a 4-3 shootout loss to St. Louis last Saturday at Scottrade Center. Tonight's game is the second of a five-game road trip for the Wild, which will see them subsequently head to Alberta before finishing off in Toronto.
In their first year under new coach Bruce Boudreau, the quick summary of the Wild sounds much like the status quo for the franchise—solid defensively, but struggling to score goals. Minnesota has been shut out twice this season and scored just once on three other occasions, but the offense has started to get more consistent in recent games. The Wild are 2-0-2 in their last four games and have scored at least three goals in their last three games.
Overall, Minnesota ranks a solid 11th in scoring at 2.76 goals per game, while the Canucks hover in 29th place at 2.14 goals per game.
Devan Dubnyk is in fine form once again in net. Though his record is a so-so 9-6-0, his personal numbers are great—he boasts a 1.66 goals-against average and .946 save percentage, with a league-leading four shutouts.
The Wild are currently healthy. The only player on their long-term injured reserve list is ex-Canuck Zac Dalpe, who made the team out of training camp but tore his meniscus and had surgery in late October after going 1-2-3 in his first nine games.
The subplot I'm looking forward to following tonight is the battle of the Granlunds. Older brother Mikael, of Minnesota, was the more highly-touted prospect coming into the NHL, drafted ninth overall in 2010. He has shown some mad skills over the years and is probably best known for this "lacrosse" goal at the World Championship:
But Mikael hasn't quite been able to translate all that skill into big NHL point totals so far. Now in his fifth season with the Wild, he hit a career high with 13 goals and 44 points last season, but could eclipse that this year. He's at 5-9-14 through 21 games, which puts him on pace for about 20 goals and 55 points.
The Canucks' Granlund, Markus, was drafted 45th overall by Calgary in 2011 and is in his first full NHL season after having been shuffled back and forth to the minors in his three previous campaigns. His best numbers were 8-10-18 in 48 games with the Flames in 2014-15. This year, he's on pace for 19 goals and 34 points. His five goals to date tie him with his brother coming into tonight's contest—and he'll be on a high after having scored the shootout winner for Vancouver against the Avalanche last Saturday.
According to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Wild are 3-0 in Granlund-vs-Granlund matchups, but those wins all came against the Flames. Tonight will mark the first time that the brothers have faced off since Markus joined the Canucks.
According to Russo, Markus "has loved his time in Vancouver, calling it a 'good spot.'"
"He’s smart, he’s competitive, he’s able to play center or wing for us, he’s one of our key penalty killers and he’s good on the power play,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins told Russo about Granlund. "So he’s filled a big role this year.
"In the summer, he came back and said, ‘I want to be a top-six player,’ and he wanted to push himself to get in that role."
Russo also reports that the Granlunds' parents, Minna and Vesa, have travelled over from Finland to visit Markus and will see their sons play against each other in the NHL tonight for the very first time.
"I hope they just enjoy the game. I think they’re going to root for both of us," said Mikael on Monday.
One other note to wrap up today—Canucks defense prospect Guillaume Brisebois has been invited to Team Canada's World Junior Evaluation Camp.
Brisebois is 3-11-14 in 21 games this season with the Charlottetown Islanders, who sit second in the QMJHL's Maritime Division with a 15-10-1-0 record. He was a bubble player at last summer's development camp, so it's a good sign that he's one step closer to being selected for this year's tournament, which starts next month in Montreal and Toronto.
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