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Veteran Canucks lineup impressed Abbotsford crowd with 4-2 win over Flames |
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Sunday September 26 - Seattle Kraken 5 - Vancouver Canucks 3
Monday September 27 - Vancouver Canucks 4 - Calgary Flames 2
With two preseason games under their belt, the Vancouver Canucks are 1-1 and seem to be (mostly) trending in the right direction as they prepare to kick off their 2021-22 campaign on October 13 in Edmonton.
Don't forget — after these exhibition games, we won't see the team again for awhile. The Canucks start the regular season with a six-game road trip, so their home opener isn't until October 26, when they open a seven-game homestand against Minnesota.
Though their season starts three days later, the AHL Abbotsford Canucks will actually make their home debut sooner. They'll start with three road games before opening a four-game homestand with a pair of games against the Henderson Silver Knights on October 22 and 24.
I made my third trip in five days out to Abbotsford on Monday — navigating rain-impacted rush-hour traffic and my now-vast knowledge of the parking situation around Abbotsford Centre to take in the veteran-laden Canucks' 4-2 win over a skeleton squad from Calgary.
The Canucks never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 3-0 first-period lead thanks to a power-play goal from Conor Garland just 2:38 into the opening frame. Chase Wouters, the 21-year-old WHL product who is earmarked for the Abbotsford team, followed up by finishing off a feed from Jonah Gadjovich on a hard-working rush, then J.T. Miller capitalized from close in, also with the man advantage.
The Flames pushed back in the second period, giving Mikey DiPietro a chance to show his stuff in front of the Abbotsford crowd that will probably get a big dose of his acrobatic, entertaining playing style this season. Dillon Dube, a winger taking a turn at centre, broke DiPietro's shutout bid on a 5-on-3 after the halfway point of the period, then gritty defender Connor Mackey threaded a shot through a maze of bodies to pull the Flames within one with 41 seconds left to play in the middle frame.
Perhaps the Canucks sat back a bit in the second. The team came out with a redoubled effort to start the third, particularly the veteran top line of Bo Horvat, Tanner Pearson and Alex Chiasson. Vancouver was buzzing in the Calgary zone for a good part of the third, and Pearson was eventually rewarded when he snapped a feed from Oliver Ekman-Larsson past Calgary goalie Dan Vladar with 6:29 left in the third.
Looking to narrow the deficit, the Flames pulled Vladar with just under four minutes to go. They applied steady pressure in the offensive zone, but were mostly held to the outside. When pucks got through, DiPietro was there to save the day — with a little help from his crossbar, which he actually caressed with gratitude after a Flames shot pinged into the crowd.
With victory seemingly assured, the energy in the building picked up in the third period. I've been at B.C. Place for a handful of Lions and Whitecaps games over the past few weeks, so I'm re-acclimated to live fans and the energy they bring. At 50% of its 7,000 capacity, the energy in Abbotsford Centre was solid — and the array of Canucks jerseys was awesome, with sweaters honoring the Sedins and Ryan Kesler mixed in with the Horvat, Pettersson and Hughes jerseys of today.
Of course, Abbotsford has had its opportunity to support AHL hockey in the past, but the Flames-affiliated Abbotsford Heat lasted just five seasons, from 2009 to 2014. Mikael Backlund is the one holdover from those squads who is still in the Calgary organization, but he was not in the lineup for the Flames on Monday night. A handful of other players who suited up for the Heat are also still in the NHL with other organizations, including Paul Byron and Brett Kulak of Montreal and Sven Baertschi and Laurent Brossoit, with the Vegas organization.
From my visits to the Valley this week, it does feel like there's good enthusiasm for the Canucks organization. It seems like the AHL squad will be deep enough to be entertaining, so I hope it'll be well supported.
With a two-assist night, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was named first star of the game. He was effective on a defense pairing with Tucker Poolman — who also looked steady. And as well as making things happen on the offensive side of the puck, Ekman-Larsson had some bite in his game, not afraid to get involved physically. I feel like I have seen him look disinterested at times when he played for Arizona, so this does seem to back up the idea that he's energized by this fresh start and ready to get back to where he was a few years ago, when he was on the fringes of the Norris Trophy conversation.
Among those who were auditioning for jobs, Jonah Gadjovich probably did the most to help his case. He has looked good all the way through camp after a concerted effort to improve his skating in the offseason. With his big body and the impressive hands that he displayed in the AHL last season, I expect he'll be one of the players who's still around at the end of next week, when the final cuts come down.
I wish I had more to say about Vasily Podkolzin, who made his NHL debut on Monday night. He didn't stand out for me, one way or the other, but he can take more time to acclimate.
And after icing all three candidates for the third-pair job on the left side in Spokane on Sunday, Travis Green brought Olli Juolevi and Jack Rathbone back for yet another look on Monday, while Brad Hunt got the night off. Rathbone was paired with Tyler Myers, while Juolevi skated with Jett Woo — so perhaps you can read something into that deployment. Considering the workload they've carried with three hard days of camp followed by back-to-back games, with travel, they were both pretty decent, although Woo was penalized at one point after he and Juolevi got pinned in the defensive zone for an extended period of time.
PTO candidate Alex Chiasson also looked solid, skating with Horvat and Pearson and using his big body to create an imposing net-front figure on the power play. With so many players fighting for jobs and cap space at a premium, I'm not sure there's an easy way to make room for him. He'd need to hit that "impossible to send me home" level to earn a contract, I think.
Tuesday is a well-deserved day off for the team and the coaching staff. Then, they'll get back on the ice to practice at Rogers Arena on Wednesday and Thursday before travelling to Calgary to face, presumably, a more veteran Flames group on Friday.
Travis Green mentioned on Saturday that, with so many missing bodies, he's not expecting to make many early cuts — but may start to split them into more of an NHL group and a minor-league group.
Rick Dhaliwal has reported that young Swedish defenseman Viktor Persson was assigned to the Kamloops Blazers, as expected, on Monday. And that Brady Keeper's injury, suffered in a training-camp drill on Saturday, is a broken leg. He has now undergone surgery, so he'll be out for awhile.
I'm hoping that Jim Benning is not taking Tuesday off. I was part of the group that got the opportunity over the weekend to view the screener for the new Amazon Prime 'All or Nothing' docuseries on the Toronto Maple leafs which drops this Friday. Watching it reminded me of William Nylander's saga and how that extended negotiation really did nobody any good. Hopefully it won't come to that for Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
And while it makes complete sense, I hadn't thought about how Ottawa holdout Brady Tkachuk is also skating with Pettersson and Hughes in Michigan. He and Quinn are super tight and were roommates during their time with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Travis Hamonic's situation adds another interesting wrinkle to the plot this week. Despite Jim Benning's assurances that Hamonic would be in camp, obviously he is not. And with no official clarity on his situation, rumours are swirling about his vaccination status and whether he's considering opting out of the season, retiring, or perhaps even seeking a trade to a U.S. club, where there will be fewer restrictions against unvaccinated players.
Here's what Benning told Ben Kuzma on Monday:
During my many long drives over the past few days, I've had the opportunity to consume even more hockey podcasts than usual. On this topic, one key point stood out for me.
Emotions run high on the subject of vaccination, so management groups who are trying to convince players to get vaccinated have tried to keep the focus on the obligation that players have to their teammates — such an important dynamic, in hockey. Nothing gets accomplished by demanding that players acquiesce, or denigrating them for their beliefs.
I assume that's why Benning is trying to play Hamonic's situation as delicately as possible.
But even if the idea of looking for a trade stateside is true, he may not find he has much more freedom south of the border than he would in Canada. The NHL's strict protocols are designed to keep unvaccinated players separated from their teammates as much as possible, so that would mean another bubble-like year of doing nothing but going from the rink to the hotel.
The opt-out deadline for the season is this Friday, October 1.
And while Benning is trying to be patient, Hamonic's situation does have trickle-down effects. If he opts out or retires, his $3 million in salary-cap space would open up. A replacement would have to be added onto the roster, of course — at a minimum of $750,000. And without Hamonic, the current depth chart on the right side looks something like this:
• Poolman
• Myers
• Schenn
• Bowey
• Woo
• Burroughs
If Hamonic doesn't join and the Canucks don't spend on a replacement, perhaps that gives them the cap flexibility to get the Pettersson and Hughes deals over the finish line.
Of course, as long as the situation remains grey, that flexibility isn't there. The clock is ticking...
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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