One step closer to game action!
The Vancouver Canucks are flying to Florida on Sunday, then are set to practice on Monday before they begin their tough five-game road trip against the Panthers in Sunrise on Tuesday.
After practice on Saturday, we got a rundown of the club's roster situation — always evolving, of course, and always subject to change.
From
Iain MacIntyre at Sportsnet:
• After having tested positive for Covid while in the U.S., Brock Boeser and Jason Dickinson both remained stateside, and plan to meet up with the team in Florida.
• After having completed his five-day provincial quarantine, Elias Pettersson is on the plane with the rest of the team, according to Sportsnet's Dan Murphy.
• Alex Chiasson is also under the provincial quarantine, so he could potentially re-join the team in a few days.
• Justin Dowling and Phil di Giuseppe were medically transported back to Canada, so they're now subject to the Canadian government's 10-day quarantine rule. That means they'll still be in Vancouver for a bit.
On Saturday, the Canucks announced that they had recalled forwards Justin Bailey and Sheldon Rempal, defenseman Ashton Sautner and goaltender Spencer Martin from the taxi squad; On Sunday, Bailey was re-assigned to Abbotsford — presumably because Pettersson was good to go.
Bailey's return is also good news for the Abbotsford Canucks, who are very shorthanded and have two more home games to play on Sunday and Monday.
Back on the ice this weekend for the first time in two-and-a-half weeks, Abbotsford dropped a 6-2 decision to the Bakersfield Condors on Friday, then fell 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.
Here's a rundown of all the player movement in Abbotsford so far in the New Year:
• On Monday, forward Ethan Keppen was returned to his junior team, the Flint Firebirds. The Canucks' fourth-round pick in 2019, Keppen turns 21 in March. He was pointless in 11 games with Abbotsford this season. It sounds like the goal is to get him more ice time.
• On Wednesday, the club signed forwards Brandon Cutler and Yushiroh Hirano to professional tryout agreements.
• On Friday, the club signed another PTO, with forward Nicolas Guay; it also released defenseman Cameron Schilling, a veteran defenseman, who signed with Djurgardens in the Swedish Hockey League.
• Jett Woo returned to the Abbotsford lineup for Friday's game after suffering an injury that had kept him off the ice since Dec. 11.
• Mikey DiPietro took the loss on Friday night, giving up six goals on 28 shots. DiPietro is now 3-7-2 for the year, with a 3.38 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.
• Saturday, Abbotsford dressed just 10 forwards and five defensemen. Trent Cull confirmed after the game that five players had been placed in Covid protocol:
• Despite the lack of bodies and the back-to-back situation, Abbotsford built a 3-1 lead on Saturday, on goals from John Stevens and Justin Bailey, then an empty-netter from Noah Juulsen with 1:32 left in the third period. But Bakersfield fought back to force overtime, scoring their tying goal with just three seconds left in regulation, then went on to grab the win.
• Spencer Martin took the loss for Abbotsford, stopping 27 of 31 shots. The 26-year-old is still unbeaten in regulation this season, with a record of 5-0-2-1 to go along with a 2.24 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.
• Still shorthanded, Abbotsford has signed two more players to PTOs ahead of Sunday's game: forward Keltie Jeri-Lyon and defenseman Garrett Johnston. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. PT at Abbotsford Centre.
With the weekend results, Abbotsford has now slipped to .500 for the year, with a record of 10-10-3-1. But as their season approaches the three-month mark, they've still played just 24 games. There are 44 games left to go in the 68-game regular-season slate, which is currently scheduled to finish up on April 22.
After wrapping up this series against Bakersfield, Abbotsford will head south. They'll play a pair of games against the San Diego Gulls on Friday and Saturday, then visit the Ontario Reign next Monday before returning home for a pair of games against the Gulls on Jan. 22 and 23.
As for the big club, I'll have another blog on Tuesday, when I can set up the road trip and talk about how well the Panthers are playing, especially at home. The latest look at the standings shows that the Canucks have now dropped back to 13th place in the Western Conference thanks to an impressive four-game winning streak by Dallas, who have surged ahead of Vancouver.
The Stars are on the ice in St. Louis for a Sunday matinee as I type this, with two more points available. But that huge gap in games played is closing rapidly. After Sunday's game, Dallas will only have two more games in hand on Vancouver.
Thanks to wins by Los Angeles and San Jose on Saturday, Edmonton has been bumped out of a playoff spot, and now sits 10th in the West. But even after this long layoff, the Canucks still sit just four points out of eighth place. There's no doubt, they need to pick up some points during this road trip if they hope to keep pace and keep their playoff hopes alive.
To close out today, there was some chatter earlier in the week that Canucks prospect Aidan McDonough could be on the radar for the U.S. Olympic team in Beijing.
McDonough didn't address the rumours directly, but told Patrick Johnston of
The Province earlier this week that he's very happy with his season so far.
Now a junior at Northeastern, the Canucks' seventh-round pick from 2019 is wearing an 'A' this year, and leads his team in scoring with 15 goals and 19 points in just 19 games.
With a record of 13-4-1 so far this season, Northeastern is on the rise — up from No. 13 to No. 10 in the latest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll, which was released on Jan. 3. Interestingly, that's only three spots below the superteam at the University of Michigan, which sits seventh with a record of 14-6-1. Top spot belongs to 18-4-0 Minnesota State, while No. 2 Quinnipiac also has a great record so far, at 14-1-3.
The Olympic decisions are bound to impact how the seasons play out for these college teams — regional games for the NCAA championship are slated to begin in late March, barely a month after the medals are set to be handed out in Beijing.
I imagine we'll start to get more clarity on Olympic rosters as early as this week.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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