After a few days off, the Columbus Blue Jackets return home to battle the Vancouver Canucks in their Eastern Conference swing.
The Canucks have added some new faces this summer in their retooling under the old Penguins’ group of Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin and the helm.
Russian wingers Ilya Mikheyev and Andrei Kuzmenko have joined up front; enforcer Curtis Lazar joined with term; defenders Wyatt Kalynuk and Christian Wolanin signed; and same with goalie Colin Delia; Riley Stillman was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks via trade.
Out the door, went forwards Jayce Hawerlyuk, Justin Bailey, Juho Lammikko, Matthew Highmore, Sheldon Rempal, and Nic Petan; defensemen Madison Bowey; Ashton Sautner; and Brad Hunt; and goaltender Jaroslav Halak; forward Jason Dickinson was moved to Chicago the day of the regular season for salary cap compliance.
Vancouver is dealing with a heavy injury bug, not having Mikheyev in the lineup along with defenders Tyler Myers and Travis Dermott; forwards Phil Di Giuseppe and Karel Plasek are on SOIR; winger Michael Ferland is on LTIR. Vancouver is also in a big back-to-back series with them taking on the Washington Capitals on Monday night.
Columbus has Elvis Merzlikins back, unknown who will start Tuesday night; however, Patrik Laine could be back in time for the Global Series games in Europe against Colorado in his native Finland.
Projected Lineups
Vancouver Canucks (per Patrick Johnson)
Tanner Pearson—JT Miller—Brock Boeser
Nils Hoglander—Elias Petterson—Andrei Kuzmenko
Vasily Podkolzin—Bo Horvat—Connor Garland
Dakota Joshua—Nils Aman—Curtis Lazar
Quinn Hughes—Luke Schenn
Oliver Ekman-Larsson—Tucker Poolman
Riley Stillman—Kyle Burroughs
Thatcher Demko
Spencer Martin
Injured — Tyler Myers, Ilya Mikheyev, Travis Dermott, Michael Ferland, Phil Di Giuseppe, Krael Plasek
Columbus Blue Jackets (per Aaron Portzline of the Athletic/Jeff Svoboda of NHL.com)
Johnny Gaudreau—Boone Jenner—Justin Danforth
Jakub Voracek—Jack Roslovic—Yegor Chinakov
Gustav Nyquist—Cole Sillinger—Kent Johnson
Eric Robinson—Sean Kuraly—Mathieu Oliver
Zach Werenski—Nick Blankenburg
Vladislav Gavrikov—Andrew Peeke
Jake Bean—Erik Gubdranson
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
Scratched — Adam Boqvist, Liam Foudy
Injured — Joonas Korpisalo, Joona Luoto, Patrik Laine
Players to Watch
Vancouver — Elias Petterson — the pressure is on the brightest offensive star in Vancouver to get his team into the playoffs with his puck play and goal scoring. After a three point game against Washington, expect him to score even more.
Columbus — Erik Gubdranson — 2 assists in 3 games. Though he is a -4, he has offensively matched the same number of points in a Columbus jersey than he did with Pittsburgh, has had one more point than had in a Predators jersey; and is 1 point behind his point total with his hometown Ottawa Senators team. Having over 17:30 in time on ice in his first three games, expect his body to be used against another one of his many former teams.
Final Score Prediction:
3-2 OT/SO for Vancouver
Quiz Maker
What say you? Thoughts? More to come…
Follow Carol Schram and her Canucks blogs on Hockeybuzz by clicking on “Bloggers” or by clicking her Canucks’ content on the Hockeybuzz home page.
Follow me on Twitter @ZakMacBuzz
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»