CANUCKS ARMY GDT# 34 – CANUCKS @ FLAMES
By Always90four
7 years agoHoliday Cheers! Holiday Savings!
Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin – USA TODAY Sports
Quick turn around and the Canucks are in Calgary to play the Flames this evening. They probably won’t even book a hotel today, just win and go home. Jannik Hansen stayed in Vancouver after taking a pretty ugly knee on knee hit against the Jets. Anton Rodin is making his much anticipated Canucks return. The Flames haven’t played since Tuesday, so they’ve been looking for some game action.
The Canucks might be willing to live up to that type of play.
Merry Christmas
BROADCAST INFO
TV: SNET-P
RADIO: TSN 1040
PUCK DROP: 6:00 PM
LINE COMBOS
Rodin is back in a Canucks uniform and Hansen (knee) is out. That obviously changes the PP1 unit but you have to believe Brandon Sutter just slots back in.
You know who’s starting in net tonight? JACOB MARKSTROM. You know why? Because Willie Desjardins in his infinite wisdom decided Ryan Miller made more sense YESTERDAY. I don’t even know anymore.
Vancouver Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Daniel Sedin |  Henrik Sedin |  Jannik Hansen |
 Loui Eriksson |  Brandon Sutter |  Markus Granlund |
 Sven Baertschi |  Bo Horvat |  Alexandre Burrows |
 Jack Skille |  Michael Chaput |  Jayson Megna |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Ben Hutton |  Chris Tanev |
 Luca Sbisa |  Troy Stecher |
 Nikita Tryamkin |  Alex Biega |
Garnet Hathaway (not Anne’s brother) is back in the lineup after watching Tuesday’s tilt vs. the Sharks in the press box. He’s a spark plug. I’m sure we’ll be introduced to him and the rest of the 4th line again.
Chad Johnson gets the nod. Willie, take note.
Calgary Flames lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
 Matthew Tkachuk |  Mikael Backlund |  Michael Frolik |
 Johnny Gaudreau |  Sam Bennett |  Alex Chiasson |
 Kris Versteeg |  Sean Monahan |  Troy Brouwer |
 Micheal Ferland |  Matt Stajan |  Garnet Hathaway |
| Defensive Pairings | |
|---|---|
 Mark Giordano |  Dougie Hamilton |
 T.J. Brodie |  Dennis Wideman |
 Jyrki Jokipakka |  Deryk Engelland |
GAME NOTES, STATS AND OTHER INTERESTING INFO
- Rodin is back. Putting him with either the Sedin line or the Horvat line would make the most sense, He’ll probably get Jack Skille and Michael Chaput. Yep, can’t figure anything out anymore.
- Michael Granlund has had himself a good month, 2G and 3A up until now in December is pretty good considering where he plays and the players that should be scoring. Tertiary scoring seems to be king so “All Hail King Granlund”. I’m probably going to be fired after that.
- Eriksson on the Shelf – basically Willie is playing some sick game where he poses Loui Eriksson in every possible situation but the first powerplay unit and the first line. I get it, he’s making a lot of money and he wants to show the rest of the team that just because you make a lot of money, doesn’t mean things are just given to you. THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT MEANS! Wow, I got loud there, really sorry. Eriksson hasn’t scored since the Minny game at the end of November. He’s assisted on 5 goals this month. Oh man, it’s bad.
- Since October 2014, the Sedins have feasted on the Flames at 5v5. Their CF% is 55.0 respectively. They also have 6 GF in that same time and because this team has been sagging towards ultimate awful, this is pretty good.
- Time to get real for this last one: I’m worried Jack Skille might get re-signed and he ends up being the player the Canucks build around. He’s done some pretty cool things in the last few weeks and it worries me. Maybe Vegas takes him? Nope, Benning has a contract lined up I’m sure of it.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
This really isn’t even about what goalie should be starting on a nightly basis, it’s about not having a clue about what’s going on with the organization. There was a tweet mentioning the Canucks could currently be icing a line of Horvat-Ehlers-Tkachuk. That should infuriate you. If you want to know why the Canucks are losing games they probably should be winning, look at the decision they made against the Jets to play Miller.
It’s stupid.
MY TAKE
Playing yet another back to back and now away from home, the Canucks are in tough. Sure, Markstrom is in net and played great against the Jets this week but no Hansen and who knows what Rodin will do. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Flames took it to the Canucks but then again, Vancouver does some messed up cool stuff sometimes.
WHAT IS SANTA BRINGING THE CANUCKS?
Well, it won’t be a new GM, owner or President. A new coach might be a stretch unless he forgets where the team plays and delivers him early January. I honestly hope Santa brings clarity to the Canucks for Christmas. Just let us know what’s going on so we can buy in and PUT ERIKSSON ON THE POWER PLAY!
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