After a busy weekend on the trade front, the Vancouver Canucks (23-18-10) will ice a lineup full of newcomers when they host the Detroit Red Wings (26-21-5) at Rogers Arena.
However they may have to get by without a familiar – and important – face as captain and leading scorer Quinn Hughes is listed as a game time decision.

What we know

The four newest Canucks – Marcus Pettersson, Filip Chytil, Drew O’Connor and Victor Mancini – all took to the ice along with Kiefer Sherwood this morning. At least four of them are expected to play tonight. Mancini may draw in if Hughes is unable to play. Rick Tocchet said Hughes was receiving treatment this morning and his status for tonight’s 5pm puck drop was not yet known. He appeared to be in some pain late in Friday’s 5-3 loss in Dallas and did not practice with the team yesterday. Hughes leads the Canucks with 59 points. If he can’t play, Conor Garland will be the team’s top scorer with 34 points.
Sherwood has missed four games with an undisclosed injury suffered in Edmonton on January 23rd. He pushed to join the team on its recent road trip, but it was decided to keep him out until tonight. With so many moving parts, Rick Tocchet did not reveal his line combinations for tonight’s game so that will have to wait until warm-up.
Kevin Lankinen returns to the net after backing up the past two games. Lankinen has won two straight and three of his last four. His last appearance was in a 5-2 victory in St. Louis on Monday night. 
Canucks had their three game win streak snapped their loss in Dallas. Conor Garland, Jake DeBrusk and Carson Soucy scored the goals while Thatcher Demko made 11 saves before the Stars scored a pair of empty netters. 
Quinn Hughes had an assist to push his point streak to eight games with five goals and seven assists during that time. Elias Pettersson has points in three straight games while Nils Höglander has points in three of his last four.
The Canucks have a chance tonight to record consecutive victories on home ice for the first time this season after holding off Washington 2-1 last Saturday night.
This Vancouver team has strong ties to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. Filip Hronek was acquired from the Wings while Pius Suter used to play for Detroit. Quinn Hughes played his college hockey at the University of Michigan. Dakota Joshua hails from Dearborn. Conor Garland played for Muskegon in the USHL. Thatcher Demko, Derek Forbort and Kiefer Sherwood all saw time with the US National Team Development Program based in Ann Arbor. And President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford was drafted by Detroit and spent parts of nine seasons as a Red Wings goalie. 

The opponent

The Red Wings arrive as one of the hottest teams in hockey having won five straight after a 3-1 victory in Calgary last night. Dylan Larkin, Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp scored the goals while Cam Talbot picked up his 15th win of the season making 33 saves.
Detroit is 13-4-1 under new head coach Todd McLellan who took over out of the Christmas break. In that time, the Wings are tied with Washington and Dallas for the most points gained (27) and the most regulation victories (11) and are second in the league in goals for (60) and on the power play (35.7%).
Larkin leads the team with 23 goals and has a share of the league lead with 12 on the power play. Lucas Raymond leads Detroit in scoring with 56 points (20 goals) on the season. Alex DeBrincat is the club’s other 20-goal scorer with 21 so far. 
While Talbot got the start last night, with the quick turnaround Alex Lyon is expected to be in net tonight. Lyon made 45 saves in a 3-2 shootout win in Edmonton on Thursday.
Overall, Detroit has the fourth best power play in the NHL at 27.3% and has scored the third most power play goals this season, however the Wings are dead last in the league on the penalty kill at 69.5%.
The Canucks beat the Red Wings 5-4 in overtime on December 1st. Jake DeBrusk capped his hattrick with the OT winner. Last season, the teams split their two meetings with each winning on home ice.
Tonight’s referees: Peter MacDougall & Kendrick Nicholson
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson

What we heard

Rick Tocchet on how he plans to integrate so many new bodies into the lineup: “Yeah, get them comfortable. A lot of excited guys which is nice. As a staff, you don’t want to overload them. You want them to have some fun tonight and not overload them with systems stuff. I’ve been in this business a long time, that’s the best thing. Don’t overload them and then hopefully you can give them more structure as the season goes on.”
Tocchet on getting the thumbs up from Sidney Crosby on the two former Penguins: “Sid texted me yesterday and he says they’re great locker room guys and really good people and players. That means a lot.”
Tocchet on Hughes status for tonight: “Quinn is getting some stuff done and it’s going to be a game time with him.”
Kiefer Sherwood on returning to the lineup: “I was pushing for it (to join team on road trip), but I think players are always going to be pushing to come back early. At the end of that, you just want it to be over. Really it’s better safe than sorry. So I figured it’s probably not the best to be on a four hour flight. So I’m ready. I feel good.”
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