Scenes from practice: Phil Di Giuseppe rotates with Nils Höglander as Canucks shake up forward lines
2 years ago
Ahead of their game against the New York Islanders on Thursday evening, the Vancouver Canucks practiced today, and there were a few things to note.
The first and biggest thing is that Bruce Boudreau has decided to shake up every forward line except for the trio of Juho Lammikko, Tyler Motte, and Matthew Highmore after his club’s 7-2 defeat at the hands of the New Jersey Devils on Monday night.
Line rushes
- The other thing to note is that Nils Höglander rotated in and out from Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland’s wing with Phil Di Giuseppe.
- Di Giuseppe was called up to the Canucks from Abbotsford last week when the club put defenceman Kyle Burroughs on injured reserve and Tucker Poolman on LTIR. With 11 goals and 21 assists through 35 games, Di Giuseppe has been clamouring for an opportunity with the big club with his play in Abbotsford this season.
- Both Jason Dickinson and Tucker Poolman skated today and are feeling better, according to head coach Bruce Boudreau.
- Bo Horvat, who was lined up alongside Brock Boeser and Vasily Podkolzin in the club’s 7-2 loss Monday night, finds himself centring a line with Podkolzin and Alex Chiasson on his wings.
What was said
Bruce Boudreau said he hasn’t yet decided on whether or not it will be Di Giuseppe or Höglander playing Thursday night. Boudreau also talked about the thought process of changing up his lines.
“We just go back and forth,” said Boudreau. “I mean, we’ve switched them around so often and Brock is in a little bit of a rut right now and I thought Petey played well with Garland before, so let’s see how it works out. Again, I can always change them in the blink of an eye, but I don’t see things going the way I want them to right now.”
Boudreau also talked about his deployment of the red-hot Elias Pettersson — who has played with almost everybody on his line over the past couple of weeks.
“We don’t have enough guys that make other guys better when they play with them, so I mean, I can afford to use Petey in that situation,” said Boudreau. “I’d love to see how he’d do if he had Matthews and Draisatl on his line, but he doesn’t, so guys work hard with him. He’s been working hard. His best friend on the team is Hoggy, so I put them together because they communicate well together. But it’s a great attribute when you can put somebody on any line and he makes that line better.”
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