Tocchet: Carson Soucy in for Canucks vs. Devils, Nikita Zadorov out day-to-day

Carson Soucy will be in the lineup when the puck drops between the Devils and Canucks in Newark, New Jersey this evening.

Head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed that Soucy — who has been skating in recent weeks — will suit up for his first game since November 12th tonight. Earlier today, the Canucks activated Soucy from LTIR, and placed forward Phil Di Giuseppe on LTIR in a corresponding move. Di Giuseppe left the Canucks’ Tuesday night home game against the Ottawa Senators with what appeared to be a non-contact injury. Post game, Tocchet said he anticipated PDG would be out for a while.

The team called up Linus Karlsson, who played in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. Tocchet confirmed that Karlsson would be out of the lineup tonight as Andrei Kuzmenko slots back in for Vancouver after serving as a healthy scratch on Thursday. Tocchet also confirmed Thatcher Demko as the Canucks’ starter this evening.

Soucy’s return couldn’t come at a better time for the Canucks, as Tocchet said that Nikita Zadorov is “dealing with something” and is out day-to-day, leaving a larger-than-life-sized hole on the Canucks’ blue line that the Canucks are hoping the 6’5 Soucy can fill effectively.

The Canucks acquired Zadorov in a trade with the Calgary Flames at the end of November, due in part to the Canucks’ blue line’s struggles during the month of November in the absence of Soucy. Here’s the play that took Soucy out back in mid-November:

“I got twisted up and it almost got me kind of behind,” Soucy said of his injury. “It’s the ones that you’re not really expecting to get blocked, I think that’s where the injuries are, like even Teddy [Blueger’s] earlier this year, like you’re not really looking, so it gets you in a little different spot. I don’t know if there’s just not as much protection kind of behind the skate, but yeah, I think it’s just kind of all where it gets you. It was just a wrist shot, but kind of got me in a tough spot.

“That one felt different, I kind of knew, but you still want to give kind of everything you have to come back, so I tried to get some strides in, but yeah, deep down I pretty much knew right away.”

Soucy is currently in the first year of a three-year deal that carries an annual average value of $3.25 million that the Canucks signed him to in free agency this past offseason. Tonight will be his 14th game in a Canucks uniform.

You can read our pregame article for today’s game courtesy of Jeff Paterson by clicking here.