Tyler Myers scratched, Ethan Bear activated from IR

Correction: An earlier edition of this story suggested Myers was a healthy scratch, but reports are now suggesting that Myers isn’t feeling 100%. We’ll know for sure post game what the nature of Myers’ scratch is.

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers and forward Vitali Kravtsov has been scratched from the Canucks’ lineup.

The Canucks announced their lineup ahead of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, and both Myer and Kravtsov’s name weren’t listed. Jack Studnicka slots back in place of Kravtsov, who appears to be healthy scratched tonight.

Ethan Bear makes his return after missing the past couple of weeks due to taking a shot off the mouth. The puck to the face caused Bear to lose teeth and left him with a concussion.

Bear will skate in Myers’ place tonight, with Noah Juulsen and Kyle Burroughs rounding out the rest of the Canucks’ right side. Juulsen has seen plenty of time next to Quinn Hughes as of late, and has held his own for the most part.

As for Myers, the towering blueliner has had an up-and-down season, with what feels like more downs than ups lately. Myers, along with Oliver Ekman-Larsson formed the Canucks’ shutdown pairing last season with mixed results. That being said, there were still some positive results coming from the pair, and some would even argue that they were above average last season.

This season, the pairing has struggled, and both players have also struggled on an individual level. Fans have made their displeasure with the Canucks’ two highest-paid defencemen behind Quinn Hughes loud and clear all season long.

Ekman-Larsson was a scratch under Bruce Boudreau back in January. Here’s what Boudreau said about that decision.

“I think he can be better, but I think there’s a lot of guys that can be better. It’s about accountability. It’s about a lot of things. It’s something you don’t want to do. He’s arguably our best defenceman but sometimes you just have to do what you think is the best thing for the team right at that moment and that’s apparently where I am.”

It will be interesting to hear what Tocchet says post game about scratching Myers tonight, a decision that very few fans will feel is unjustified if it was indeed a healthy scratch.