THE INTRO
It’s been a busy few days in Canucks land. Injuries, mega trades, and no more Tim Schaller. Tonight the Canucks take on the Minnesota Wild, a team that was all over the Canucks a few weeks ago in a 4-2 Wild victory. Vancouver is now without Brock Boeser for an extended amount of time (see below) so any hope he was going to hit 30 goals this year is now washed away. Thankfully, Tyler Toffoli is here to save the day!
By the time this is posted the Canucks may have made another move so stay tuned to the Twitters for the latest. Also, the Canucks need to win tonight for more points and a share of the division lead.
Let’s Do This!™
WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
The odds for tonight’s game are: (VAN -135/ MIN +115) courtesy of OddsShark.com.
TV / RADIO / PUCK DROP
SNP / SN 650 / 7:30 PM
LINEUPS
Tyler Toffoli will wear #73. He’ll also start his time with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. That’s the good news. Now for the bad LTIR news: Brock Boeser is out until likely the end of the (regular) season with a bout of Tony Romas (rib cartilage fracture), Micheal Ferland has relapsed in his concussion recovery and is back on LTIR and his season has ended, Josh Leivo won’t play again this year either, Tyler Motte could be back mid-March, Oscar Fantenberg is still out with a concussion, and FINALLY… Tyler Graovac is starting to skate.
Tim Schaller has been traded.
Canucks lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
LWCRWForwards

TANNER PEARSON
Rating: 73.4#48 LW

BO HORVAT
Rating: 75.3#32 C

LOUI ERIKSSON
Rating: 69.3#140 RW
FL1 Rating
Rating: 72.69#30 FL1

J.T. MILLER
Rating: 76.4#17 LW

ELIAS PETTERSSON
Rating: 77.5#17 C

TYLER TOFFOLI
Rating: 74.4#32 RW
FL2 Rating
Rating: 76.09#4 FL2

ANTOINE ROUSSEL
Rating: 71.2#96 LW

ADAM GAUDETTE
Rating: 71.0#106 C

JAKE VIRTANEN
Rating: 72.3#75 RW
FL3 Rating
Rating: 71.54#20 FL3

ZACK MACEWEN

JAY BEAGLE
Rating: 67.1#162 C

BRANDON SUTTER
Rating: 72.0#90 RW
FL4 Rating
Rating: 69.53#25 FL4
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGSDefense

ALEXANDER EDLER
Rating: 74.3#23 LD

TROY STECHER
Rating: 71.2#86 RD
DL1 Rating
Rating: 72.75#24 DL1

QUINN HUGHES
Rating: 76.1#8 LD

CHRIS TANEV
Rating: 71.3#83 RD
DL2 Rating
Rating: 73.69#15 DL2

JORDIE BENN
Rating: 71.0#101 LD

TYLER MYERS
Rating: 73.2#42 RD
DL3 Rating
Rating: 72.06#11 DL3
GOALIES

JACOB MARKSTROM
Rating: 71.6#11 G1
There are zero notable injuries to speak of for Minnesota. We’ve already devasted you with the Canucks problems so we’ll leave you alone now.
Wild lines courtesy of Dailyfaceoff.com:
LWCRWForwards

ZACH PARISE
Rating: 74.8#34 LW

ERIC STAAL
Rating: 74.2#44 C

KEVIN FIALA
Rating: 76.1#20 RW
FL1 Rating
Rating: 75.01#18 FL1

ALEX GALCHENYUK
Rating: 70.1#123 LW

LUKE KUNIN
Rating: 71.8#87 C

MATS ZUCCARELLO
Rating: 72.3#76 RW
FL2 Rating
Rating: 71.41#26 FL2

MARCUS FOLIGNO
Rating: 72.0#75 LW

JOEL ERIKSSON EK
Rating: 73.0#59 C

JORDAN GREENWAY
Rating: 72.5#72 RW
FL3 Rating
Rating: 72.48#12 FL3

RYAN DONATO
Rating: 72.4#67 LW

MIKKO KOIVU
Rating: 71.2#103 C

RYAN HARTMAN
Rating: 70.7#119 RW
FL4 Rating
Rating: 71.43#7 FL4
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGSDefense

RYAN SUTER
Rating: 75.7#12 LD

JARED SPURGEON
Rating: 76.0#15 RD
DL1 Rating
Rating: 75.86#6 DL1

JONAS BRODIN
Rating: 74.0#32 LD

MATHEW DUMBA
Rating: 74.8#27 RD
DL2 Rating
Rating: 74.36#9 DL2

CARSON SOUCY
Rating: 71.6#87 LD

GREG PATERYN
Rating: 71.2#87 RD
DL3 Rating
Rating: 71.38#22 DL3
GOALIES

DEVAN DUBNYK
Rating: 64.2#57 G1
GAME NOTES AND A STAT OR TWO
  • A win tonight will put the Canucks back into the lead in the Pacific. This is going to be a recurring point until the end of the year. Get used to it.
  • When was the last time Jake Virtanen won a game? San Jose? He’s due for another GWG and y’know what, I think he does it. He sits at six on the season which is pretty great for Jake. He currently has 16 goals this season and he hasn’t scored in two games. Jake has some work to do.
  • Tyler Toffoli will definitely get a shot to work on the top power-play unit tonight. With Boeser sidelined, Toffoli will change the dynamic of how that unit moves around and he might get some net-front goals, something Bo Horvat has struggled to do. Tyler only has 4 PPG this season. I predict he finishes the year with 8.
  • Jacob Markstrom will begin his run to the playoffs tonight and it’s unlikely we see Demko too many more times here on in. If Markstrom is going to be the guy, he’ll need to stand tall against teams like the Wild that are well below Vancouver in the standings. The Canucks will need to be good teammates and score enough goals that Markstrom won’t be relied upon to save the puck 50+ times.
  • Quinn Hughes leads the rookie race in points but if he wants to win the Calder he’ll need to improve a few categories: Even-strength points (23) while Cale Makar has 26 and even-strength goals (5) to Makar’s (8). That’s it. He’s dominating PPP with 22 points to Makar’s 17, assists (37) to Makar’s 31, and OTG (1). Cale Makar isn’t allowed to stay up that late.
#CANUCKSTWITTER
MY 94 CENTS
Wouldn’t it be nice if the Canucks put up a 60-minute effort that we can say “Hey, that was a great effort”? Vancouver got dummied by the Ducks with no long ceremony to speak of. They need to play better for Thatcher Demko because he’s just as good as Markstrom but he doesn’t get the starts to prove that.
I’m interested to see if there is an immediate big impact with the introduction of Tyler Toffoli but he won’t make the team worse and now we know Zack MacEwen is a full-timer. Please Toffoli, help our power play get better. Not asking much.
AND ANOTHER THING…