The new-look Vancouver Canucks will look to earn their first win of the post J.T. Miller era Sunday evening, as they host the scorching hot Detroit Red Wings.

The Canucks made a pair of trades Friday evening, and will potentially have four new skaters in the lineup for tonight’s game as a result. While resolution to what had become an ugly situation coupled with three new additions could help the Canucks turn things around, they may be without Captain Quinn Hughes in this matchup, who is listed as a game-time decision.

I’ll detail the relevant game notes, as well as outline my favourite betting angle below.

After earning a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames last night, the Red Wings are now 13-4-1 under new head coach Todd McLellan. McLellan has made a number of positive changes, and it’s easy to make the case that the Red Wings are a better side now than they were when the Canucks bested them in overtime on December 1st.

Marco Kasper has thrived since being promoted to the top line, putting up 12 points over the last 12 games. He likely was deserving of a larger role earlier in the year, his addition to the top line also gives the team a more balanced look. 24-year old defender Albert Johansson has taken significant steps forward under McLellan, and is playing like a legitimate top-four defensemen on a quality second pairing alongside Simon Edvinsson.

The Red Wings top power play unit has been incredible during McLellan’s tenure, succeeding on 35.7% of opportunities. The team has also continued to received solid goaltending from Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon, who have combined for a .913 save percentage over the last ten games.

The Red Wings underlying results are still quite modest though, and they may be leaning a little too heavily upon their incredible power play and strong goaltending to be this dominant moving forward. Under McLellan the Red Wings hold a 45.29% expected goal share at even strength, and have allowed 2.88 xGA/60 (sixth worst in NHL).

Lyon is expected to start after serving as the backup last night in Calgary. He holds a .907 save percentage and +6.6 GSAx rating in 20 appearances this season.

After finding out Miller had been traded just before their matchup versus the Dallas Stars Friday evening, the Canucks put together a fairly strong performance, despite the final score of 5-3. The Canucks held the Stars to just 16 shots, and generated 3.08 expected goals to the Stars total of 2.60. The Stars were opportunistic when the Canucks made mistakes, and received a strong performance from their elite goaltender being Jake Oettinger.

While the final result is certainly frustrating for a team in dire need of points, a potential injury to Hughes is obviously the greatest concern coming out of that matchup.

Hughes left the game momentarily, and looked to be skating quite gingerly when he did come back into the matchup. It seems fair to say that this current injury looks to be a new ailment, and not related to the hand injury he is also dealing with. There is a legitimate argument to be made that Hughes is as important to the Canucks right now as essentially any skater in the entire league is to their team, and another potential absence is obviously extremely significant.

Without delving into the fringe pieces of the Canucks’ pair of recent trades, the Canucks lineup will likely have Marcus Pettersson, Filip Chytil, Drew O’Connor and potentially Victor Mancini coming in, with Miller and Danton Heinen coming out.

There’s certainly a case to be made that the combination of Canucks newcomers will not move the needle more than having Miller playing at his absolute best does. Miller had not always been at his best this season though, and the situation had obviously become a significant distraction and source of negativity.

Marcus Pettersson is a high quality defensive defender, who is a massive get for a team which was desperately in need of a meaningful upgrade in the top-four. His addition should provide a meaningful impact, though it would obviously be negated by Hughes either coming out of lineup or playing at well below full health.

Chytil had a highly positive impact at both ends of the ice for the New York Rangers this season, netting 20 points in 41 games while averaging just 14:20 of time on ice. He has the potential to achieve much more in heightened roles, and if he can stay healthy the 25 year-old could prove to be a huge get for the team.

O’Connor also figures to be a useful depth piece, and will likely earn a spot on the third line in tonight’s matchup.

Chances are Miller is going to have a big finish to the season playing alongside Artemi Panarin, which won’t feel great for Canucks fans. It seems quite reasonable to say Pettersson, Chytil and O’Connor can all have positive impacts to help equate his loss, and maybe this trade will help Elias Pettersson find top form.

While he got hung with a -2 rating thanks to the Stars empty net-goals, Elias Pettersson did have a solid game versus the Stars. In 11:31 of even strength play the Canucks top line generated seven shots on goal while allowing just one shot against.

Thatcher Demko finished with a pretty ugly stat-line versus the Stars, as he stopped just 11-of-14 shots faced. He certainly was not as bad as that number suggests as there weren’t many low quality shots to pad his save percentage, but it still seems likely that this start will go to Kevin Lankinen.

Lankinen holds a +3.1 GSAx rating and .906 save percentage in 32 appearances this season.

While the point is not to say that the Red Wings have been lucky recently, it does seem that their current process won’t lead to such dominant results moving forward. They have become more dangerous offensively under McLellan, and have done a good job in the key moments of many matchups recently. Still, they are allowing a well above average amount of chances against while not generating all that many of their own, and eventually that combination likely won’t lead to such excellent results.

This does seem like a good spot to expect a spirited effort from the Canucks, who will look to take advantage of a Red Wings side playing back-to-back, and earn their first win of the post Miller era. With the Canucks priced at -164 in this matchup oddsmakers do seem to be giving plenty of credit to the idea that Detroit is not entirely playing like one of the best team’s in hockey though, especially considering the Hughes situation which is a massive concern for Vancouver.

All eyes will be on Pettersson in the final third of this season, as with the Miller situation resolved it is now time for the Canucks star to start carrying his side to better results. He skated 22:29 in Dallas on Friday, recording an assist and three shots on goal.

I’m interested in backing all of Pettersson’s props, as I do believe we will see him put forth a strong performance in this matchup, and think the prices are quite reasonable. Pinnacle’s price of +149 for him to record three shots on goal looks to hold the most value to me, given the lofty amount of shots against Detroit is still allowing, while not allowing many goals against.