Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment

The NHL can often be its own worst enemy. And then every once in a while, they do something that shouldn't work, but absolutely does. Add in the current political climate, and suddenly winning two hockey games this week has become vital to the entire nation.

There were two issues from that game on Saturday that need to be addressed moving forward, one of them was something that will have to be adjusted on the fly, the other a problem that everyone who knows even a passing amount about hockey could have told them was going to happen.

Jordan Binnington is not the answer. He's not even the third best goaltender this country has at its disposal, and the fact that they went with him, even after a barely passable performance against the Swedes really makes you wonder about how the brain trust at Hockey Canada evaluates talent. Binnington let his team down by not making the stops they needed.

And then there was the USA's defence shutting down the Canadian attack all game long, and Jon Cooper and his staff need to figure out how to do break this down and get more opportunities, because this was evident during the Swedish game, too. And with the Finns sporting a number of solid players on their back end, not finding a way to get going offensively is going to mean an early and embarrassing exit for Canada from this tournament.

And yes, it's that dire. Canada has to win in regulation in order to get a shot at the Americans on Thursday. If they can't get it done in regulation but still win, there's a really gross scenario that sees them still out: If the USA loses to Sweden in regulation. I know you're thinking "There's no way they'd do that, right?" Yeah. The team that literally plotted to start a hockey game with three straight fights, wouldn't be above ensuring they don't have to face the one team that could possibly keep them from winning it all. If you haven't figured out assuming America will do the worst possible thing as they safest bet, I don't know what else to tell you.

And how about that WWE-worthy heel turn by J.T. Miller. To go from having your name chanted at home, to literally outing yourself as a fascist seems a little unbelievable from a written standpoint, but here we are.

Anyway, the (hopefully) good news is that we could see Cale Makar back in the lineup. And while Thomas Harley was outstanding coming into the lineup to replace Shea Theodore, it was rather evident that the Canadians were missing their top defenceman. If Makar is able to go, Harley is still able to stay in the lineup though, and I would not be surprised at all if that's how it ends up.

LINEUPS

Courtesy of that nhl dot com thingy...

CANADA (0-1-0-1) vs. FINLAND (0-1-0-1)

1 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS

Canada projected lineup

Sidney Crosby -- Connor McDavid -- Mark Stone

Sam Reinhart -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mitch Marner

Brad Marchand -- Sam Bennett -- Travis Konecny

Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brayden Point

Devon Toews -- Cale Makar

Josh Morrissey -- Colton Parayko

Travis Sanheim -- Drew Doughty

Jordan Binnington

Adin Hill

Scratched: Seth Jarvis, Thomas Harley, Sam Montembeault

Injured: Shea Theodore (upper body)

Finland projected lineup

Kaapo Kakko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Mikko Rantanen

Sebastian Aho -- Roope Hintz -- Patrik Laine

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Mikael Granlund

Artturi Lehkonen -- Erik Haula -- Joel Armia

Niko Mikkola -- Esa Lindell

Olli Maatta -- Henri Jokiharju

Urho Vaakanainen -- Nikolas Matinpalo

Kevin Lankinen

Juuse Saros

Scratched: Juuso Valimaki, Teuvo Teravainen, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Injured: None

I'm trying to stay calm here, but I am gonna lose my shit if Binnington is in for another game. Logan Thompson not being named to the team was infuriating enough, but the way Binnington has played makes you wonder if the Canadian born MAGA supporter is working as a double agent.

And while we were thrilled to see Kevin Lankinen make the most of his shot against Sweden after Juuse Saros was lit up against the Americans, we would very much like Kevin to have a poor performance today, thank you. Nothing personal, we love him a lot, but we'd love him even more if just wasn't very good this afternoon.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Another great Canadian tune, this time from Vancouver's own ANCIIENTS. This one is off their Juno nominated album 'Beyond The Reach Of The Sun', available on Season Of Mist Records, here's 'Melt The Crown'.

The NHL gave us the information of when and where.

If you haven't being paying attention to this event because your love of the Canucks has made it so you haven't cared, I give you this link, so you can see the rosters for the four teams. (I might be one of these people)

My first instinct is that Canada is in trouble in this tournament. While they have the best player in the world and two great players who live in Colorado, I see this team as a step slower than the U.S.. I am not sure that my instincts can be trusted since I am a Canucks fan. I do know that I want U.S. goaltending over Canada's for sure. Jordan "I lost the Calder to Petey" Billington will get the start against the Swedes, who have Petey.

The wild card that will really determine who wins this tournament are the refs. Will they allow a hard-hitting game, with some chippiness or will they call it tight and have special teams determine who wins?

I am not going to get into too much depth with rosters and what-ifs, that's your job. I will say that I won't be shocked if the U.S. wins the whole thing and J.T. Miller scores infinity goals. I also won't be surprised if Finland or Sweden steals a game or two from Canada or the U.S.. It will all come down to the guys in the striped shirts and the directions they have been given from the league. I'm sure owners don't want players coming out injured from this tournament. (I am happy Quinn is not playing)

Let us know your predictions! I predicted Petey and Miller drop gloves when their teams play.

The post J.T. Miller era is starting to take shape, and while it may be too early to tell what the impact of the new additions mean to the Canucks, it does feel like they might have begun to turn the corner after a big 3-0 win over Colorado Tuesday night.

Vancouver Canucks (24-18-11) vs. San Jose Sharks (15-34-6)

7:30 pm PST; 10:30 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

Heading into Tuesday night after a frustrating overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings, it sure looked like it was going to be a long night for the Vancouver Canucks. They had lost in Dallas, and lost Quinn Hughes near the end of the game, and he was out against Detroit. While they'd managed to earn that one point, it was clear they really missed the influence and impact Hughes has every time he steps on the ice.

And going up against the Colorado Avalanche, you couldn't help but feel that Cale Makar, Nathan Mackinnon and crew were going to run all over the Canucks. Instead, we got treated to a top to bottom effort from the Canucks where they went toe to toe with one of the NHL's better teams, saw signs that D Elias Pettersson is going to be a hell of a player on the Canucks back end, and the return of Thatcher Demko to the form we've come to expect. Add in goals from a couple guys who really need to get hot right now in Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk and the Canucks put together one of their best games of the season, and by far the best performance without Quinn Hughes.

Tonight they jet down to San Jose to take on the NHL's worst team, and this will be a good chance for the Canucks to show they can avoid trap games, by stomping the Sharks tonight. I know some guys will be looking forward to both the Leafs on Saturday and the upcoming break for the 4 Nations Cup tournament, but they need to focus on getting out of California with two much needed points that can, with some help from the Avalanche, see them leapfrog Calgary for that last playoff spot in the West.

One thing we've noticed so far is that the new additions to the Canucks are fitting in very nicely, thank you. The speed that Filip Chytil and Drew O'Connor bring to the forward lines is a welcome sight, and Marcus Pettersson's presence on the back end has already seen an improved defensive game overall for the Canucks. It also means that once Hughes is healthy, they can lessen the workload on guys like Tyler Myers, who can be effective with controlled minutes and usage. We've yet to see Victor (listed as Vittorio on the Canucks website) Mancini in a game, but you would think tonight would be a perfect opportunity to give the other part of the Miller trade show what he can contribute, and hopefully, make Noah Juulsen an Abbotsford Canuck.

Are the Canucks better after the trade? I would say at least marginally, especially with the swap out of Desharnais for Marcus Pettersson. Of course, none of this will matter if the Canucks can't get healthy and string together a meaningful amount of wins. As it stands, the way this team is playing now, getting into the playoffs just to get slaughtered by whoever they face benefits no one but the Aqualini family by getting gate revenue for a couple playoff appearances.

LINEUPS

I'm tired, so today's lineup is just the one I got off nhl dot com...

CANUCKS (24-18-11) at SHARKS (15-34-6)

10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SNP

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Conor Garland

Drew O'Connor -- Filip Chytl -- Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua -- Pius Suter -- Kiefer Sherwood

Nils Hoglander -- Teddy Blueger -- Nils Aman

Marcus Pettersson -- Tyler Myers

Derek Forbort -- Filip Hronek

Elias Pettersson -- Carson Soucy

Thatcher Demko

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Noah Juulsen, Victor Mancini

Injured: Quinn Hughes (lower body)

Sharks projected lineup

William Eklund -- Macklin Celebrini -- Tyler Toffoli

Fabian Zetterlund -- Andrew Poturalski -- Will Smith

Collin Graf -- Luke Kunin -- Barclay Goodrow

Carl Grundstrom -- Ty Dellandrea -- Walker Duehr

Jake Walman -- Henry Thrun

Mario Ferraro -- Jack Thompson

Shakir Mukhamadullin -- Timothy Liljegren

Vitek Vanecek

Alexandar Georgiev

Scratched: Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Colin White

Injured: Logan Couture (lower body), Nico Sturm (lower body), Klim Kostin (lower body), Jan Rutta (lower body), Alex Wennberg (upper body), Nikolai Kovalenko (undisclosed)

Thanks to a metric fuckton of injuries, the Sharks are rolling with half a lineup of guys who sound totally made up, which might explain a bit about why they are where they are. Sure, they're still tanking to rebuild, but some of these guys, I dunno man. No surprise that Hughes is not good to go, and we'll get the same lineup we saw in the win on Tuesday. Looking forward to the Chytil-Boeser-O'Connor line and what kind of damage they can do to that Sharks defence tonight.

GAME DAY CHATTER

When I asked Filip Chytil what he thought of the Rogers Arena crowd, his face lit up. "It was great, just was unbelievable."He has a lot of good things to say about the #Canucks after just two games. Read our full conversation 👇dailyhive.com/vancouver/ch...

Noah Strang (@noahstrang.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T17:21:33.853Z

Trade Soucy? I wouldn’t. #Canucks should learn the lesson from the Ian Cole decision.👇dailyhive.com/vancouver/ca...

(@robthehockeyguy.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T04:29:51.008Z

Solid deal for Marcus Pettersson and the Canucks. The top 4 Dman gets an extra year over projection, but that may have allowed Vancouver to keep the AAV down. In our eyes, this is fair for both sides. #Canucks #NHL

AFP Analytics (@afpanalytics.bsky.social) 2025-02-06T03:31:22.233Z

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Looking again at some of the best metal releases celebrating their 40th anniversary, and this time we're going to focus on a band from the Bay Area: POSSESSED. Along with DEATH, POSSESSED are credited with being the godfathers of death metal, and the fact that they were all just out of high school at the time makes their early accomplishments even more impressive. The band got their start like so many back in the early 80's, with an appearance on one of the Metal Blade Records Metal Massacre compilations. It was the song 'Swing Of The Axe' on MM VI that led to a deal with Combat Records. They would also play in Montreal in November 1985 at the World War III Fest which had one hell of a lineup, appearing alongside Nasty Savage, Voivod, Destruction and Celtic Frost. They also featured long time Primus guitarist Larry Lalonde, who joined the band after this release. The band broke up in 1987, and in 1989 vocalist/bassist Jeff Beccara was shot in a robbery attempt, and was left paralyzed from the waist down, but still sings for the band today, in a wheelchair. From that influential debut album, this is the song that literally started it all.

Remember the later start tonight, folks. Enjoy the game. Fuck nazis. Go Canucks Go!

What We Know So Far. (Pretty Much Everything)

The petty clash of millionaire egos inside the Canucks locker room is now confirmed by the supreme director of the Canucks Hockey Drama Club.

If you missed the media feeding frenzy about Rutherford's frank and revealing interview with Gary Mason of The Globe and Mail, good for you. You're living a charmed life off the grid.

Stop reading now!



"I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved..."

"But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again. And so it certainly appears like there's not a good solution that would keep this group together."

"We're talking about two of our top players. Certainly, our two best forwards. It can really be tough on a franchise - not only present but into the future - when you're planning on peaking this team into a contending team and then you find out that's not going to happen. Or at least it's not going to happen with the group we have now. Then you have to put together a new plan."

"When you don't have chemistry, it's hard to be that consistent team because there's too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they're supposed to do," Rutherford said.

Rutherford was asked if the ongoing drama has impacted the entire team.
"Yes, yup," Rutherford replied.

From TheScore

When you're an easily distracted millionaire hockey player, it's tough to tune out the locker room chatter and go out on the ice and earn those millions. Sheesh.

It's a good thing all these guys are so talented at hockey. They're not equipped to eek out a living like most of us - dealing with assholes every freaking day.

In just a moment we'll let you settle this locker room tiff in our traditional NM democratic fashion - with a poll. But first... indulge my little rant.

This little tempest in a jock strap was an issue before Bo was traded. JR/PA chose to trade Bo and resign JT. They obviously felt the team had a better chance of success with JT leading a beefed up D. Ronnie was the payback for dealing Bo away to make his millions and millions in a far off land. They resigned Pete for the 5th richest contract in the league. Smart hockey moves so I heard.

Last season proved the Canucks could be a very good team despite the pettiness amongst some 'stars'. However, as Pete faded last season and into the playoffs it seemed more than tendinitis was bothering him. Possibly it was tenderness of the ego. Meanwhile, JT had a weak start to the season, was benched or self-benched and then self-exiled for 10 games.

According to Brad Richardson, Miller was too hard on EP. Bruce B said that EP thrives on positive reassurance, not negative name-calling.

I do not care.

Westy and Kent call me terrible names, threaten me with unspeakable drinking games and I take it - for free. If I was a better writer and some insane blog paid me $11.6 million a year, I'd take all the razzing and threats of Rumageddon with a smile and a thank you.

So... I'm putting the cause, the cure on the players. As they say on Bluesky...

Luc gets it. To quote Jason Brough, after he quoted me on the radio last week: "I want to cheer for players who WANT TO BE VANCOUVER #CANUCKS." If you can't play for each other, play for the fans. If you won't do that, give MY team's jersey back, and kindly fuck off.

[image or embed]

— The King of Blind Bay (@imrealgoode.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 1:38 PM

Oh... and they're saying so much more... it's a soc-med frenzy, kids. https://bsky.app/hashtag/Canucks

Anyhow, there's plenty of blame to go around in this season's Nucks Drama Club: Crush The Fan's Hopes ongoing shiteshow.

More importantly... who do you feel is the problem child/adult? It's a big list and sometimes it's tough for a long suffering Canucks fan to just pick just one. You can choose your Top 3. Multi-Polar Proportional Voting is how we run NM's democracy. (when Kent isn't dictating how and what you listen to)

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR THE SILLY DRAMA CLUB THAT IS THE CANUCKS?


Coming off an emotional, much needed win over the Oilers, the Canucks have a chance to win back to back for the first time in a long time, and get a little momentum heading into that rematch in Edmonton Thursday night, but they best beware, because tonight's tilt against their expansion cousins has all the hallmarks of a trap game.

Vancouver Canucks (20-15-10) vs. Buffalo Sabres  (17-24-5)

7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

We knew that Saturday night's contest against the Oilers was going to be emotional, but I don't think anyone had the Oilers media army and fans leading a campaign to have the biggest problem in hockey punished by decapitating Conor Garland on my bingo card. Yes, the only thing genuinely shocking was seeing the number of media people tripping over themselves to fire off ridiculous takes about how making Connor McDavid have to deal with the same stuff that the Sedin brothers were told to play through needed to be punished with potentially career ending headshots. I mean, we're used to seeing the crazy from the poor, hard done by Edmonton folks, and after 2011 and last year, we also shouldn't be too shocked that the mainstream mitten-stringers would be battling hard for the Oilers here.

Bottom line here is this. If you're not making life miserable for Connor McDavid, you're letting him win, and if he can't deal with it without responding with illegal, dangerous checks to the head or elbows (or uncalled high sticks), then the NHL has to do exactly what they did this week, and punish him with an appropriate penalty. And look, the DoPS is always going to be a joke, but this is as close to them getting it right as we've seen with George Parros behind the wheel. And that goes for Tyler Myers, too. Zero issues with that suspension. Bad response, though he probably went higher than he wanted to on Evban Bouchard. You can't say that about McDavid, and it's about bloody time he was held accountable. Now, they just need to be ready to do the same to Leon Draisaitl, because he's the more temperamental of the two. And you know it's coming...

So, that brings us to tonight's game, and the Canucks, feeling good about themselves go up against a Buffalo team that is once again floundering. It doesn't get anymore Buffalo than being the team of record that saw a goaltender score a goal and an assist in the same game for the first time in NHL history, and the fact that it was Pittsburgh, who are days away from having a fire sale, is even worse.

And that's the problem. Overlooking these guys ahead of a massive showdown in Edmonton. The Canucks cannot take their eyes off the task at hand tonight, and they have to come out of this one with a win. The Sabres have lost three of their last four, and just don't seem to be getting any better, in spite of some extremely high draft picks the last few years. It's fitting that they seem to mirror the struggles of the Canucks, though it really feels like their situation is a lot more hopeless. Honestly, both teams would be best served by new ownership above all else.

So with Myers out of the lineup, that's going to see the Canucks splitting up the Quinn Hughes/Filip Hronek pairing. It's a good news, bad news situation, I suppose.

Sounds like Filip Hronek's going to get some time running his own pair tomorrow night. Hronek's numbers away from Hughes since start of 22-23 season at 5-on-5 (475:33 mins): - #Canucks outscored opponents 21-13- Opponents outshot Canucks 251-182

Noah Strang (@noahstrang.bsky.social) 2025-01-20T23:12:07.949Z

LINEUPS

As seen on the ol' nhl dot com thingy...

SABRES (17-24-5) at CANUCKS (20-15-10)

10 p.m. ET; SNP, MSG-B

Sabres projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Jiri Kulich -- Tage Thompson

JJ Peterka -- Dylan Cozens -- Alex Tuch

Zach Benson -- Peyton Krebs -- Jack Quinn

Beck Malenstyn -- Sam Lafferty -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Rasmus Dahlin -- Bowen Byram

Mattias Samuelsson -- Owen Power

Jacob Bryson -- Connor Clifton

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

James Reimer

Scratched: Henri Jokiharju, Dennis Gilbert, Tyson Kozak

Injured: Ryan McLeod (upper body), Jordan Greenway (middle body)

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Pius Suter -- J.T. Miller -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Nils Hoglander -- Max Sasson -- Phil Di Giuseppe

Quinn Hughes -- Mark Friedman

Derek Forbort -- Filip Hronek

Carson Soucy -- Vincent Desharnais

Thatcher Demko

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Guillaume Brisebois

Injured: Dakota Joshua (lower body), Noah Juulsen (undisclosed)

Suspended: Tyler Myers

Friedman gets the call up to replace Myers. He's steady and somewhat reliable, so this could actually be a good thing while it lasts, but it will be interesting to see how Hronek does uncoupled from Hughes tonight. Demko needs a big game tonight, and the Canucks can help that by making his night easier against a team that can be taken down mentally with a couple quick goals.

GAME DAY CHATTER

On January 21st, 2023, Bruce Boudreau coached his last game with the Vancouver Canucks. 🥹BRUCE THERE IT IS !!!#Canucks #GoCanucksGo #NHL

Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T19:01:47.364Z

Happy Anniversary, to those of you who celebrate...

NHL announced this morning the @Canucks' Quarter-Century Team! 🤝 #NHLQCTeam Read more here ➡️ spr.ly/6018avrP0#Canucks #GoCanucksGo #NHL

Canucks Watcher (@canuckswatcher.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T18:31:01.008Z

Pretty interesting, so if you have any additions/omissions, we'd love to see them in the comments.

The annual Lunar New Year celebration goes tonight, honouring the contributions of the Chinese community in Vancouver, and as always, these jerseys are straight fire...

Ce soir nos #Canucks  célèbrent le nouvel an lunaire 🐍 lors de la reception des BUF , et auraient du porté un superbe chandail créer pour l'occasion par Nicole Jang(hélas Gary en a décidé autrement)

Canucks de Vancouver 🇫🇷🇨🇦 (@francecanucks.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T17:33:27.145Z

50 years ago today: goalie Gary “Suitcase” Smith became 1st player in #Canucks history to be voted into #NHL All ⭐️ Game. Joining Philadelphia netminder Bernie Parent on the Campbell Conference team, Smith would play at the showcase held at the Montreal Forum.@sportsnet650.bsky.social

KenwardsKorner (@kenwardskorner.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T14:49:49.975Z

According to multiple reports, the #Canucks tried to trade J.T. Miller but the deal fell through.This leaves Miller in the sword-of-Damocles situation of knowing his team was — and likely still is — actively trying to move him.

Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T02:22:35.748Z

The NHL's Department of Player Safety doesn't often get it right, but they made the correct call in giving Tyler Myers and Connor McDavid the same suspension.#Canucks #Oilers

Daniel Wagner (@passittobulis.bsky.social) 2025-01-21T00:48:00.843Z

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

We're back looking at some of the memorable releases turning 40 this year, and this time we'll go to the debut of a band that would become one of the big 4, and it all started out with a firing. When METALLICA fired guitarist Dave Mustaine, he swore he'd get his revenge by making a band faster, heavier and better than James, Lars and crew. While MEGADETH would become mega stars, they still don't have that household name recognition that Metallica would go on to get. The two bands certainly followed similar career paths, though it could be argued that in terms of most recent content, Megadeth comes out looking better.

Mustaine would recruit David Ellefson, who would be his partner in crime for years before being ejected in 2021 over a rather gross sexual misconduct allegation, one that he denies, as does the person involved in the accusations. The first version of the band included guitarist Kerry King of Slayer, who left before the band recorded 'Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good' for Combat Records. King was replaced by Chris Poland, and Gar Samuelsson was the drummer (a remixed and remastered version of the album was released in 2002, and it contained demo versions of Last Rites/Loved To Deth and Mechanix that may have had drummer Lee Rauch on one or both of the tracks). Poland and Samuelsson both had jazz backgrounds, which gave Megadeth's sound layers that other bands simply couldn't match, and forced the scene as a whole to step up their proficiency game.

The 8 song album featured a Metallica song that Mustaine wrote in it's original form. 'Mechanix' was already well known to people as 'The Four Horsemen' on Metallica's 1983 debut, 'Kill 'Em All'. It also featured a snarly, punk as fuck cover of the Nancy Sinatra hit 'These Boots'. We're gonna listen to my favorite track off that album, one that definitely hints at what was to come on the album that would break them into world wide stars: Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? This is 'Looking Down The Cross'. Crank this one!

Enjoy the game, everyone. Go Canucks Go!

Yeah, that was a pretty impressive win on Saturday, especially in context. Perfect? Far from it, and it won't mean a lot if the Canucks don't follow it up with an equally memorable performance tonight in Winnipeg.

Vancouver Canucks (19-13-10) vs. Winnipeg Jets  (29-12-3)

5:00 pm PST; 8:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 3

Radio: Sportsnet 650

It will definitely go down as the most satisfying win of the season, for sure. Mired in a four game losing streak, playing for the third time in four nights, and having to endure ridiculous weather-related delays, everything about this game pointed to a Canucks loss. The problem is, someone told them that, and they took it personally.

Sure, it wasn't perfect. But to hold the Leafs to no high danger chances in the last forty minutes, being as tired as they were, was simply impressive. And yeah, the fact that the Canucks literally don't present a threat whatsoever unless Quinn Hughes is on the ice is concerning. Still, they needed a big game, and they got it, not just from Hughes, but from Elias Pettersson, who in the showcase on HNIC, put forth one of the best defensive efforts we've seen from a Canucks forward in years.

They got timely goals, some puck luck, and did a fantastic job of keeping the Leafs under check. They also got saves when they needed them from Kevin Lankinen as he picked up his fourth shutout of the season in the win. And while that was a much needed two points, tonight's game is even more critical because it's back in their conference.

The Jets have been pretty much one of the best teams this season, and while they have cooled off a bit from their record setting pace to start the season, they still remain one of the teams to beat in the NHL right now. And they're even tougher on home ice than the Leafs, with just four losses at home so far this season. With everyone in the Pacific playing tonight except the Kings and Oilers, this is absolutely a must win game for the Canucks. The Flames are ahead of the Canucks now for that last playoff spot, and if they don't start winning multiple games in a row, this team isn't going to be playing hockey in late April...

LINEUPS

At the bottom of a Slurpee cup in a downtown Winnipeg alley is where you'll find tonight's potential lines, but we are aware that this information can also be found on nhl dot com...

CANUCKS (19-13-10) at JETS (29-12-3)

8 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN3

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander -- J.T. Miller -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Pius Suter -- Kiefer Sherwood

Phil Di Giuseppe -- Teddy Blueger -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki

Quinn Hughes -- Filip Hronek

Carson Soucy -- Tyler Myers

Derek Forbort -- Noah Juulsen

Kevin Lankinen

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Max Sasson, Vincent Desharnais, Guillaume Brisebois

Injured: Dakota Joshua (lower body)

Jets projected lineup

Kyle Connor -- Mark Scheifele -- Gabriel Vilardi

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Adam Lowry -- Alex Iafallo

Nino Niederreiter -- Rasmus Kupari -- Cole Perfetti

Dominic Toninato -- David Gustafsson -- Morgan Barron

Josh Morrissey -- Dylan DeMelo

Dylan Samberg -- Neal Pionk

Logan Stanley -- Ville Heinola

Connor Hellebuyck

Eric Comrie

Scratched: Dylan Coghlan

Injured: Haydn Fleury (lower body), Mason Appleton (lower body), Colin Miller (fractured larynx), Vladislav Namestnikov (lower body)

Exciting news tonight because as expected, Filip Hronek will make his return to the lineup after missing 21 games with an upper body injury. Getting that kind of a boost defensively should help, and the Canucks are now almost back to their full slate of regulars, with just Dakota Joshua still out. It says that Kevin Lankinen is going to get the start tonight, and while I don't think that this is anything remotely close to a goaltending controversy, it is a little surprising that Thatcher Demko is not getting the crease tonight. I will say though, that Lankinen definitely earned the start with the shutout in Toronto, so let's hope this pays off for the Canucks.

GAME DAY CHATTER

If the Canucks want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they need to start stringing wins together, something that has been a major issue this season... Erik Brannstrom cleared waivers and is in Abbotsford, so Pass It To Bulis' Daniel Wagner did a deeper dive on the why and how this happened.. And just in case you need some more visual evidence, there's charts showing his play 5 on 5 as being very not good... And when we say the Canucks have their hands full tonight, we're not kidding... the Coach's comments ahead of one of the biggest games of the season so far... And it's the Jets Hockey Talks night, so both teams will wear helmet decals honouring Rick Rypien, who was a fan favourite for the Manitoba Moose before making it to the NHL with the Canucks...

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

When you think about some of the biggest metal releases from 40 years ago, it's impossible to not have ANTHRAX in that conversation. After firing vocalist Neil Turbin, and a brief stint with Matt Fallon behind the mic before settling on Joey Belladonna, they also saw founding bassist Dan Lilker leave, replaced by Frankie Bello. While they did release the Armed and Dangerous EP as a preview, this album took what ANTHRAX had started on 'Fistful of Metal' and cranked it up, faster, louder, and with a better vocal performance than they were ever going to get from Turbin, they signed with Island Records for this release, and cemented their place as one of the Big 4 of thrash metal. From 'Spreading The Disease' this is 'Madhouse'.

Enjoy the game, everyone! Go Canucks Go!

It's the latest edition of the Magical Misery Tour, as the Canucks head to their safe space, which apparently is everywhere but home. The halfway mark of the season is almost here, and the outlook is grim.

Vancouver Canucks (18-12-8) vs. Montreal Canadiens  (18-18-3)

4:30 pm PST; 7:30 pm EST

TV: Amazon Prime

Radio: Sportsnet 650

As far as rock bottom games go, Friday night was right up there for the 2024-25 edition of the Vancouver Canucks. Sure, they got goalie'd, but the way mistakes end up in the back of their net right now is giving us a serious feeling of deja-vu. This team has more in common with the Canucks from two seasons ago than last year's team. It's obvious that despite some of the additions they made that are doing really well (Jake DeBrusk, Kevin Lankinen, Keifer Sherwood) the chemistry this team had last season has been messed with, and it could well, thanks to a slew of injuries to their best players, cost them their season.

Alarmist? Maybe. But maybe you're also new here? I mean, we've seen this same damn story play out so many times, and this time it's extra frustrating because it really looked like the management of this team were doing things differently. Now they find themselves in the unenviable position of having to trade away a piece of the core just to try and stop the bleeding. There's no possible way that they get a fair return on either J.T. Miller or Elias Pettersson, and seeing people trying to say their alright with having either of these guys traded away just leaves me scratching my head. The Miller hate especially, makes little sense. Sure, let's get rid of the guy whose points per game average is second only to Pavel Bure because sometimes he makes defensive miscues and he has a temper. Or ship out Petey because he's moody and (like Miller) has struggled a bit after some injury issues.

Losing one of these guys, regardless of what comes back, means it's pretty much over for the Canucks again this season, and considering the forward progress made last season, it calls into question if that was actual progress or just a hot streak.

So is there any hope? Well, they're heading out on the road for an Eastern road swing, and one of the few good stories about the Canucks season this year is how well they've played outside of Rogers Arena. The problem is that they've got a pretty tough slate of games, with tonight's contest in Montreal by far the most winnable of the 5. From here they head to Washington to take on a Capitals team that has continued to roll even when they had Alexander Ovechkin out of the lineup with a broken leg. Then, it's a lovely gift from the NHL's scheduling department, a Friday night contest in Raleigh, North Carolina, then up to Toronto, for their third game in four nights against the Leafs on HNIC. Set up to be slaughtered for the frothing masses. They end it with a visit to Winnipeg, before returning to a pair of divisional contests against the Los Angeles Kings and the Edmonton Oilers to wrap up next week.

They have 7 games over the next two weeks, and if the Canucks want to have any chance of keeping the wild card slot they're currently holding, they're going to have to go on a run here, because there's FIVE teams nipping at their heels at the moment, and after tonight, eight of the next nine games are against teams ahead of them in the standings. Losing, especially in regulation, is simply not an option here.

And while we said this game is the most winnable of the bunch, that's not meant to be a slight against the Habs. Currently one of the NHL's hottest clubs, they've won 7 of 10 and are a pretty solid comparable against the Canucks in their current state. They're fast, skilled and play hard, and with some solid goaltending, are going to make a push for a playoff spot if they can stay healthy.

LINEUPS

The projected lineups for today's game was scrawled on a bag that contained a delicious smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz's Deli (not really, but I would really like one right now) or maybe nhl dot com?

CANUCKS (18-12-8) at CANADIENS (18-18-3)

7:30 p.m. ET; RDS, Prime

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Nils Hoglander -- Max Sasson -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki

Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen

Derek Forbort -- Vincent Desharnais

Kevin Lankinen

Arturs Silovs

Scratched: Erik Brannstrom, Guillaume Brisebois

Injured: Thatcher Demko (back spasms), Elias Pettersson (upper body), Filip Hronek (upper body), Dakota Joshua (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Cole Caufield -- Nick Suzuki -- Juraj Slafkovsky

Alex Newhook -- Kirby Dach -- Joel Armia

Josh Anderson -- Christian Dvorak -- Brendan Gallagher

Emil Heineman -- Jake Evans -- Michael Pezzetta

Lane Hutson -- Mike Matheson

Kaiden Guhle -- Alexandre Carrier

Arber Xhekaj -- Jayden Struble

Sam Montembeault

Jakub Dobes

Scratched: None

Injured: Patrik Laine (illness), David Savard (upper body)

Hoo boy, here we go. The good news? We mayyyyyyybe getting Quinn Hughes back tonight, and that will be a massive boost if he's ready to go. There are a mere handful of players in the league who can singlehandedly tilt the odds, and our captain is one of them. Elias Pettersson was skating again today, as was Thatcher Demko, but neither will play til later this week. And now for the bad news...

You have to feel for Dakota Joshua. After his testicular cancer diagnosis this summer, and the hard work he put in post-treatment, it looked like he was finding his game again, so to see him go down with another injury just sucks. The Canucks have brought Jonathan Lekkerimaki up from Abbotsford (convenient call up, as the AHL Canucks were in Laval this weekend) and he'll be on the fourth line tonight with Max Sasson and Nils Hoglander.

Looks like Patrik Laine will be out again with an illness, and it'll be Sam Montembault vs Kevin Lankinen in the creases tonight.

GAME DAY CHATTER

Pregame thoughts from the coach... And from yesterday, the Cap'n... JPat reminding everyone of the 3 stars the last time these teams met back in March... and of a wild one in 2022... And Petey answering questions about where he wants to be...

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

BAT is a side gig for MUNICIPAL WASTE's Ryan Waste, and they're a fun, unabashed MOTORHEAD worshipping power trio. They put out an album last year called 'Under The Crooked Claw' on Century Media Records, and from that disc, this is 'Streetbanger'.

Remember, the game is on Amazon Prime tonight, so let me save you an angry tweet at Sportsnet when you can't find the game. Enjoy it, folks. Go Canucks Go.

PREDATORS (11-20-7) at CANUCKS (18-11-8)

10 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, FDSNSO

Welcome back to the ROG! The undefeated in '25 Nucks record is on the line.

Last night's tough win only cost the Nucks another Demko BC Faeries sailing. Supposedly a minor sea tour with back spasms. Sheesh. When does the team revert to the mean with no more mean injuries?

That scrappy win has given the Canucks and us a little, tiny bit of hope. Probably not enough to string together that elusive 2 game win streak, but still...

Don't know if the Nucks have enough left in the tank to win this game over 60 minutes. That can be such a long time in the ROG. But, if the Nucks and Lanky can put in a solid 40 against Lanky's old team, it's possible.

Or, more likely, Nucks struggle on the 2nd of a B-2-B - play down to a team languishing in the stinky bottom of the conference and lose at home to the Preds like they did in November.

LINEUPS

Predators projected lineup

Filip Forsberg -- Steven Stamkos -- Jonathan Marchessault

Gustav Nyquist -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vinnie Hinostroza

Mark Jankowski -- Tommy Novak -- Luke Evangelista

Ozzy Wiesblatt -- Michael McCarron -- Colton Sissons

Roman Josi -- Justin Barron

Brady Skjei -- Nick Blankenburg

Spencer Stastney -- Luke Schenn

Juuse Saros

Justus Annunen

Scratched: Fedor Svechkov

Injured: Cole Smith (lower body), Jeremy Lauzon (lower body), Adam Wilsby (upper body)

Suspended: Zachary L’Heureux

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Dakota Joshua -- Max Sasson -- Phillip Di Giuseppe

Guillaume Brisebois -- Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen

Derek Forbort -- Vincent Desharnais

Kevin Lankinen

Arturs Silovs

Scratched: Linus Karlsson, Erik Brannstrom

Injured: Thatcher Demko (back spasms), Elias Pettersson (upper body), Quinn Hughes (upper body), Filip Hronek (upper body)

Status report

Svechkov, a forward, was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Friday but the Predators held an optional skate so it wasn’t clear if he will play. ... Stastny and Wiesblatt were called up from Milwaukee on Thursday after Lauzon, a defenseman, left a 5-3 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday and before L’Heureux, a forward, was suspended three games for slew-footing Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. … Willsby, a defenseman who will miss his second straight game, was placed on injured reserve Friday but Coach Andrew Brunette said he and Lauzon each is day to day. … Silovs was recalled from Abbotsford of the AHL on Friday after Demko, a goalie, left the Canucks' 4-3 shootout win at the Seattle Kraken on Thursday with back spasms after getting spun around in a collision with Juulsen and falling hard to the ice.

GAME DAY CHATTER

Back in the ROG and Taco talking about playing the 'right' way. Taco knows what that is. We know what that is. So do the players. For at least 40 minutes a game. Sometimes. Also... has Taco aged prematurely since taking the Nucking gig?

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Let's ease ourselves into this game.... let the Cowboy Junkies lull the Preds into a 59 minute nap. Could work.

Go Coconutters!

CANUCKS (17-11-8) at KRAKEN (17-19-2)

10 p.m. KHN, KONG, SNP

Welcome to the 1st Nucking game of 2025, NM!

Tonight's game is the most important game of the year (so far). As it turns out (sadly)... this is a game of division equals, but not yet rivals. At least the Nucks haven't lost as many regulation games. Yet.

We won't rag on the sad sag Nucking D-corp that can't elevate their game to cover for Huggie and Ronnies BC Faeries adventure tour. Nor will we rag on the Nucking forwards that can't step up to their pay level - or backcheck like they care. Nor will we rag on the management and coaches who peaked last season. Nope. No ragging or whining.

Instead, we can savour our perennial Nucking disappointment, just as we did during JB's golden years.

LINEUPS

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Nils Hoglander -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland

Danton Heinen -- Teddy Blueger -- Kiefer Sherwood

Dakota Joshua -- Max Sasson -- Phil Di Giuseppe

Brisebois -- Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen

Derek Forbort -- Vincent Desharnais

Thatcher Demko

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Linus Karlsson, Guillaume Brisebois

Injured: Elias Pettersson (upper body), Quinn Hughes (upper body), Filip Hronek (upper body)

Kraken projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Matty Beniers -- Kaapo Kakko

Jared McCann -- Chandler Stephenson -- Andre Burakovsky

Eeli Tolvanen -- Shane Wright -- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Tye Kartye -- Yanni Gourde -- Brandon Tanev

Vince Dunn -- Adam Larsson

Jamie Oleksiak -- Brandon Montour

Ryker Evans -- Josh Mahura

Philipp Grubauer

Ales Stezka

Scratched: Daniel Sprong

Injured: Jordan Eberle (pelvis), Joey Daccord (upper body)

Status report

Hughes and Pettersson are not on Vancouver's two-game road trip that concludes Thursday. … Seattle held an optional morning skate . … Daccord remains day to day and has been skating on his own. Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said Wednesday that the goalie is "dealing with a bruise that's lingering."

GAME DAY CHATTER

It's casual Thursday in the Climate Emergency arena. No ties required (for another scheduled loss). Taco speaks Tough about how tough it is to keep spirits bright, when NM and Westy have guzzled the rum quota for the year. Or something.

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Here's a little ditty from Lou Reed about identity. Last season, the Nucks had one - a hard to play against - never give up team. This season... it's a Faery-ravaged team searching for play-making consistency across the rinks of north america. This song references NY city. And hockey trades. A coincidence? You decide.

Go Coconutters! (Or not. Just wait for Huggie to return and carry the team again)

The Canucks probably deserved a better fate than losing to the St Louis Blues on Tuesday night, but they'll face a tougher task tonight as the defending champs come to town.

Vancouver Canucks (14-8-5) vs. Florida Panthers  (18-9-2)

7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

While the Canucks deserve credit for battling back in a game where yet again there was some pretty sus officiating, overall they need to do something we've seen very little of this season so far, and that's put together a solid 60 minute effort. Yes, they've played some fantastic games, but there's been few if any that they've been dynamite from the puck drop. Slow starts and giving up the first goal have seen this team playing from behind a lot so far, and while they've had a remarkable amount of success doing so, it's not a winning formula by any stretch.

The good news is that they're almost completely healthy, as by the time we hit Saturday and a visit from the Boston Bruins, they could have both JT Miller and Derek Forbert back in the lineup, leaving just Filip Hronek as the only regular out of the lineup. The fact that the Canucks have been able to salvage so many points so far this season on games that looked like they were out of will serve them well come the stretch run, though they do need to kick things into high gear.

It's hilarious that in my last preview before the Tampa contest I raved about the much improved PK, only to have the got dang wheels fall off against them. It will need to be flawless tonight against a Panthers team that is getting healthy and looking to defend their title come the spring. These games against Florida always seem to bring out the best in the Canucks, so we should (hopefully) expect a solid effort from the boys tonight. If they sputter their way out of the gate however, it could be a long night indeed.

LINEUPS

Tonight's possible lineups were found spray-painted in an alley just off Kingsway, though it's also available on nhl dot com...

Panthers projected lineup

Carter Verhaeghe -- Aleksander Barkov -- Sam Reinhart

Jesper Boqvist -- Sam Bennett -- Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Evan Rodrigues

A.J. Greer -- Tomas Nosek -- Mackie Samoskevich

Gustav Forsling -- Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola -- Dmitry Kulikov

Nate Schmidt -- Uvis Balinskis

Sergei Bobrovsky

Spencer Knight

Scratched: Adam Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich

Injured: None

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Kiefer Sherwood

Nils Hoglander -- J.T. Miller -- Brock Boeser

Dakota Joshua -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland

Max Sasson -- Teddy Blueger -- Danton Heinen

Quinn Hughes -- Tyler Myers

Carson Soucy -- Noah Juulsen

Derek Forbort -- Mark Friedman

Kevin Lankinen

Thatcher Demko

Scratched: Erik Brannstrom, Aatu Raty

Injured: Vincent Desharnais (illness), Filip Hronek (upper body)

The return of Miller gives the Canucks a serious boost tonight, and has Coach Tocchet pulling out the Blendomatic 3000. Miller will roll with Boeser and Hoglander, while Pius Suter will drop down to centre Garland and Joshua. On defence, Desharnais is out with an illness, which allows Forbort to slot in with Friedman, who was pretty good on Tuesday night. And unlike people on Leon Munk's unusable social media cesspool, we're not at all concerned about Kevin Lankinen getting the start tonight. Lankinen has been one of the better netminders in the NHL this season, has a better lifetime record against Florida than Demko, and already has a win against them this season. For real, some of y'all are as embarrassing as shit with your purported 'knowledge' of the game and this team. And don't even get me started on why Erik Brannstrom is sitting again tonight. If he was the better defensive option, he'd be in the lineup, and after the way he got absolutely exploited by the Lightning Sunday afternoon, I am totally okay with him sitting this one out.

GAME DAY CHATTER

There's a lot of rumbling that Patrik Allvin is working the phones right now, and Vincent Desharnais' name is being mentioned... The coach has his pregame thoughts... And J.T. Miller talks about what it means to return to the lineup tonight... It's Pride Night tonight, and CDC has a look at the making of this year's design... And just to remind you how that last game against the Panthers went down...

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Going old school today for ya. Off 'March Of The Saint', this is 'Can U Deliver' from LA metal kings ARMORED SAINT.

So good to have J.T. back tonight. And to all of you for whom this game means a little bit more, Happy Pride Night. Go Canucks Go!

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