Rebuild Rules state: Never play CoTU on Halloween.

MAPLE LEAFS (7-6-2) at CANUCKS (3-11-1)

7 p.m. ET; SNO, SNW, SNP

So... looks like we're breaking the rules. Nice of CoTU to feature Gavin on their 1st line - very generous of them to let us play in the afternoon in our their home ROG to watch our their 1st overall pick already playing in the NHL.

We're not bitter about not picking 1st last draft. Besides, we might have been better served picking 2nd. But anyways... we're in a rebuild now and it doesn't matter. Yet.

If there was a home game we'd like the Nucks to win this would be it.

Will Rogers permit the broadcast of a 3rd straight Laffs road loss? Is it weird that a megacorp which owns the Canadian broadcast rights for the NHL, owns a team that plays in the NHL? Is it uncomfortable that a corrupt league endorses gambling on games officiated by its corrupt(able) officials?

So many questions, that can best be answered in cynical tones.

Anyhow, this is as much a Nucks player reunion as a hockey game. We can check in on the CoTU careers of: Joshua, Blueger, MacEwen, Tanev, OEL and Stetcher.

Welcome back, boys! You're missing out on working for the Twins.

Enjoy the spooktacular performance art that is hockey night in CoTU.

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Gavin McKenna -- Auston Matthews -- Jack Roslovic

Easton Cowan -- Nick Paul -- William Nylander

Dakota Joshua -- Colton Sissons -- Vinni Lettieri

Brandon Duhaime -- Teddy Blueger -- Zack MacEwen

Jake McCabe -- Darren Raddysh

Morgan Rielly -- Chris Tanev

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Troy Stecher

Anthony Stolarz

Sergei Bobrovsky

Scratched: Cole McWard, Bo Groulx, Dakota Mermis

Injured: Max Domi (undisclosed), John Tavares (lower body), Marshall Rifai (lower body), Kirill Marchenko (lower body), Nick Blankenburg (upper body)

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Liam Ohgren -- Marco Rossi -- Linus Karlsson

Drew O'Connor -- Jacob Quillan -- Jonathan Lekkerimaki

Paul Cotter -- Max Sasson -- Arshdeep Bains

Elias Nils Pettersson -- Filip Hronek

Jamie Oleksiak -- Tom Willander

Zeev Buium -- Victor Mancini

Leevi Merilainen

Kevin Lankinen

Scratched: Guillaume Brisebois, Luke Schenn, Brendan Gallagher

Injured: Filip Chytil (shoulder), Thatcher Demko (hip)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Tanev was activated from injured reserve by the Maple Leafs on Saturday and will return after missing nine games with an upper-body injury sustained Oct. 10 at the Colorado Avalanche. … Joshua will make his season debut following a core injury sustained late last season. … Chytil, a center, was placed on injured reserve Friday after reaggravating a shoulder injury in a 3-2 loss at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday; Quillan was recalled from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on Friday and could make his Canucks debut against his former team after being traded by Toronto on Oct. 15. Cotter and O’Connor have each played center this season and could also move into Chytil’s spot. … It was unclear based on Vancouver’s short practice Friday whether Mancini or Schenn would play on defense.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

We dinna need no theatrics, just a solid basement-wall solid-D win. For all 3 periods. Is that asking so much?

Go Canucks Go.