After what was quite possibly the most embarrassing period of hockey by this team that I have ever witnessed in over 50 years of punishing myself by following them, the Canucks moved out another big piece as Kiefer Sherwood is a San Jose Shark, thus ensuing games against them are going to go back to being just fucking miserable again.

Vancouver Canucks (16-27-5) vs. New York Islanders (26-17-5)

Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC

7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST

TV: Sportsnet Pacific

Radio: Sportsnet 650

At the end of the day, this is a pretty decent return for Sherwood, and the stockpiling of draft picks shows that they're actually taking this rebuild seriously. And that's good, because that game on Saturday night was one that is going to have a direct impact on butts in the seats for the remainder of the season.

The Oilers, minus Leon Draisaitl, absolutely savaged the Canucks in the second period, and it was difficult to watch. When the Oilers got their first goal, you could literally feel the spirit leaving the collective bodies of the Canucks, and that game was over before they finished announcing who scored. It's reached the point, and dear god I completely and utterly despise the phrase and having to use it, but the fan base would just LOVE a moral victory of some kind, any kind, right now. And it seems so distant it feels as though it's not real.

And it feels like Sportsnet dropping a Quinn Hughes feature where he raves about how good the Wild are compared to the Canucks is pretty cruel. I'll post the link, but honestly, I can't read stuff like this right now, it's just piling on, and this fan base has suffered enough, thank you very much.

And then there's the whole making history thing tonight. The Canucks can set a new mark of infamy with a loss as they have dropped ten straight, which they haven't done since the Mark Messier days. They face a team that most times wouldn't be a tremendous threat, as the New York Islanders, while they sit second in the Metropolitan Division, are hardly a team considered to be front runners, and given the log jam over there, could easily drop out of contention with just a handful of losses at the wrong time.

The Isles are without Bo Horvat, who's banged up but should be good to go for Team Canada over in Italy at the Olympics next month. Even then, they still have a decent enough team, in spite of the 4-1 loss at the hands of the Canucks a month ago today. Keep an eye on Matthew Schafer, he's still proving to be one of the front runners in the Calder race, and is a lot of fun to watch.

LINEUPS

From the ol' nhl dot com doodad, here's tonight's supposed lineups:

Islanders projected lineup

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Anthony Duclair

Jonathan Drouin -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Simon Holmstrom

Maxim Tsyplakov -- Calum Ritchie -- Emil Heineman

Kyle MacLean -- Casey Cizikas -- Marc Gatcomb

Matthew Schaefer -- Ryan Pulock

Adam Pelech -- Tony DeAngelo

Adam Boqvist -- Scott Mayfield

Ilya Sorokin

David Rittich

Scratched: Cole McWard, Max Shabanov

Injured: Ethan Bear (wrist), Pierre Engvall (ankle), Bo Horvat (lower body), Kyle Palmieri (lower body), Alexander Romanov (shoulder), Semyon Varlamov (knee)

Canucks projected lineup

Jake DeBrusk -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser

Evander Kane -- David Kampf -- Drew O'Connor

Liam Ohgren -- Aatu Raty -- Conor Garland

Nils Hoglander -- Max Sasson -- Linus Karlsson

Marcus Pettersson -- Filip Hronek

Zeev Buium -- Tyler Myers

Elias Nils Pettersson -- Tom Willander

Kevin Lankinen

Jiri Patera

Scratched: P.O Joseph, Arshdeep Bains

Injured: Thatcher Demko (lower body), Marco Rossi (lower body), Filip Chytil (concussion protocol), Teddy Blueger (lower body), Derek Forbort (undisclosed)

So... with Nikita Tolopilo and Victor Mancini headed back to Abbotsford, that means Jiri Patera and Elias Pettersson are back up, but it will be Kevin Lankinen back in the crease for the Canucks tonight. There was some hope that Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil would be ready for tonight, but it does not appear that either of them will be skating tonight.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Going back to the 80's today to check out one of the first wave Bay Area thrash bands that never caught on when the labels started snapping up all the bands of that scene. With a sound not too far removed from EXODUS, your guess is as good as mine why they didn't move to that next level. Maybe it was the 'how the fuck do you pronounce that?' name, but musically it's worth a listen if you dig the old school stuff. Off 'Annihilation Principle', here's a great cover of the Dead Kennedys classic 'Holiday In Cambodia'.

Enjoy the game, if that's possible. Fuck fascism! Go Canucks Go!