With the Western Conference playoff matches decided, this one offers up little in terms of reasons to watch apart from a few milestones and another look at some of the kids before they head off to Abbotsford for their playoff run.
Vancouver Canucks (38-29-14) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (49-22-10)
7:00 pm PST; 10:00 pm EST
TV: Sportsnet Pacific, SN 360
Radio: Sportsnet 650
This was truly a retro season for the Vancouver Canucks. Disappointment, frustration, controversy, injury, all wrapped up in an entirely unpalatable brand of hockey that we've managed to choke down for 81 miserable games. Nothing left to do now, but eat the tail and be done with it.
It was the quintessential Canucks season, really. Not good enough to make the playoffs, not bad enough to win the draft lottery. I suppose if there's a silver lining, it's that the management team of Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin have not been like their predecessors and actually tried to make changes, responding when those changes failed. And changes will be coming, friends. The question is, will any of them be the ones that actually need to be made?
I don't want to delve too much into a post mortem on this season today, but we can at least feel good that there's some hope for the future. The team's youth movement has responded well to the call, and with the right tweaks, this is a team that could compete next season, health issues willing. Whether or not they have the same coaching staff still yet to be confirmed, and then there was that cryptic statement from Brian Burke on a podcast the other day, about hearing that the Canucks might be for sale. I'll believe that when I see it, but gosh, the thought of it fills my heart with hope.
And while the Canucks and Flames will sit out and watch the rest of Canada's teams battle to bring the Cup home (barring Montreal hilariously losing to Carolina tonight, that is), we now find ourselves looking for a bandwagon team(s) to root for. Honestly, apart from the Oilers, because fuck them, I'm okay with any of the Canadian teams winning this time out. Yes, even the Leafs. Anything to keep the Cup out of the White House this year. Some rivalries are more important than others.
One thing we should talk about? This is very likely the last game in a Canucks uniform for Brock Boeser, as he will be a UFA as of July 1. There's still a chance that a deal can get done, but it's not looking good. He was the second piece of what was supposed to be the new core, what the team was building around. He's had injury issues, personal battles, and slumps, but no one could ever question his heart. I understand leaving, but I would hate to see him go, and I think it's gonna be a setback for the team to try and find a replacement for him. So if this is the end, thank you, Brock. We'll never forget that game against Nashville.
LINEUPS
Thanks to the nhl dot com for another season of moderately accurate lineup predictions.
10 p.m. ET; SN360, SNP, TNT, truTV, MAX
Golden Knights projected lineup
Brandon Saad --Tomas Hertl -- Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith -- William Karlsson -- Victor Olofsson
Ivan Barbashev -- Nicolas Roy -- Keegan Kolesar
Tanner Pearson -- Brett Howden -- Alexander Holtz
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague -- Zach Whitecloud
Ben Hutton -- Kaedan Korczak
Akira Schmid
Ilya Samsonov
Scratched: Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Cole Schwindt, Jonas Rondbjerg, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin, Adin Hill
Injured: None
Canucks projected lineup
Nils Hoglander -- Pius Suter -- Conor Garland
Jake DeBrusk -- Max Sasson -- Brock Boeser
Dakota Joshua -- Aatu Raty -- Kiefer Sherwood
Drew O'Connor -- Teddy Blueger -- Linus Karlsson
Quinn Hughes -- Elias Nils Pettersson
Marcus Pettersson -- Filip Hronek
Derek Forbort -- Victor Mancini
Kevin Lankinen
Nikita Tolopilo
Scratched: Ty Mueller
Injured: Thatcher Demko (illness), Tyler Myers (shoulder), Filip Chytil (concussion), Noah Juulsen (lower body), Elias Pettersson (upper body), Nils Aman (upper body)
That's a massive list of possible scratches for Vegas. You can tell they had a lucky season this year, because they didn't have to lie and put players on LTIR before miraculously seeing them arise like hockey jesus in Game 82. Not like it will matter, as they'll dispatch with the fraudulent Minnesota Wild easily enough.
Kudos to the attentive staff at the dot com for letting us thing that Derek Forbort will be good to go after suffering a broken orbital bone from that pathetic sucker punch from Minnesota's most gutless piece of shit, Yakov Trenin.
GAME DAY CHATTER
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
This is one I have been looking forward to for a while now. The return of legendary LA thrashers DARK ANGEL is fast approaching, and if the title track is any indication, Gene Hoglan (Strapping Young Lad, Death, Testament) and crew are in fine form. It's their first album since 'Time Does Not Heal' in 1991, and will be a tribute to their late guitarist Jim Durkin, who died in 2023. Here's 'Extinction Level Event', the first track off the album that will hit stores later this year on Reversed Records.
While our Canucks game threads are done for another year, we will as always have nightly playoff open threads, plus draft and free agency coverage. So, on behalf of all of us, thanks for sticking with us for another year. Enjoy the game, smash fascists, and Fuck Trump. Go Canucks Go!
