VANCOUVER — With 11 days until the Vancouver Canucks’ season opener, have you got your game face on? Travis Green does.
After 24 hours, plus about four months, of contract coverage on the imminent return of Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, it was easy to overlook the National Hockey League team’s third pre-season game Friday night in Calgary.
But the importance of this scheduling quirk amid the QE-mania was evident in the Canuck coach’s comments after his team was beaten 4-1 by a superior Flames lineup.
“I don’t think we played very well tonight,” Green said. “I just didn’t think we had a very good game. We didn’t have a lot of very good hockey players. We deserved to lose tonight.
“I thought our passing and receiving really wasn’t very sharp at all. I don’t think we got places quick enough to support the puck or win enough puck battles, and I thought our D had a tough night a little bit tonight, too.”
But coach, what about the disparity in lineup strength? The Flames dressed nearly all their NHL players while the Canucks had about half their full team.
“You have to take that into consideration for sure,” Green said. “That’s part of the exhibition; you can have nights where one team dresses a little bit more of a veteran team. But we’re also watching individual play and how guys perform under the pressure, how far up (the lineup) they can play if they’re on the team, and whether or not they can play in the league at all. Sometimes you’re going to lose and that’s fine in an exhibition, but I didn’t think we played sharp enough tonight.”
Clearly, the coach wants to get his team focused and ready after a 1-2-0 start to its seven-game pre-season.
But Friday was also a reminder that the Canucks have operated since training camp began without five players expected to be lineup regulars: stars Pettersson and Hughes, injured fourth-line penalty-killers Tyler Motte and Brandon Sutter, and top-four defenceman Travis Hamonic, who remains home in Manitoba on a personal leave as he tries to decide if or how he might play the NHL’s third season with COVID-19 restrictions.
And now the team is also without first-line winger Brock Boeser, whom Green confirmed will miss about a week with an undisclosed injury. Pettersson and Hughes can’t get to Vancouver soon enough.
HOW SOON?
As this is written on Saturday, the Canucks hadn’t officially announced the re-signings of their best forward and top defenceman, although the contracts for Pettersson and Hughes are done: three years at $7.35 million and six at $7.85 million, respectively.
The question now shifts to: How ready will they be for the Canucks’ season opener on Oct. 13 in Edmonton?
After travelling from Sweden for a September pitstop in Vancouver for visa-related reasons, Pettersson joined his friend and teammate in Michigan, where Hughes lives and trains in the off-season. Quinn’s dad, Jim, works as a development coach for the players’ agent, Pat Brisson, so presumably the Canucks were getting high-level training while missing camp.
They were expected to travel to Vancouver on Saturday. But with the Canucks playing a pre-season game against the Winnipeg Jets at Rogers Arena on Sunday afternoon, the earliest Pettersson and Hughes can fully practise with the NHL group is Monday.
That isn’t enough time to prepare for Tuesday’s tuneup against the Seattle Kraken, which means the young Canucks, if able, will likely play only the final two pre-season games on Thursday and Oct. 9. Obviously, that’s not ideal prep time for a 22-year-old centre and 21-year-old defencemen who are still evolving.
“I’ve said from Day 1 that I think it’s vital that they’re here,” Green said. “And I haven’t changed my stance on that. I hope they’re here as soon as possible.”
PK PATH TO NHL
Although they are depth players, Motte and Sutter are especially important to the Canucks as penalty killers. With Jay Beagle traded in July to Arizona, along with fellow penalty-killer Antoine Roussel, identifying forwards who can play short-handed has been one of Green’s pre-season missions.
The PK was one of the few bright spots on Friday, killing off the first five Calgary power plays before the Flames scored six-on-five with the Canucks net empty in the final minute.
In the context of special teams, it was revealing that Phillip Di Giuseppe, one of several “bubble” veterans signed by the Canucks to challenge for NHL spots, partnered with Jason Dickinson on the first-unit PK and logged 5:22 of short-handed ice time — nearly half of the 10:59 Vancouver was less than full strength.
Nic Petan (2:50), Sheldon Dries (2:47) and Justin Dowling (2:01) also got short-handed auditions. But minor-league winger Jonah Gadjovich, who scored for the second time in two pre-season games, did not get a shift on the penalty kill. It also seemed significant that defenceman Olli Juolevi logged 7:20 of short-handed TOI, while Brad Hunt, the veteran he is competing against for a depth spot on the blue line, saw only 57 seconds of PK.
CENTRE NOT WING
J.T. Miller headlined the Canucks lineup, again playing centre between wingers Conor Garland and rookie Vasily Podkolzin. After spending most of his first two years with the Canucks as Pettersson’s first-line left winger, Miller is expected to at least start this season at centre.
Petan has been a Pettersson placeholder between wingers Nils Hoglander and Boeser.
“I don’t know if this is 100 per cent going to be the case but as of now, obviously, it looks like I’m playing there, so it’s exciting,” Miller said Thursday. “I’ve always been the throw-in guy, like if a guy went down, (I was) the fifth center that would go in a lot. It’s nice to kind of have a feel for what it looks like.
“I’m really trying to work at it. The game comes more natural on the other side of red line but it’s on (the defensive) half. . . I’ve already been watching some clips from last year and just trying to make sure to tidy up the defensive zone and just make it more natural for me. I’ve always felt comfortable there, but I want it to feel more natural for me. I just need more reps there.”
Canucks notebook: Coach Travis Green not impressed with team in Calgary
Source: Pinas Ko Mahal
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