The Vancouver Canucks will characteristic their latest signing tonight towards the Seattle Kraken as Kevin Lankinen is about to don the blue and inexperienced for the primary time. Head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed it on Thursday (Sept. 26) in his media availability additionally saying that Arturs Silovs will begin on Saturday towards the Calgary Flames (from ‘Canucks: Kevin Lankinen anticipated to start out in objective Friday vs. Seattle’, The Province, 9/27/24). This would be the Canucks’ second assembly with the Kraken after they dispatched them 3-1 on Tuesday (Sept. 24) on the energy of Nils Hoglander, Filip Hronek and Pius Suter’s tallies.
Setting the Stage – Canucks (2-0-0) vs. Kraken (0-2-0)
The Canucks enter this sport on a excessive after a late comeback and time beyond regulation win over the Flames on Wednesday (Sept. 25). Daniel Sprong tied it at three on a solo sprint the place he danced via your complete Flames lineup and Jake DeBrusk completed it in time beyond regulation after an excellent three-way passing play between him, Quinn Hughes, and Elias Pettersson. The Kraken, in the meantime, haven’t performed a sport since that 3-1 loss to the Canucks on Tuesday and will likely be making an attempt to place collectively a greater effort than their house opener once they fell 6-1 to the Flames.
Canucks Projected Lineup
The Canucks didn’t have a morning skate at the moment, so we’re going off of their observe teams on Thursday. In line with Jeff Paterson, we are going to see a fairly veteran lineup that features J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Filip Hronek, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, Tyler Myers, Nils Hoglander and Danton Heinen. Meaning we are going to possible see the debut of the projected first line of Heinen, Miller, and Boeser and a brand new winger for Pettersson and DeBrusk. Two-thirds of the third line may very well be featured too with Garland and Hoglander a part of the festivities.
Kraken Projected Lineup
The Kraken did maintain a skate this morning, and radio host Mike Benton tweeted out these traces:
Morning skate traces vs Vancouver, 9/27:
Schwartz-Stephenson-Bjorkstrand
Tolvanen-Wright-Eberle
Nyman-Meyers-Biro
Roed-Stephens-WintertonEvans-Larsson
Oleksiak-Montour
Mahura/Lajoie (rotating)Daccord
Kokko #SeaKraken— Mike Benton (@Benton_Mike) September 27, 2024
So it seems the Canucks will likely be dealing with a mixture of NHL and American Hockey League gamers this time round as they may go up towards the Kraken’s latest ahead acquisition Chandler Stephenson and Canuck killer Jordan Eberle. They may even face Joey Daccord for the second time after he performed half of the primary sport on Tuesday.
Storylines to Watch
Kevin Lankinen Makes His Debut
As talked about off the highest, Lankinen is anticipated to make his preseason debut with the Canucks after signing as a free agent on Sept. 21. The veteran had been coaching in Finland and arrived in Vancouver on Monday (Sept. 22). He declared himself able to go on Thursday and is worked up for the chance to tandem with Silovs and ultimately Thatcher Demko, saying, “I’m able to go. I’ve been making ready all summer time. Understanding. Doing conditioning. I really feel higher than ever. So I’m good to go.”
Silovs has the leg up on him proper now, but when Lankinen has an excellent sport towards the identical Kraken that Silovs stonewalled on Tuesday, then the competitors will likely be wide-open for who will begin Recreation 1 towards the Flames.
First Have a look at Projected High Line of Heinen, Miller & Boeser
We haven’t seen the projected high line of Heinen, Miller and Boeser but, however we’d see it tonight. In his media availability on Thursday, he didn’t precisely verify he was going to be within the lineup, however judging by the truth that he skated with Heinen and Boeser in observe, I feel we are able to anticipate to see him play.
Associated: Canucks Preseason Pocket book: Sprong, Hoglander, Silovs, Raty & Extra
“I’m clearly able to play. Preseason isn’t fairly, let’s be sincere. I’m simply making an attempt to fret about my habits and get these in the best spots and hopefully by Recreation 6 we’ll play just about the complete group and it’ll get higher because it goes. However I’m going to get in quickly.”
The trio appeared good in coaching camp practices and the blue-white scrimmage, so it needs to be an attention-grabbing line to observe on this sport. Heinen has the motor and forechecking means to thrive with Miller and Boeser and will see one other breakout season if it stays intact all through the marketing campaign.
With Jonathan Lekkerimaki coming off back-to-back video games, he gained’t be taking part in tonight with Pettersson and DeBrusk. Meaning heavy hitter and Dakota Joshua clone Kiefer Sherwood will get the chance to shine with the duo. He positively brings a special factor to the road contemplating he doesn’t shrink back from a examine or again down from a bodily problem. If somebody takes a run at Pettersson on this sport, they higher be prepared for No. 44 to be of their face.
What’s Subsequent for the Canucks?
The Canucks are in one other back-to-back state of affairs as they may journey to Calgary on Saturday for one more preseason tilt with the Flames. They beat their Pacific Division rivals 4-3 in time beyond regulation the final time they met on Wednesday in Abbotsford.
