The Vancouver Canucks beat the New York Islanders 4-3 on Thursday night in the new UBS arena, home of the islanders. The game was an intense one as action was back and forth, both teams had the lead at one point in the game but ultimately the Canucks came out on top with the victory.

With this win the Canucks put themselves back into the playoff race and keep their hopes alive still. If the Canucks can pull off a victory tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, in the Scotia Bank arena, that will put them one point back of a playoff spot.

Injury report – Defensemen Tucker Poolman, Kyle Burroughs and forward Jason Dickinson all remain on injured reserve (IR), but Burroughs season might be over due to his injury but is still unclear because he is pending further evaluation and could be placed on long term injured reserve (LTIR). As for the other two, a likely return is bound for at least Poolman as he has been out the longest and is the closest to getting healthy according to head coach Bruce Boudreau.

As of now there are still no new trade rumors, only the ones I have talked about previously and are circulating in the media.

In some positive news, but instead for the leafs, forward and Toronto native Wayne Simmonds will be playing his 1,000^th NHL game tonight at home when they take on the Canucks.

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The Vancouver Canucks started out their road trip this past weekend by going 1-1, winning against the New York Rangers 5-2 and then losing a must win game against the New Jersey devils 7-2 the following night. The Canucks next game will be played Thursday afternoon against the New York Islanders and the road trip will wrap up on Saturday night as the Canucks will play the Toronto maple Leafs on hockey night in Canada.

After this road trip concludes the Canucks return to Vancouver where they will play 7 straight home games in a span of 2 and a half weeks. Their opponents on that home stand will be very tough and this will ultimately decide their playoff hopes because the trade deadline is on March 21^st on Monday, the day after the Canucks homestand ends. These sets of games will decide if the Canucks are sellers or buyers on the deadline.

In injury news the Canucks will be without forward Jason Dickinson for the duration of the road trip as Dickinson did not travel with the team because he was injured during the last home game against the Calgary Flames. The Canucks will also be without Tucker Poolman still as there’s no timetable for his return yet. Other then that there’s no other injuries as well as no player on the Covid 19 list.

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As the trade deadline approaches us the trade rumors are starting to pick up as well. There’s a tone of chatter around many Vancouver Canucks players regarding potential trades out and a lot of talk about potential trades to bring new players in.

The Canucks have pretty much 3 untouchable players who can’t be traded. That list of players consists of star center Elias Pettersson, franchise defensemen Quinn Hughes and their number one goalie Thatcher Demko. Many hockey insiders would also consider Canucks captain Bo Horvat to be an untouchable as well, but they also think that only happens if the Canucks can come to terms with an extension with Horvat before then.

JT Miller along with Bo Horvat have expiring contracts at the end of next year and will become UFA’s and Brock Boeser has an expiring deal as well, but he will be an RFA. Miller has been the best Canucks forward the last 3 seasons he’s been here for and undoubtable would be looking for a raise from his current 5.25-million-dollar cap hit. Captain Bo would also be looking for a raise as he became the captain 2 years ago and has been on a steady uphill of development. Boeser though is an RFA, and the Canucks have more control over his future then the other 2, however, his qualifying offer is at 7.5 and would be making more money then both JT and Bo.

The Canucks still have a month to decide what there going to do and it all depends on how the contract situations play out for each player. The Canucks are also receiving calls on other players like Connor Garland and Luke Schenn and still are actively trying to move Jaroslav Halak’s contract.

After losing out on some key Re-signings for their UFA’s 2 years ago I doubt the front office of the Canucks will make the same mistake again and let either of Miller or Horvat walk for nothing.

The Canucks playoff hopes are pretty much done now with 30 games remaining in the season and for a playoff spot they will need to go better then 20 and 10 and with the very hard schedule remaining it will be very difficult.

The best thing this team can do is build for the future and trade away the assets that have value for them. President of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said the Canucks need to clear cap space to sign their key players so looking deeper into that we can assume he wants to keep the top players and move out some bad contracts within the bottom six. If that’s the case that Connor Garland is the most likely candidate to get traded because of his value and contract.

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With today’s Vancouver Canucks game being postponed in Ottawa against the Senators due to capacity limits, the Canucks embark on a 5-game road trip starting on January 11^th next Tuesday in Florida against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Then go to Carolina to play the Hurricanes and next to Washington against the Capitals and end the trip in Nashville against the Predators. The Canucks last game was on Saturday on January 1^st and when they play in Florida it will be a total of 10 days between games. Needless to say, the Canucks will be game hungry and ready to extend their regulation win streak, but it won’t be easy as all the teams there facing are in playoff contention.

In some negative Canucks news, the Canucks announced superstar center Elias Pettersson has been placed into the Covid 19 protocol list along with forward Alex Chiasson. They join forwards Jason Dickinson, Justin Dowling, Brock Boeser and Phillip Di Giuseppe.

Boeser and Dickinson might be able to return sooner to the team then the others because both players tested positive in the USA and stayed there to quarantine and the rules there are less strict then here in Canada.

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Happy New Year Everyone!!

The Vancouver Canucks play their first game of the year, a must win game tonight against the Seattle Kraken at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA. The Canucks are expected to dress the same lineup as they used in their 2-1 shootout loss at the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Brad Hunt is likely the only scratch tonight, none of the three players have come off the Covid protocol list yet and Travis Hamonic hasn’t returned from his injury.

The Canucks next home game on January 5^th vs the NY Islanders is postponed to a later date due to the capacity limits set in place by the BC government. The league wants to make the most revenue they can from each game this season and having no fans in the buildings is not good for that.

An additional 9 more games in Canada were postponed due to Capacity limits putting the total to 91 league wide games being postponed and set to be played later in the season.

Today being the New Year, the NHL is having their annual Winter Classic tonight at Target Field in Minneapolis, between the Minnesota Wild and ST. Louis Blues. It’s officially been ruled the coldest outdoor game in League history with the temperature dropping to -6 degrees at puck drop. According to the NHL the wind chill was in the negative 20’s.

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The Vancouver Canucks lost in the shootout last night to the LA Kings after coming back from a 1 – nothing deficit late in the 3^rd period to grab a point from the game. The captain Bo Horvat scored the tying goal 12:06 into the 3^rd period after the Canucks gave up the first goal in the 2^nd period of the game. This is the first loss under new head coach Bruce Boudreau. The Canucks haven’t lost in regulation yet under Boudreau, they’re now 7-0-1.

This was the second game of back to backs and the effort the team put forth tells the story for itself. The Canucks only managed 18 shots on goal while the kings had 35. The Canucks also scored their lone goal in the game on the powerplay. The Penalty kill went perfect however, that’s because they only took one penalty.

The next game for the Canucks is in Seattle against the Seattle Kraken on Hockey night in Canada on Saturday. This is a must win game for the Canucks as another loss would put them in a deeper hole then the loss to the LA Kings did already. A win would keep them in the playoff conversation and hopefully contention.

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The Vancouver Canucks extended their winning streak to seven games now under new head coach Bruce Boudreau. The win was a thrilling comeback win that the Canucks took in overtime 2-1. JT Miller scored the winning goal 26 seconds into overtime after Tanner Pearson scored the tying goal 1:21 into the 3^rd period.

Some negative Canucks news as forward Justin Dowling has entered Covid-19 protocol early Thursday morning during the rapid testing. He joins Brock Boeser and Phil Di Giuseppe on the list.

Some positive news the Canucks activated Mathew Highmore from injured reserve (IR), he missed a total of 23 games this season with his upper body injury.

The next stop for the Canucks is LA to face the Los Angeles Kings tonight. Jaroslav Halak gets the start against the Kings as Thatcher Demko got the start last night. The Canucks are projected to ice the same lineup as last night except having either defenseman Kyle Burroughs or newly activated Mathew Highmore playing on the 4^th line instead of Dowling. The Kings will start goalie Jonathan Quick.

Tonight’s game is huge for the Canucks, if they win, they can leapfrog the Kings and the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific division and jump from 7^th to 5^th and be 2 points out from being in 3^rd place. A win tonight and the playoffs aren’t out of the question for the Canucks who have been a very resilient bunch since the hiring of Boudreau.

The Canucks are supposed to fly home tonight after the game in LA so if they get more positive Covid tests the players or staff can self-isolate at home. The road trip doesn’t end yet however, they play the Seattle Kraken in Seattle on Saturday on January 1^st and will fly to Seattle on gameday.

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Big news today as the IIHF announced that they will be canceling the World Junior tournament indefinitely and no date has been announced to as when or even if they will be rescheduling the tournament. This comes as a huge blow as Canada was heating up and were dominating their games thus far. There were supposed to be four games played today but two of those games had to get forfeited due to positive test results. With so many games having to be forfeited and the tournament was only in the preliminary round, the IIHF felt as if they had no choice but to cancel the tournament. Up to five on ice officials also tested positive for Covid and the committee thought they would run out of on ice officials to call the games if nothing was done.

In Vancouver Canucks news, two players tested positive earlier today before the morning skate along with a coaching staff member and were all put on the Covid 19 protocol list. No player tested positive yesterday before the team boarded their jet, all three positive test results came today. Players that tested positive were Forwards Brock Boeser and Phillip Di Giuseppe, the name of the staff member was not released . Both players didn’t skate this morning for precautionary reasons. It is unlikely that the game tonight versus the Anaheim Ducks gets Canceled but you never know with the NHL. The Ducks also have four of their own players in Covid Protocol as of now but two of those players are already out on injured reserve.

In NHL news the league announced today that they would be cutting down isolation requirements to only five days to players who test positive for Covid but that doesn’t apply to Canada. Canada still requires ten days in isolation if put in Covid 19 protocol. There are 25 teams based in the U.S. and only seven in Canada. This only applies to the U.S. teams because of the stricter regulations in Canada. Players and staff can only return in five days if there are no symptoms.

The NBA and NFL have already lifted many restrictions like cutting the isolation requirement in half, and by not placing players and staff members who test positive but are asymptomatic on the Covid 19 list. These easier regulations make it easier to continue playing games and not having to postpone them. The NHL already lifted their self-isolation requirements, so I fully expect the league to follow suit on other regulations too. The NHL so far has postponed 75 games due to Covid 19 so it’s highly unlikely they will want to do more and lose any further revenue.

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In the IIHF World Junior Tournament Today Team Canada demolished Team Austria 11-2 in a lop-sided game that had the 16-year-old phenom Connor Bedard score 4 goals and help Canada continue their winning streak. Bedard tied a Canadian record for most goals in a game by a player, he also was the first 16-year-old to score a hat-trick at the World Juniors since Wayne Gretzky did back in 1977. This was the lone game being played today, the other game scheduled for today was Team USA vs Team Switzerland, but the USA had 2 players test positive for Covid so with the rules in place Team USA had to forfeit their game tonight.

The NHL announced today that due to current attendance restrictions in certain cities, nine additional games will be rescheduled for later dates in the season. All these games involved Canadian teams playing at home. This change was made to the schedule due to the teams’ owners not wanting to lose any more revenue this season then they already have lost the last two years. In addition, the Detroit Red Wings at New York Islanders game has also been postponed due to Covid related issues effecting both clubs.

Vancouver Canucks news, the team left for their California road trip today with all their players and coaching staff testing negative for Covid, including Alex Chiasson who had an earlier positive test but had no symptoms of Covid. He was cleared to travel with the team today. The Canucks play the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow and the Los Angeles Kings the night after.

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The IIHF World Junior Tournament started on Sunday, boxing day, with the first game being played by Finland and Germany, Finland won by a score of 3-1. Team Sweden beat Team Russia 6-3 and then home Team, Team Canada beat Team Czechia 6-3 in a thriller game. The night finished with Team USA beating Team Slovakia 3-2.

Stand out performances were by Canada’s top-rated defensemen, last year’s first overall pick in the NHL draft, Owen Power who scored a hattrick in their exciting back and forth game.

Monday’s games started with Team Finland destroying Team Austria 7-1 and then Team Russia beat Team Switzerland 4-2. Team Germany beat Team Czechia in overtime 2-1 in a very tight game. To end the night Team Sweden defeated Team Slovakia 3-0.

In Vancouver Canucks news the team got back all their players and coaches that were on the Covid 19 protocol list and Mathew Highmore who had been on long term injured reserve (LTIR) also returned to practice on Monday. Players that remain on LTIR are Brandon Sutter, who hasn’t played this year yet and Travis Hamonic who got hurt this month against the Boston Bruins. This was the last practice before the Canucks head on to the road to California to face the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. Before Coming home, the Canucks will stop in Seattle to face the Seattle Kraken in the new year on January 1^st.

It wasn’t all good news as Alex Chiasson was the lone Canuck to test positive during the rapid testing before practice on Monday, so he was sent home to self-isolate. If another test of his comes back positive, he would be put into the Covid 19 protocol list.

The League announced on Sunday after the extended holiday break that they would be bringing back taxi squads and other roster revisions, this was made to guard against another stoppage or any other disruptions to the season. Each team will be able to use up to six players on the taxi squad to ensure no team plays without a full lineup. This will be effective until at least the Allstar break.

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