Just in case the Vancouver Canucks haven't had enough challenges of late, they'll have one more on Saturday as they face the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Weather conditions grounded the Canucks' plane in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday night, preventing them from flying to Toronto as planned. They were able to fly out on Saturday morning and landed in Toronto a little after 9:00 a.m. but flying on a game day is less than ideal, as it messes with everyone's game day routines.
But maybe that's exactly what the Canucks need: something to shake them out of the stale repetition of the season. The Canucks are in a rut right now, having lost 9 of their last 11 games. They hit a literal new low , tallying a season-low 14 shots on goal in a 2-0 loss.
A big reason why they're struggling so much, of course, is that their defence (aside from Quinn Hughes) can't move the puck.
It's awfully difficult for the Canucks' forwards to create anything offensively when their defence can't get them the puck. It forces the forwards to come deeper in the defensive zone on the breakout, making it harder to get through the opposing team's neutral zone setup. In addition, since the Canucks' offensive zone system depends on a lot of low-to-high plays to stretch out the opposing team's defence, a lot of the Canucks' possessions end in disappointment when the defencemen up high can't return the puck to the forwards or force a bad point shot into shinguards because, again, they can't move the puck.
In the words of telemarketer pitchmen everywhere, there's got to be a better way.
The fault for all of this , of course, who decided that instead of attempting to acquire another top-four defenceman in the offseason, they would simply re-sign Tyler Myers and sign Derek Forbort and Vincent Desharnais in free agency. But the coaching staff — both head coach Rick Tocchet and defence coach Adam Foote — can't escape blame either.
There are some serious questions to be asked of the Canucks' systems that have them dead last in the NHL in shots on goal but you also have to question their deployment of personnel. For instance, what will it take for Erik Brännström to get back in the lineup?
To be clear, there are good reasons for why Brännström has been a healthy scratch. He's played in 10 of the Canucks' last 20 games and, in that time, he's dead last on the Canucks defence in corsi percentage and expected goals percentage at 5-on-5, with the Canucks getting outscored 8-to-2 when he was on the ice.
But Brännström also showed earlier in the season that he can play better than that. He's also the only Canucks defenceman aside from Hughes who can actually complete a pass, skate the puck out of the defensive zone, and create something — anything! — offensively.
It would be one thing if the Canucks' defence was mostly playing okay and the team was only struggling a little bit. But they've lost 9 of their last 11 games. They're on a four-game losing streak.
Combine that with Brännström being fresh on the second half of back-to-back games and the arguments against putting him back in the lineup are few and far between.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
As much as it would make sense to put Brännström back in the lineup, that doesn't mean the Canucks will do it. The Canucks coaching staff have been very reluctant to use Brännström, even putting in veteran AHLer Guillaume Brisebois into the lineup instead of Brännström for a couple of games.
With no morning skate, we have no hints at the Canucks' lines. For now, the projected lines will be the same as Friday night but will be updated when the Canucks take the ice for warmup:
UPDATE: Of course. Of course, they're not putting in Brännström. Instead, in comes Brisebois for Vincent Desharnais. That means a left-side defenceman is going to have to switch over to their off-side, presumably Carson Soucy, who has played on the right side in the past.
There will also be a change at forward, with Nils Höglander coming back into the lineup for Max Sasson. That change, at least, makes sense.
The Canucks' starting goaltender is expected to be Kevin Lankinen after Thatcher Demko started on Friday in Raleigh.
Toronto Maple Leafs projected lines
The Leafs have been on a roll of late, with a five-game winning streak ending two nights ago with a loss to the Hurricanes. They're currently on top of the Atlantic Division with a 27-14-2 record.
The Leafs' offensive firepower at the top of the lineup is formidable. Mitch Marner leads the team with 59 points in 43 games, William Nylander has 24 goals and 44 points in 43 games, the John Tavares has 20 goals and 42 points in 42 games, and Auston Matthews has produced when healthy, with 14 goals and 31 points in 28 games.
Here are the Leafs' projected lines:
Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty - John Tavares - William Nylander
Bobby McMann - Max Domi - Nick Robertson
Connor Dewar - David Kampf - Steven Lorentz
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Chris Tanev
Morgan Rielly - Philippe Myers
Simon Benoit - Conor Timmins
Dennis Hildeby
Joseph Woll
A couple of former Canucks are on the Leafs' top pairing in Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev. They've been deployed primarily in a shutdown role and have excelled in that role, particularly — and unsurprisingly — Tanev.
The Leafs' starting goaltender is expected to be backup Dennis Hildeby. The 23-year-old rookie has mediocre numbers this season, with an .892 save percentage, but that won't matter much if the Canucks can't get shots on goal.
