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Canucks preseason lines vs. Kraken, September 27, 2024

Canucks preseason lines vs. Kraken, September 27, 2024

Vaseline 2 months ago

Kevin Lankinen gets the start in net for the Vancouver Canucks in Seattle.

The Vancouver Canucks faced the Seattle Kraken in their first preseason game this year and there was a lot more vitriol and vitriol than you would expect from a game with no real consequences.

There were fights, scrums and plenty of unkind words during that Tuesday match and now, three days later, the two teams face each other again, albeit with changed lineups.

The Canucks have won both preseason games so far, but head coach Rick Tocchet still wants to see more from his players as he looks to adopt a faster style of play.

“To play fast, you have to come back fast. I thought we were running out,” Tocchet said after Wednesday’s game against the Calgary Flames. “You have to be in shape to play this game, so we’re going to keep skating hard. If you want to play at this pace, you have to be in shape. So I think we’ve got to get some guys up to speed, and that’s fine.”

“The two games were fine,” he added. “I just think we have to get a little faster – think faster.”

The Kraken, meanwhile, may be looking for a little revenge after the Canucks got the upper hand on Tuesday. So far, the Kraken have lost both of their preseason games, a trend they plan to arrest on Friday night in Seattle.

Vancouver Canucks projected lines

The Canucks didn’t skate on Friday morning, so we didn’t get a preview of their lines and combinations. However, we can make an educated guess based on their practices and the roster they will bring to Seattle.

These lines and combinations will be updated once the Canucks take the ice for a pre-puck drop warm-up in Seattle:

sports visualization

According to Tocchet, Kevin Lankinen will be the Canucks’ starting goaltender in Seattle. This will be the first appearance in a Canucks jersey for Lankinen, who signed with the Canucks less than a week ago. Until Demko returns from his injury rehab, Lankinen and Arturs Silovs are expected to compete for starts in net for the Canucks.

The most intriguing aspect of Friday’s lineup is that Kiefer Sherwood will likely get a chance to play with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk. The question of who will play with Pettersson is completely up in the air: newcomer Jonathan Lekkerimäki has been their linemate during training camp, but there are plenty of other candidates for the job.

“There are a lot of different options,” Tocchet said. “I could put (Höglander) on the left and I know Jake can play on the right. He’s actually a good right winger too. Sherwood could go forward there, there are a lot of different guys. I think Lekkerimäki will do a good job has delivered in His time there. It’s a job we’re looking for someone to do. It’s important that we find a guy who can pick up the pace. It’s the same: Petey needs to pick up the pace too, so we need to be there I’m sure we’ll get that line in order.”

Sherwood skated on that line during practice on Thursday. In recent years, Sherwood has secured an NHL roster spot with a hard-forechecking, heavy-hitting game, but before that he was piling up points in the AHL with his creativity and vision, so he might be a good fit in the AHL. right top-six role.

JT Miller has yet to appear in the preseason, but has been practicing with the team, so it’s unclear if he has a minor injury or if the team is just taking its time getting him into the lineup. Tocchet has confirmed that Miller will play in pre-season at some point, but is in no rush to get him into the line-up after he excelled in their fitness tests.

On defense, we can expect to see Kirill Kudryavtsev, Sawyer Mynio and Christian Felton for the first time this season, although the Canucks have seven defensemen traveling to Seattle, likely for injury insurance. Veteran AHL defenseman Christian Wolanin was the seventh defenseman to travel with the team.

Mynio and Felton have been paired together since the Young Stars Classic and have largely stayed together through training camp, but they were split up to put a rookie with a veteran in each pairing. For Mynio and Kudryavtsev in particular, this is an opportunity for the Canucks to see how they can stack up against tough competition at the NHL level.

Seattle Kraken projected lines

The Kraken will have a more experienced lineup in Seattle than in Vancouver, which is typical of the preseason. Teams like to put their best foot forward on home ice for their fans.

Jaden Schwartz-Chandler Stephenson-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Eeli Tolvanen – Shane Wright – Jordan Eberle
Jani Nyman-Ben Meyers-Brandon Biro
Lleyton Roed-Mitchell Stephens-Ryan Winterton

Ryker Evans-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak-Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura-Maxime Lajoie

Joey Daccord
Niklas Kokko

The Kraken will field a pretty dangerous-looking top two line, centered by their top free-agent forward Chandler Stephenson and top prospect Shane Wright. Those forwards should give the Canucks’ rookies on defense a good test.

On defense, the Kraken will have free agent Brandon Montour in the lineup with his expected defense partner Jamie Oleksiak, as well as veteran Adam Larsson.

Joey Daccord, who gave up two goals on 19 shots in a loss to the Canucks on Tuesday, will get the start for the Kraken.