Canucks Vs Stars

Canucks Vs Stars, CBC, TEAM 1040, 7:00PM PST

Starting off today with some good news on the injury front. According to Jason Botchford, Hamhuis passed all his baseline tests/concussion protocol. He has said he is good to go tonight but it looks like the team will keep him out against the Stars and he will play on Tuesday. Never a bad thing to give him an extra day off. Ballard is also getting very close to coming back. I would assume the team will split up their returns so I expect to see Hamhuis Tuesday and Ballard Thursday.

Tonights game is against the Stars and it should be a good game. Clearly the stars are struggling lately going a mere 2-7-1 in their last 10 games. They have dropped to 6th in the West, however, they are tied with 9th place Calgary in points. The Stars will be desperate for a win tonight and will try to take advantage of the Canucks young defence.

Everyone knows that the Canucks are extremely thing at defence so I will start today talking about the forwards. The forwards absolutely need to win the game tonight. They need to come back and help out the D but when they get a chance to attack the puck needs to stay in the offensive zone for a prolonged period of time.

Starting with the SSB line. The Twins haven't looked good lately and by their standards seem to be slumping of late. Yes I know Daniel scored on the PP last night but 5 on 5 they haven't looked very good. It'll be up to them tonight to control the flow of the game and start putting up some points 5 on 5.

The Canucks second line has at times this season looked as though they are a number one line. They have a 33 goal scorer in Kesler on the line, good for 2nd in the NHL. They have a a red hot Mikael Samuelsson who has 13 points in 9 games this month. They also have Raymond. He hasn't been as hot as the other two but he's been decent. He needs to step up his game right now down the stretch and into the playoffs. I expect him to have a good game tonight against the Stars. This line will be key tonight. Watch for them to come out tonight using their speed and skill to put points up on the board.

The third line has been getting a lot of talk lately and it's not really good talk. Malholtra had a good game recently but there has been no consistency. Hansen has been good all year but he needs help. Torres has been lacking a lot of what he brought at the beginning of the season. He needs to bring his physical grit to the game. Tonight against the Stars Torres can try to take Steve Ott off Kesler and the Twins. I would count that as an effective game for Torres. Hard hits and the odd goal are what he was brought in to do and he needs to start that back up. Torres can be a difference maker and it would be nice to start seeing him bring that to each game.

The fourth line has been an issue for me lately. Since Oreskovich has been called up they have been getting trapped in their own zone much more than they had been. I would like to see them have the ability to get the puck in the offensive zone and use their size to get in on the forecheck.

As for the defence they need to keep it simple. Starting with their leader Ehrhoff. He had a rough game the other night and to me it seemed like he was trying to do way to much. He can be a top two D man in the NHL but to do this he needs to do what he's best at. Play alright defence while doing a great job at pushing the puck up to the forwards and joining the rush. There is no reason he should stick to this part of his game. I know there are a ton of injuries and he's trying to make up for everyone, he simply can't do that. He's not a defensive player and he won't succeed trying to be. Rome, Salo and the young guys just need to keep their games simple. Salo is starting to look really good to me and I am really excited to see him in the playoffs this year. He can be a difference maker and I expect him to be as much.

There's been a ton of trades lately, including some blockbuster trades. I don't expect the Canucks to be involved in a huge trade however I do think they will do something. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and I have decided that my biggest wish for a trade is a third line winger. I know we do not have a ton of cap room but I think Gillis has the ability to add a player who can fit this position on the team. This is something that most fans haven't been asking for but I will explain why I want this. The line up currently looks like this:

Daniel Hank Burrows
Raymond Kesler Samuelsson
Torres Malholtra Hansen
Tambellini Glass Oreskovich

What a third line winger would let us do is move some players around. I would also like to see Cody Hodgson in the playoffs. If we are able to acquire someone who can play third line wing it will give us a lot of options for the bottom six. My playoff lineup would look as follows:

Dan Hank Burrows
Raymond Kesler Samuelsson
_______ Malholtra Hansen
Torres Hodgson Glass

Malholtra and Hodgson could be switch up depending on what offense is needed. All four wingers could play together in any spot. Whoever was brought in to play on the third line would preferably be a veteran guy who has a bit more offensive skill than Torres. He doesn't need to necessarily be big, or extremely physical. My reason for having Hodgson on the fourth line is when he was there the fourth line was able to play their shifts in the offensive zone. It's hard to get scored on from there. He can also take a spot on the 2nd line PP.

The trade deadline is awfully exciting but it's game day. Time for the leaders of this team to step up and get the team back on track.

Should be a good game tonight. Hope you all enjoy.

Go Canucks Go.

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