Are we’re back!
There’s been a power outage, both here at HB and for the Canucks. The team is floundering, there are rampant rumors of locker room drama, and what was supposed to be a level up from last season has been anything but.
The Canucks have lost 7 of their last 10 and are hanging on to a wild card spot by one point.
JT Miller and Elias Pettersson have both sucked lately, with Miller only adding four assists and no goals in his last six games and Petey adding zero points. Add to that the supposed simmering tensions in the locke room between the two, and it’s a full on meltdown for some of the faithful and all the Vancouver media.
Miller and Petey tried to downplay it over the weekend, both offering versions of “everything is fine” and “it’s just the media”… but between Tocchet’s and Hughes’ comments about the locker room, the past quotes from them about their relationship, and Boudreau weighing in on his time with the team, something isn’t right in that room. Now, winning usually cures a lot of that, and it’s been fine in the past, but with the way both are playing at the moment it’s definitely a concern down the stretch if the team is still floundering.
Since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, we’ll set up tonight’s game and then come back some time after Christmas.
Anywho, the Canucks have a chance to get some Christmas joy with a lowly team beat down tonight. The Sharks are in town, and they’re ripe for putting up some points against. They’re sitting at the bottom of the league with the second most goal against, but with the way the team is playing it’s no sure bet.
“I can’t wait for Christmas,” Tocc said Sunday. “We’ve got to clean up the odd-man rushes and there were key moments (Saturday) that we weren’t there for.
“Too many penalties and we’ve got to start taking pressure off ourselves and you can’t give power plays, especially early in the game. We have to clean up the discipline.”
The game will be 18-year-old Macklin Celebrin‘s homecoming game, which should be special for him, but hopefully it comes as a loss to his hometown team. Tocchet wants the team to tighten things up on both sides of the puck obviously, as there have been more lapses on the defensive side and lack of discipline on the offensive side.
“We can’t gamble. It’s river hockey. You can’t play that way.”
In lieu of that, Tocc draws Hoglander back into the lineup, and onto the second line. Hog has responded positively after being scratched before, so hopefully it shakes out that way again.
The lineup:
Di Giuseppe-Miller-Boeser
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Hoglander
Joshua-Suter-Garland
Heinen-Blueger-Sherwood
Hughes-Myers
Soucy-Juulsen
Forbort-Desharnais
Tocc had some simple advice for Hog:
“Maybe he’s nervous and really doesn’t want to make a mistake. He has to get to the net more and be like (Conor) Garland or (Kiefer) Sherwood. Be a pain in the butt.”
Hopefully the whole team can amass their pain-in-the-butt energy from last year and end 2024 well.
So, for the next few days, we got comments again! And, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas and all that to you and yours.
Quotes from The Province.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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