In this edition of the Vancouver Canucks News & Rumors, the Canucks release their opening day roster. Additionally, Tyler Myers highlights a group of players who will be injured to start the season. Meanwhile, head coach Bruce Boudreau is hopeful winger Brock Boeser returns from his hand injury earlier than expected. Lastly, the organization traded centre Jason Dickinson to the Chicago Blackhawks last week.
Canucks Opening Day Roster Set
The Canucks announced their opening day roster on Monday. The organization will start its season on the road on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers. The opening day roster includes 22 players, while three players will start the season on injured reserve.
The Canucks will have familiar faces in Boeser, Conor Garland, Nils Hoglander, Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Tanner Pearson, Elias Pettersson and Vasily Podkolzin up front. Newly signed forwards Nils Aman, Dakota Joshua, Andrei Kuzmenko and Curtis Lazar will start the season with the main roster, as well. Addtionally, the Canucks called 2021 second-round pick Danila Klimovich up from Abbotsford.
On the blue line, Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jack Rathbone, Kyle Burroughs, Tucker Poolman, and Luke Schenn are joined by newly acquired defenceman Riley Stillman. Meanwhile, Thatcher Demko is the club’s starting goalie, while Spencer Martin will back him up.
Myers Highlights Injured Group
The three players to start the season on injured reserve include Tyler Myers, Ilya Mikheyev and Travis Dermott. The Canucks lose two defencemen who likely were on the opening day roster and a newly acquired two-way forward.
Myers is dealing with a lower-body injury and will be sidelined for two to four weeks. He didn’t miss a single game last season. With him out of the lineup, Poolman, Schenn, and Burroughs will likely get extended looks on the right side. As for Dermott, the defenceman suffered a concussion during practice. The addition of Stillman is helpful to the Canucks as they add depth to the left side of their defence. Rathbone will likely start on the left side of the third d-pairing, and as a result, could become a permanent member of the group this season.
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Mikheyev, who signed a four-year, $19 million deal with the Canucks this past offseason, suffered a lower-body injury in the club’s first preseason game. The Russian forward will be week-to-week. The Canucks added him in hopes of improving their penalty kill, something that hurt the club early on in the 2021-22 season.
Boudreau Hopeful Boeser Plays Wednesday
Boeser suffered a hand injury early in training camp and had surgery. The forward has made significant progress on the injured hand and could be ready sooner than expected. The club initially expected the forward to miss five to seven games to start the season, but Boudreau is hopeful he’ll return earlier.
“His legs are fine, we’ve just got to get the rest of his body ready and hopefully he gets permission to play,” said Boudreau. “Coaches have some different hopes sometimes than doctors.”
Boeser returning early would be huge for the forward and the club. If Boeser can start the season off hot, he could be on track to reach his goal of 30 goals in an NHL season. His goal-scoring ability will be crucial to the Canucks success this season.
Canucks Trade Dickinson
The Canucks traded Dickinson to the Blackhawks on Friday. They sent a 2024 second-round pick in addition to the centre and acquired defenceman Stillman in return. Trading Dickinson provides the club with cap flexibility as he has two years remaining on his three-year, $7.95 million contract (from ‘Canucks: Brock Boeser makes progress, Riley Stillman makes impression,’ The Province, October 9, 2022).
“You want to make sure you have [salary cap] flexibility moving forward here,” Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin said. “Yeah, it was part of it. But we’re also happy to get Riley back.”
Moving Dickinson will give the Canucks room to extend Horvat and get closer to the price the captain wants. If a deal with Horvat can’t be reached, the club can offer Kuzmenko an extension if he plays well this season.
Stillman is a good depth addition for the Canucks, as Allvin sees him as a third-pairing defender and a character player. Allvin believes he will be hard to play against when in the lineup. The Canucks will have to find a way to replace the second-round pick they gave up, but they do have time, as it is a 2024 Draft pick.
Sartaaj has been watching hockey for over 15 years and covers the Vancouver Canucks for The Hockey Writers.