Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken

Simmer’s Skate: Canucks Can’t Lose, Trade Freeze Ends

The Vancouver Canucks hosting the San Jose Sharks is one of eleven games on the NHL docket for December 27th. There was a twelfth, but due to overall weather conditions and tragic post-storm conditions in Buffalo, the Sabres game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets has been postponed.

To clarify the headline, the Canucks obviously are physically capable of losing the game Tuesday night to the San Jose Sharks at Rogers Arena, they simply can’t do it. They can’t come out of the holiday break at home, off two consecutive wins, and lose to the somewhat discombobulated next-to-last-place Pacific Division Sharks.

If the Canucks are to be taken at all seriously, and take themselves seriously as a playoff bubble threat, this game becomes a must win. Right now Vancouver sits just five points ahead of San Jose with two games in hand.

Oddly enough, the threatening part, is that the Sharks are just a game below .500 on the road this season.

The Canucks are presently six points back of the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference and essentially need the approximate points equivalent of 31 wins in their final 49 games to be considered a contender for the postseason.

While we wait for puck drop …

Let’s Skate!

At 12:01 am tonight, a.k.a. Wednesday morning, the NHL holiday roster freeze comes to an end.

That’s when the window opens back up that allows players to be waived and traded. Bartering can be conducted right up until the March 3rd trade deadline. We’ll update the Canucks scenarios shortly.

Team Canada Regroups

Team Canada has a full day off to think about their 5-2 loss to Czechia in their opener of the 2023 World Junior Championship in Halifax on Monday.

“[Czechia] was the better team tonight,” Team Canada captain and Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright said postgame. “We gave them way too many opportunities and made it way too easy for them. We did not make it hard on them in the defensive zone, and they were able to skate through the neutral zone easily. We took too many penalties, and that is something we need to clean up for our next game. Hats off to them, but we will take a lot of things away from tonight and look to improve for our next game.”

That next game will be Wednesday against Germany.

Enjoy the Hockey Action !!

Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson has covered the NHL in five different decades. He’s authored 4 books on hockey and is a veteran TV and radio play-by-play man and reporter.