Week Ahead: II - October 8 to 14

The Canucks finished 29th in the league last year, but inconceivably started their season without a single rookie in their lineup. Outside of Bo Horvat and the healthy scratched Brock Boeser, the young talent on the ‘Nucks roster aren’t exactly young (and Jake Virtanen is Vancouver’s version of Curtis Lazar).

That being said, the Sedins want to retire in Vancouver; defencemen Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, and Troy Stecher are all T4 calibre; and they brought in some new signees in Sam Gagner, Thomas Vanek, and Michael Del Zotto. The Canucks are a team in transition, and with such a strange mishmash of players, there’s a chance that Guy Boucher’s ‘structured Sens’ will be able to find a couple of holes.

I’m of the opinion that the Calgary Flames, new arena or not, have the pieces to be one of the top teams in the West. TJ Brodie — who’s started the season en fuego — and Mark Giordano are legitimate top-pair defenders, and Gaudreau, Backlund, Tkachuk and co. have the skill and the two-way ability to stymie good teams.

Based on the ice-time distribution from their first two contests, the Flames seem to be comfortable with their depth throughout the lineup. All forwards not named Glass, Brouwer, Stajan, and either ex-Sen Curtis Lazar or rookie Garnet Hathaway played 15+ minutes. Expect a balanced attack from the Flames, and hope that you can solve Mike Smith — despite his .931 sv% through two games.

Through two games, all of the Oilers offence has run through the McDavid or Draisaitl lines, and Wwth Ottawa’s D in shambles, they’re going to be a tough matchup. The Oilers didn’t do much in the offseason, other than trading Jordan Eberle for Ryan Strome. That being said, many expect them to compete with the Flames for the whole year.

The Oilers have their own Brown/Formenton situation going with 2017 draftee Kailer Yamamoto. He’s played ~6 minutes in one game so far, but with a favourable schedule leading to lots of practice time this week, I’d bet that he’s around for Saturday night’s showdown.