24 hours after the Vancouver Canucks played their first game of the 2024 preseason, they'll be back in action for another home game.
That said, it'll be a mostly different Canucks team playing on completely different home ice. Wednesday night's preseason game will be at the Abbotsford Centre, home of the Abbotsford Canucks. It's a great opportunity for fans in the Fraser Valley to get an up close look at some of the team's star players.
And it will be a star-studded lineup. While early preseason games can sometimes feature mostly depth prospects and AHL veterans, the Canucks are sending their captain and defending Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes to Abbotsford, along with franchise forward Elias Pettersson, marquee free-agent signing Jake DeBrusk, and top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki.
The Canucks will face a Calgary Flames team that is lacking in similar star power. Top prospect Zayne Parekh should be in the lineup, along with top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf, but the biggest name on the Flames' roster for Wednesday's game is defenceman Tyson Barrie, who is with the Flames on a professional tryout (PTO).
That doesn't mean the Flames won't be dangerous. In the preseason, it can often be the bubble players battling for a spot on the roster or prospects looking to make a good impression who stand out the most, rather than star players, who are generally just looking to ramp up to the regular season without getting injured.
The Flames have won all three of their preseason games so far, scoring six goals in all three games. They crushed the Seattle Kraken 6-1 on Sunday, then took down the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 and 6-1 in split-squad games on Monday.
While the game will not be televised, the Canucks will be streaming it on their website for those who can't make it out to Abbotsford.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
The Canucks held an optional morning skate on Wednesday, which meant we didn't get a peek at their forward lines and defence pairings. We do, however, have their roster for the game and can make some educated guesses on their line combinations based on training camp.
These lines and pairings will be updated when the Canucks take the ice for warm-up in Abbotsford.
This will be the first game in a real Canucks jersey for free-agent signings Jake DeBrusk, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong, and Vincent Desharnais.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Aatu Räty, Max Sasson, Linus Karlsson, Sammy Blais, and Christian Wolanin will be the only Canucks to play in both preseason games. After Tuesday's game, head coach Rick Tocchet said this was an intentional tactic on the part of the coaching staff for assessing players.
"I think it's important that these guys play in that atmosphere of a back-to-back," said Tocchet. "You might be a little tired and that's when you've got to see how guys play when they're tired. You've got to play smart, it's a mental thing too."
There's perhaps some question of why Wolanin is in the lineup over Akito Hirose, who was partnered with Jett Woo for training camp. The team sent seven defencemen to Abbotsford, so perhaps there were injury concerns. Alternatively, the Canucks might have wanted to see Woo alongside a veteran defenceman.
Lekkerimäki skated on the top line on Tuesday with Brock Boeser and Pius Suter but he's likely to be reunited with his training camp linemates, Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson, on Wednesday night.
Likewise, Phil Di Giuseppe, Max Sasson, and Kiefer Sherwood skated together at camp, which makes sense to give Sasson a chance to prove himself as a potential call-up to be a bottom-six centre sometime this season.
The other two forward lines are based on wingers who played together at training camp — Arshdeep Bains and Daniel Sprong, Sammy Blais and Linus Karlsson — with the centres from the roster that made the most sense between them.
As for the defence pairings, it seems like the Canucks really want to see how Carson Soucy and Vincent Desharnais fit together, suggesting we might also see a pairing of Derek Forbort and Tyler Myers at some point during the preseason.
Calgary Flames projected lines
The Calgary Flames will seemingly be auditioning fourth lines in Abbotsford, which suggests this could be a bit of a rough game.
Here are the Flames' projected lines, courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
Connor Zary - Martin Pospisil - Matt Coronato
Jakob Pelletier - Sam Morton - Walker Duehr
Dryden Hunt - Cole Schwindt - Andrew Basha
Sam Honzek - Justin Kirkland - Matvei Gridin
Jake Bean - Tyson Barrie
Jarred Tinordi - Jeremie Poirier
Ilya Solovyov - Zayne Parekh
Dustin Wolf
Devin Cooley
