After a week off (save for Thatcher Demko) the Canucks are back in action tonight. Well, apart from Quinn Hughes. Oh boy...

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (20-20-6) vs ARIZONA COYOTES (11-30-4)

ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

7:00PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC. RADIO: SPORTSNET 650

OPPOSING BLOG: FIVE FOR HOWLING

For a team that hasn’t played in a week, there’s certainly a lot to talk about.

We’ll start with Quinn Hughes, who was placed in COVID protocol not long after brother Jack of the New Jersey Devils was, after returning from the All Star Game in Las Vegas. Did Quinn go down to Vegas and subsequently get infected? Nope.

That’s good, but he’ll be out for tonight and tomorrow at the very least, and we’ll have to see if he’s ready to return for Saturday’s visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I would bet he’s going to need a little time to get back to game shape, but good to see Hamonic back on the ice.

That’s a bit of a concerning statement about Tucker Poolman. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.

So let’s see... we have Quinn Hughes, Tucker Poolman and Travis Hamonic all out of the lineup. Might need to make a call down to Abbotsford. Hey, what’s Jack Rathbone been up to? Sounds like a good opportunity for him.

Oh, damn. Let’s fuckin’ go!

Are you kidding me? I mean, no disrespect to Brad Hunt and Noah Juulsen, but holy shit guys, what are we even doing here? The only defenceman putting up points this season is out, you have a point a game player on the farm and he can’t get a call up? Caman!

Anyway... there was something interesting today, as we see in this snap from the morning skate by JPat.

No, not the lack of a beard on the Angry Lil Elf. Check out those gloves he’s wearing. I think the Stanchion is gonna be happy very soon.

So it’s not a great time coming out of the All Star break, in an opportunity for the Canucks to try and stay in the playoff race with six of their next seven at home. And what better way to kick it off than going up against the team the Montreal Canadiens are hoping to be better than some day, the Arizona Coyotes. It’s a big homecoming night, as Loui Eriksson and Antoine Roussel return for the first time since the big trade that sent Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to Vancouver for those two and Jay Beagle. The good news is the tribute video will be extremely short.

LINEUPS

Coyotes projected lineup

Clayton Keller — Alex Galchenyuk — Nick Schmaltz

Lawson Crouse — Travis Boyd — Phil Kessel

Antoine Roussel — Riley Nash — Christian Fischer

Loui Eriksson — Ryan Dzingel — Andrew Ladd

Shayne Gostisbehere — Dysin Mayo

Janis Moser — Anton Stralman

Jakob Chychrun — Ilya Lyubushkin

Karel Vejmelka

Ivan Prosvetov

Scratched: Kyle Capobianco, Liam O’Brien

Injured: Scott Wedgewood (upper body), Jay Beagle (lower body), Barrett Hayton (hand), Carter Hutton (ankle), Johan Larsson (lower body), Conor Timmins (lower body)

Canucks projected lineup

Tanner Pearson — J.T. Miller — Brock Boeser

Jason Dickinson — Bo Horvat — Conor Garland

Vasily Podkolzin — Elias Pettersson — Nils Hoglander

Tyler Motte — Juho Lammikko — Alex Chiasson

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Tyler Myers

Kyle Burroughs — Luke Schenn

Brad Hunt — Noah Juulsen

Thatcher Demko

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Ashton Sautner, Justin Dowling

Injured: Tucker Poolman (headaches), Travis Hamonic (lower body), Brady Keeper (leg), Brandon Sutter (illness)

COVID-19 protocol: Quinn Hughes, Matthew Highmore

Ugh.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

Going back to the early days of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal today for a track of HOLOCAUST’s ‘The Nightcomers’ album, and the track ‘Death Or Glory’.

Enjoy the game, folks. Go Canucks Go!