JT Miller moves from center to wing as Bruce Boudreau shakes his lines in Canucks practice
Sunday morning practice was much needed for the Canucks after an embarrassing performance in their home opener on Saturday night.
Not only was practice needed, but it looked like a reshuffle was needed after the 5-1 bombardment at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, which are actually pretty good now.
Head coach Bruce Boudreau moved all his lines and we saw the organization call Nils Höglander and reassign Noah Juulsen to the AHL.
Here’s what the new lines looked like for the Canucks during practice on Sunday.
New line combinations from #Canucks train according to the colors of the jerseys:
Mikheyev-Horvat-Miller
Höglander-Pettersson-Podkolzin
Kuzmenko-Åman-Garland
Pearson-Lazar-Joshua
Big changes here today.
– 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀 Faber 🔥🎙 (@ChrisFaber39) October 23, 2022
The biggest change we see in this lineup is that JT Miller has moved from center to wing. After displaying horrible defensive measures in the first six games of the season, the future eight million dollar man is now skating on Bo Horvat’s wing with Ilya Mikheyev skating on the opposite side to complete the line.
“We did that last year,” Boudreau said when asked to load Miller with Horvat. “We looked at what we had and then just loaded two rows and had the other rows checked, checked and checked – it seemed to work, so we’ll see if it works again.”
Boudreau also said it’s been a few years since he’s been this disappointed with a team he’s coached.
“We didn’t deserve the breaks last night in the third period and that’s what bothered me,” Boudreau said.
“I’m just telling the truth. I’m telling them the truth to their face.
“When they’re good, I tell them they’re really good. When they’re bad, damn it, they’re also pretty smart guys, they see it and, and I told them, I think I’m not doing my job right now. And that’s one of the reasons why we lose.
We’re also looking to see the trio of Elias Pettersson, Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Höglander reunited.
“They are very good friends,” Boudreau said. “They like to work together, and the thing about Hoggy is he has great speed. And Petey is a great passer. So if that combination works, then that’s great. Because sometimes we could use a little more speed.
After Saturday’s home opener, Boudreau mentioned that he believed Nils Åman might be the Canucks’ second-best player besides Pettersson right now. It looks like Åman is rewarded for his solid game and will now play with talented teammates in Andrey Kuzmenko and Conor Garland.
Boudreau likes that Åman is always on the right side of the puck and his combination of size and speed has helped him settle into the NHL game after playing last season in the SHL before having a great run with Sweden at the World Championships.
As for the defensemen, we only saw five on the ice for practice on Sunday.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tyler Myers, Jack Rathbone, Luke Schenn and Kyler Burroughs were the five healthy bodies.
“When you don’t have success, nobody’s going to look good,” Ekman-Larsson said. ” It’s a team sport. And that’s why we love to play this game. That’s why we show up today and try to improve. It’s hard, but it’s through the hard times that you find out who you are and who your teammates are. We just have to fight and try to stay positive. We’re looking forward to the challenge – I think it’s a big challenge for tomorrow’s game.
As for the missing bodies, Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes are the two big names who weren’t on the ice.
Brock Boeser took a day of maintenance.
And based on his play so far this season, he might need a few.
Boeser has been scoreless so far in the season and his level of effort on the walls is clearly lacking. Looking at the new lines, it’s hard to find a place where Boeser makes sense.
Hughes has a lower body injury and Boudreau has confirmed he is still in the day-to-day business. We’ll obviously be keeping an eye on Hughes in training on Monday morning.
Tucker Poolman has good days and bad days and Boudreau couldn’t give much news there.
Travis Dermott isn’t overnight, but Boudreau wouldn’t say he was weeks away. He said Dermott won’t be playing this week.
We needed to see changes and we got it Sunday morning. The Canucks are now gearing up for what is probably their toughest game of the young season with the Carolina Hurricanes in town. The Canes started their season with three wins, but then lost to Edmonton 6-4 on Thursday night and lost 3-2 in overtime to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.
This Hurricanes team is going to be hungry to get back to winning ways and is probably licking their chops knowing they’re coming to Vancouver to face a Canucks team that’s still winless this season.
Martin Necas scored seven points in the first five games while Andrei Svechnikov scored six goals in a few games.
The trio of Svechnikov, Necas and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have a Corsi percentage of 67.54%, control of 69.26% of expected goals, created 36 scoring chances while giving up only 17, and are on the ice for five goals scored and has yet to be on the ice for a goal conceded.
So, I’ll end this article by asking you which line do you think Boudreau will face against this mighty Hurricanes line?
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