A day after falling to the New York Islanders 5-2, the Vancouver Canucks debuted some old and new lines at practice Friday. The most notable change was reuniting Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger and Conor Garland, who formed one of the league’s best third lines. Other notable changes included Kiefer Sherwood moving up the lineup, besides Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, and Danton Heinen being moved to the fourth line with Aatu Räty and Nils Höglander.
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While the Canucks current third line of Heinen-Blueger-Sherwood has been good, it hasn’t had the same impact as the third line from last season. During their over 360 minutes together at even strength in 2023-24, the trio of Joshua, Blueger and Garland outscored the opposition 21-10 and were used as an energy line to jumpstart the team. With Joshua now healthy and back in the lineup, the hope is the trio can once again be a line that Rick Tocchet can send out to swing momentum back in Vancouver’s favour during games.
Up next for the Canucks will be a much-anticipated matchup at home against the Chicago Blackhawks. The game will be a special one as Connor Bedard will be playing his first career NHL game at Rogers Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT on Saturday.
