The Vancouver Canucks will face the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday, looking very different from when they left for their three-game road trip last week.
On Friday, the Canucks traded forward J.T. Miller, defenseman Erik Brannstrom, and defense prospect Jackson Dorrington to the New York Rangers for veteran forward Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini, and a 2025 first-round draft pick that’s top-13 protected.
Also on Friday, Vancouver sent forward Danton Heinen, defenseman Vincent Desharnais, and a 2025 first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor.
These trades didn’t come as a shock, especially since the Canucks had been trying to move the unhappy Miller for a few months.
The new additions are expected to be in Vancouver for Sunday’s game, according to general manager Patrik Allvin. However, coach Rick Tocchet will decide if any or all of them will play against a Red Wings team that has won five straight games and earned points in six straight (5-0-1).
“We’ve had some good games here over the last week, and I think this team has shown when we’re playing the right way and playing to our identity, we’re a tough team to play against,” Allvin said. “As I said, hopefully, this will galvanize and make our team better.”
Despite trade rumors, Vancouver had a three-game winning streak before falling 5-3 to the Dallas Stars on Friday. Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk scored his team-leading 18th goal of the season in the loss. Defenseman Quinn Hughes extended his point streak to eight games with an assist on DeBrusk’s goal.
The Red Wings arrive in Vancouver for the third game of their four-game road trip. Detroit won 3-1 against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Captain Dylan Larkin scored his team-high 23rd goal of the season in the victory. The center has scored in back-to-back games and has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) since the Christmas break.
Lucas Raymond leads the team with 36 assists and 56 points but has been kept off the scoresheet in the last two games.
The Red Wings have been playing much better since Todd McLellan became head coach after the holiday break, posting a 13-4-1 record since December 27.
This will be the second time under McLellan that the Red Wings will play on back-to-back days. They lost to Tampa Bay and Dallas on January 18-19. Before Saturday’s win, Detroit hadn’t won either game of a back-to-back, going 0-9-1.
Despite the winning streak, neither Larkin nor McLellan were pleased with Detroit’s performance, especially at the start of Saturday’s game.
“As a whole, we’re going to have to understand that the gas tanks probably aren’t where they need to be,” McLellan said. “We’re going to have to have real good game-management skills, so everybody has to pull on the rope… Try and start better again than we did tonight, but we’re going to worry about that in the morning. We’ll get to Vancouver … and deal with it then.”
