Vancouver Canucks: Defence takes a major hit after losing Ben Hutton
The Vancouver Canucks recalled left-handed defenceman Guillaume Brisebois from the Utica Comets shortly after head coach Travis Green confirmed Ben Hutton would not be in the lineup for this evening’s game.
After an abysmal effort on both ends of the ice from the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon in the entertainment capital of the world where they were fell 3-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Canucks were delivered another tough blow ahead of tonight’s game.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs in town and a dressing room that was ashamed of their performance on Sunday, it was going to have to be all hands on deck tonight to beat one of the NHL’s best teams.
Just as Alex Edler got healthy, coach Green faced the media this morning and told them that both Ben Hutton and Ryan Spooner would be out of the lineup for tonight’s game. This is a major blow to the team to lose Hutton, who has been playing well as of late and has been recording career-high minutes along with defence partner Troy Stecher.
Hutton’s injury comes after he blocked a shot Sunday afternoon in Vegas that caused him to be on the limp on his way to the Canucks’ bench. Hutton didn’t practice with the team yesterday as a result but was not placed on the IR.
Stecher was interviewed this morning and asked what it’s like losing his defence partner Hutton to an injury, and commented on the chemistry the two have built with one another. Losing Hutton in a game like tonight where the players have all said they need to show up ready to play is a major blow to the team.
The Canucks then shortly thereafter announced that they had recalled Guillaume Brisebois from the Utica Comets. As Cory Hergott points out, the move doesn’t appear to be on an emergency basis, so if it is on a regular recall basis, the Canucks will have used three of their four post-trade deadline non-emergency recalls.
Derrick Pouliot will likely slot into the lineup tonight in the absence of Hutton, but if Hutton misses more than just tonight’s game, I would expect Brisebois to be slotted into the lineup because it seems that coach Green has almost completely lost faith in Pouliot. But who knows? Maybe Pouliot will step up in a big way tonight.
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Nonetheless, the defence and the team, in general, take a major blow to their chances of beating Toronto after losing Hutton. The team will need to be at their best to come away victorious against a very solid Maple Leafs squad. Puck drop from Rogers Arena is at 6 PM.