Canucks: Three takeaways from 4-1 preseason loss to the Calgary Flames

After beating the Calgary Flames 4-2 in Abbotsford on Monday night, the Vancouver Canucks were trying to douse the Calgary Flames again after four days off.

Unfortunately, the Canucks were the ones that got burned this time.

Before the game, the big storyline was that Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have re-signed. Pettersson was signed to a three-year deal worth 7.35 million dollars per season and Hughes was signed to a six-year deal worth 7.85 million dollars per season.

The other big storyline was the situation with Travis Hamonic. Friday was the deadline for him to decide whether he would opt-out, retire or play the season.

Shortly before puck drop, it was confirmed that Hamonic would not be opting out of the season. General manager Jim Benning spoke about it in a statement through CanucksPR.

“We’ve received confirmation that Travis Hamonic will not be opting out this season. He remains at home, dealing with some personal matters. We continue to support him, and out of respect for the situation, we will have no further comment at this time.”

The Canucks were outshot by 22-31 by the Flames and other than a goal by Jonah Gadjovich, but couldn’t really muster anything else past Jacob Markstrom and Dustin Wolf.

Head coach Travis Green clearly wasn’t happy with the performance.

“I don’t think we played very well tonight,” said Green per Patrick Johnston of The Province and Vancouver Sun. “We didn’t have a lot of good hockey players. Deserved to lose tonight. I thought our passing and receiving really wasn’t very sharp at all. Don’t think we got places quick enough.”

They were pretty good on the penalty kill (mainly due to Thatcher Demko) going one for six (The Flames scored their only power play goal on an empty netter.) The power play was not good as they went zero for four.

Here are three takeaways from the 4-1 loss.

1. Luke Schenn struggles

It’s only preseason, but Luke Schenn’s second stint with the Canucks isn’t off to the best start.

The two-time Stanley Cup Champion started the night off with Jack Rathbone and he did not look good.

He was easily getting beat by the Flames players and was on the ice for two of the Flames goals.

Johnny Gaudreau in particular made life difficult for Schenn. Gaudreau pretty much left him in the dust and he couldn’t help out Demko.

He (along with Zack MacEwen) tried to fight Nikita Zadorov behind the play. To quote Jason Batemen in the 2004 film Dodgeball, “ That’s a bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for him.”

It did not.

Schenn was getting beat all night by the speed of the Flames players and struggled to keep up.

Overall, it wasn’t a good impression for Schenn to make the team.

#2 Brad Hunt looked good

Like Schenn, Brad Hunt was one of the defencemen signed in the offseason. Unlike Schenn, Hunt impressed for the most part.

There were still some mistakes but he was making smart and simple plays throughout the night. He was made smart pinches, disrupting the Flames rushes and passing lanes and made sure to get the puck out of the Canucks end as soon as possible.

The Maple Ridge native even tried to contribute to the offence with four shots on goal. That was second among Canucks defencemen in the game behind Tyler Myers.

Hunt even showed off this nice deke on Markstrom. Apparently he can shoot and has the hands too.

With the uncertainty of Hamonic’s situation, you would think Hunt made a strong case to crack the NHL roster. Even though he shoots left, he could also play the right side and he could potentially provide some help on that side.

#3 Thatcher Demko looked solid between the pipes

Demko got his first taste between the pipes for the first time since May and he didn’t look rusty despite giving three goals.

You can’t really criticize Demko on the goals he gave up, especially the first one. The defence in front of him could’ve helped him out but didn’t do a good job.

He did a good job on focusing on Andrew Magiapane here.

This play right here could sum up the night. After the Canucks fail to get it out, Demko makes a good save with the pad.

It was only a preseason game but Demko look like he captured the form that he had back in March before the COVID-19 outbreak.  He was making excellent saves with the glove and blocker all night and was tracking the puck well.

It would be a good recurring theme in the regular season for Demko to have nights where he looks solid and keeps the Canucks in games. It would not be a good recurring theme in the regular season if the Canucks keep on relying on him to bail out the poor defensive work.  It was only preseason but Demko got his work cut out for him.