Canucks: Looking at defence preseason battles and potential pairings

What the pairings could look like on the opening night

It’s time to predict what the Canucks defensive pairings could look like on the opening night. This will cause some debate because there are a bunch of different ways you could pair up the Canucks defence.

First pairing: OEL- Poolman

Yes, they have been split as of now. Yes, OEL isn’t a number one defencemen anymore. Yes, Poolman is overpaid (OEL is too) and shouldn’t be a number one since he is more suited for the bottom pair.

I just have a feeling this will be the first pairing on opening night. It’s just preseason but the pairing has looked good. Ekman-Larsson moved the puck up the ice with ease while Poolman took care of the defensive work.

I’m sure the analytics will say this pairing won’t do too well which could be true. Both were under 50% Corsi for last season according to NaturalStatTrick. (43.74 CF% for OEL and 47.33 CF% for Poolman.) Both their High Danger Goals against numbers were higher than their High Danger Goals for numbers.

Ekman-Larsson is still a decent offensive defencemen that can put up points and with a defensive defenceman like Poolman at his side, he won’t have to worry about the defensive side too much.

Second pairing: Quinn Hughes- Luke Schenn

Schenn is mainly a third pairing guy and playing him in the top four isn’t ideal.

However, the Canucks don’t have any intriguing options for the right side and I don’t think it’s the best idea to pair Hughes and Myers together especially since they weren’t very good last season.

You probably remember that Schenn was paired with Hughes when the latter was just starting in the NHL. While Hughes was showcasing his offensive abilities, Schenn was throwing the body around and making good defensive plays.

There is no guarantee that they could recapture that magic but it is worth a try.

Hughes was playing against some tough competition last year and if he and Schenn can get deployed against more favourable competition, Hughes can focus on more of his offensive game instead of defending in this own zone the majority of the time.

Third pairing: Jack Rathbone- Tyler Myers

Myers still has his issues defensively and playing against less tough competition could help him minimize those issues.

We all know Rathbone has the puck-moving ability and offensive flair but he has been improving defensively as he has made good plays in his end throughout the preseason.

The only problem with this pairing is that Myers can also move the puck well and while Rathbone is improving defensively, he isn’t a reliable NHL defender yet.

They were paired up in the preseason and didn’t look too bad. This pair could be pretty good or pretty bad. It’s not the biggest gamble in the world, so maybe Green will give it a shot.

Extras: Hunt- Bowey

I spent way too much time overthinking this that I know feel like Charlie Kelly from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia during that scene where there are a bunch of papers on the wall and where he is stressed about a conspiracy of a person named “Pepe Silvia” who has been giving him letters and he believes he doesn’t exist.

You’ll have likely seen the memes and gifs across social media so you’ll know.