The writing is on the wall. Head coach Rick Tocchet and the Vancouver Canucks are preparing to make some lineup changes on defense, especially after a tough 4-3 overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night.
Offseason acquisition Vincent Desharnais, who has already been in and out of the lineup as it is, played just 12:23 of ice time in the loss. His defense partner, Erik Brannstrom, played 15:07. And while neither defender particularly played a lot of minutes, the difference between Brannstrom and Desharnais is significant, given they were paired together.
At Canucks practice on Tuesday, coach Tocchet ran two different third defense pairs, so to speak, putting Desharnais with Derek Forbort, who recently returned after mourning the passing of his father, and shifting Brannstrom next to Noah Juulsen, who has been serving as a healthy scratch as of late.
Canucks defensive lineup changes
Since arriving in the Tucker Poolman trade with the Colorado Avalanche, Brannstrom has been a pleasant surprise for a Canucks team that does not have those come around too often. Brannstrom started the season in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks and got a chance to play in the NHL when Forbort stepped away from the team.
Forbort, as we know, is a capable NHLer. So too are veteran defensemen Tyler Myers and Carson Soucy, who are currently manning the Canucks' second defense pairing. Assuming Forbort remains a regular in the lineup at his usual left defense position, that leaves one place in the lineup for either Brannstrom, Juulsen, or Desharnais to take and make their own.
Desharnais and Juulsen have rotated back and forth in the lineup in the early portion of the 2024-25 season, but neither appears to have particularly impressed Tocchet or assistant coach Adam Foote. Given his skating prowess and puck-moving capabilities, it would appear that Brannstrom has the inside track here.
The 25-year-old Swede, formerly the No. 17 overall pick in the 2017 draft, offers the Canucks something they do not have on defense away from Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek.
If Tocchet and the Canucks wish to ice the best possible lineup, they would move Brannstrom to right defense next to Forbort and continue to roll Soucy and Myers and Hughes and Hronek together as is. So long as Desharnais and Juulsen fail to establish themselves in any meaningful way, expect some defensive lineup changes in the near future.