WGD: GAME 61: RED WINGS @ CANUCKS

Today kind of marks the end of an era in Detroit. The Red Wings traded Tomas Jurco to the Chicago Blackhawks over the weekend and then dealt Brendan Smith to the Rangers this afternoon, which officially makes them sellers for the first time in 25 years. The streak is over. Not the best farewell to the Joe, but something that has been compounding for some time now. 

Now it’s time for us to deal with something we are not familiar with: Insignificant games in March. The Red Wings are 11 points out of the playoffs with 22 games left, including the final 10 games at Joe Louis Arena. 

Teams coming off of a bye week have not fared well, but what does that matter at this point? Detroit is in Vancouver to take on a Canucks team dealing with a mumps outbreak and sit with the same amount of points as Detroit, but just nine points back of the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card spot in the West. 

For some unknown reason, Thomas Vanek will be in the Red Wings’ lineup tonight. The Red Wings will almost assuredly trade Vanek tonight or tomorrow, so they should scratch him to make sure that he doesn’t get hurt tonight, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. 

Drew Miller was recalled from Grand Rapids (AHL) to take Jurco’s spot on the roster after the bye week and he is expected to draw back into the lineup tonight—likely so he can face his brother Ryan, who is expected start in the Canucks’ crease. Unless one of the Miller’s gets traded before puck-drop.

The final chance to the lineup will be Ryan Sproul getting back in after the Smith trade. Nick Jensen, who is fresh off of signing a two-year extension yesterday, will move up to the second-pairing with Niklas Kronwall. 

The Canucks will be without Chris Tanev, Nikita Tryamkin (mumps) and Erik Gudbranson on the blueline. They will also be without Michael Chaput (mumps), Derek Dorsett, Anton Rodin, Sven Baertschi and Jack Skille up front. They are a very sick/injured team that has lost four of their last five games. 

Over the last month, Daniel Sedin and Bo Horvat have led the Canucks with eight points, including a team-high four goals from Horvat. Alex Burrows skated on the Canucks’ top line on Saturday, but he was traded to the Ottawa Senators yesterday, so that spot will be filled by Jannik Hansen tonight. 

Petr Mrazek is expected to go head-to-head with Miller. 

It will be Mrazek’s fifth consecutive start and he has earned it by allowing just 10 combined goals on 151 shots (.934 SV%) in his last five outings. Despite it being a tough season for Mrazek and the Red Wings altogether, Mrazek’s improvement as of late has restored a lot of hope in him as our goalie of the future, which is key for a team entering rebuilding mode. 

Miller will be making his fourth consecutive start and ninth of the month. He has gone 2-6-0 with a 3.27 GAA and .902 SV% to this point in February and allowed three goals on 27 shots in a 3-1 loss in Detroit back in mid-November. 

Puck drop is at 10:00pm at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can watch the game on FOX Sports Detroit or SportsNet Pacific and if you can’t watch the game you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket. 

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