Canucks shake up defence pairings with Soucy injured
The Vancouver Canucks are switching things up on the blue line. It was revealed that Carson Soucy would be out of the lineup for five to six weeks with an injury, forcing the team to shuffle around its defensive pairings.
This morning’s pre-game skate revealed a potentially interesting tactic when Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes were not skating on the same pair. Instead, the pairings looked as follows.
Hughes – Tyler Myers
Nikita Zadorov – Hronek
Ian Cole – Noah Juulsen
“Whether Fil plays with Huggy tonight, we’re not sure,” Tocchet said after the morning skate. “We’ll have a couple different matchups, different pairs tonight at certain parts of the game. Like a committee.”
Juulsen will rejoin the lineup in place of Soucy. The 26-year-old has played a career-high 29 games this season and was starting to play really well, especially when paired with Cole, a duo that Tocchet singled out for praise this morning.
Juulsen replacing Soucy will also let the Canucks balance their defence corps, allowing everyone to play on their natural side. This means that the left-handed Cole will be able to move back to the left side.
“Coler had to go to the right side and I think that’s kind of affected his game a little bit,” Tocchet continued. “Now he’s back on the left side. I think it’s going to help his game.”
With the head coach once again discussing the defence by committee plan, that means that there could be many unique pairings used across a single game. That won’t be an issue for the player’s comfort levels, according to at least one veteran.
“I think any good team, you look at the back end, there’s going to be times throughout the year where you play with different guys,” said the right-handed shot Myers.
“We have a system in place, it doesn’t change with who your partner is,” the 6-foot-8 defenceman continued before catching himself. “Might change a little bit with Huggy just because he’s crazy — he’s that good — but for the most part, it stays the same.”
The Canucks will test their defensive versatility at home tonight against the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, who currently sit 31st in the NHL. Despite the vast difference in the standings, this is not a game that anyone in the organization is taking for granted.
“There should be no reason to think that we’re anybody; I don’t care if we’re in first place or not,” said Tocchet. “We’ve got to be ready to play.”