Mikheyev to make Canucks regular-season debut tomorrow: report

Oct 18 2022, 12:02 am

They’ve only played two games this season, but the Vancouver Canucks’ penalty kill has found itself in a familiar position already.

It’s ranked near the bottom of the National Hockey League.

While it’s way too early to draw conclusions, here is a welcome sight for the Canucks’ PK: Ilya Mikheyev is close to returning.

While Mikheyev is expected to miss tonight’s game in Washington, he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow when the Canucks play the Columbus Blue Jackets, barring any “unexpected setbacks,” according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

 

Mikheyev hasn’t played since leaving Vancouver’s first preseason game on September 25 with what the team called a lower-body injury. The 28-year-old Russian was playing on a line with Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko before he was hurt.

More than any other offseason acquisition, Mikheyev was supposed to help Vancouver’s putrid penalty kill. He was a relied-upon penalty killer with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, and finished one goal behind the league-lead with four shorthanded goals.

No Canucks forward has played more than J.T. Miller this season, and he leads the team in shorthanded ice time as well.

As Miller colourfully articulated over the weekend, he has been on the ice for all eight goals the Canucks have given up through two games. That includes four goals-against while shorthanded, though one was an empty-netter.

Mikheyev, who signed a four-year, $19 million contract with the Canucks in July, is expected to not only help the penalty kill, but bring speed to the lineup also. He also proved he can help offensively last season, scoring a career-high 21 goals in just 53 games.

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