Kuzmenko demoted to fourth line as Canucks shake things up
The Vancouver Canucks are switching things up after a frustrating 6-5 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
The team’s lines looked different at this morning’s pre-game skate as Andrei Kuzmenko was bumped down the lineup. He skated alongside Phil Di Giuseppe and Nils Åman on the fourth line.
Head coach Rick Tocchet has grown clearly frustrated with the Russian winger’s performance in recent weeks. He played just three shifts in the third period last game and missed two contests as a healthy scratch earlier this year.
“I’m tired of answering questions about him,” the head coach said when asked about Kuzmenko after last game. “We came back, it worked out. Kuzy… he’s got to forecheck. Let’s start with that.”
“Yes, I understand. I need to forecheck, I will forecheck,” the 27-year-old said this morning in response to the coach’s comments.
Tocchet added some more context to his post-game quotes after today’s pre-game skate.
“He should be the first guy on the forecheck and for whatever reason, he ends up behind everyone,” Tocchet explained. “You can’t play that way… because it makes the other guys on your line play slower.”
Despite being on the Canucks’ bottom line during the pre-game skate, Kuzmenko still took reps with the top power-play unit.
Nils Höglander was wearing the top-six grey practice jersey after scoring the game-tying goal in the team’s most recent loss. He skated alongside Brock Boeser and J.T. Miller this morning and the three look to set to be a line tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
Against the Devils, the Swedish winger was promoted to the top six for much of the third period. His line with Boeser and Miller scored twice in the third-period comeback effort.
The full lineup at the morning skate was as follows:
Höglander – Miller – Boeser
Mikheyev – Pettersson – Lafferty
Joshua – Blueger – Garland
Di Giuseppe – Åman – Kuzmenko
Hughes – Hronek
Zadorov – Myers
Cole – Juulsen
Casey DeSmith was the first goalie off the ice which suggests that he will be the starter tonight against the Wild. The game starts at 7 pm PT at Rogers Arena. The Wild have a 9-10-4 record so far this season and currently sit in seventh place in the Central Division.