Canucks Preview: No Pettersson, Yes Petan, Yes Podcast

Vancouver Hockey Now mentioned earlier today that Vancouver Canucks centre Elias Pettersson will miss his second straight game with an upper body injury that could very well involve last season’s wrist injury. Canucks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau would not clarify the problem but insisted that Pettersson is ‘day-to-day’ and could very well play on Thursday against Detroit.

They Said It:

— “I grew up a huge (Canucks) fan, so it’s a little extra motivation for sure, but just gonna try to stay even keel and try to enjoy it,” said Delta native, Canucks centre Nic Petan, who after 136 previous NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs and spending this entire season with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks, finally got the call up to play for Vancouver.

Canucks posters on the wall as a kid? “I did, I had the ‘West Coast Express line’,” Petan said smiling, referring to photos of forwards Markus Näslund, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi.

— “He’s just been gaining confidence, every game he seems to get a little better adjusted to the NHL game,” said Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff, in reference to 21-year-old goalie Nico Daws, set to play in just his 13th NHL game Tuesday night. “The type of shooters you face and how quick some plays develop, the reads he has to make that I think are totally different than the American League, and I think practicing with NHL players, facing NHL shots every day, I think all of that has combined to get his game in a better place.”

The Devils selected the Munich, Germany native in the 3rd-round of the 2020 NHL Draft and he’s just a season-and-a-half removed from playing three seasons of junior hockey with the Ontario League’s Guelph Storm.

— “They’re really fast,” Canucks forward JT Miller said of the Devils, referring back to Vancouver’s loss 7-2 in New Jersey on February 28th. “We weren’t ready to play and they jumped all over us. You have to take care of the puck, I think is the main thing. With all of their skill up front, you’re not going to catch many of their forwards going back the other way on an odd-man rush, and they have a lot of talent and can put the puck in the net. We need to play disciplined and make them defend as much as possible.”

We Said It:

Rob Fai and I, Rob Simpson, have your Vancouver Canucks pregame podcast via “Sports Bar Radio”, sponsored by equity.guru.

It’s all you need and then some. Click here to listen.

Enjoy the Hockey Action!!