Vancouver Canucks Gameday Preview #75: A Wild Reunion In Minnesota
The Canucks will face their former captain, Quinn Hughes, when they take on the Minnesota Wild tonight.
Video Transcript
For the first time since trading him in December, the Vancouver Canucks will face their former captain, Quinn Hughes, and his new team in the Minnesota Wild.
Hughes and the Wild are coming off a six-to-three loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night, while Vancouver played the Colorado Avalanche the night before, accomplishing one of their most impressive efforts by winning eight to six.
The Canucks struck early on Wednesday night with Max Sasson finding the back of the net just twenty-nine seconds into the game.
While Vancouver did take a three-to-two lead into the second period last night, they did double their goal total by the end of the frame.
Continuing to not let their second periods get ahead of them will be key to a victory for Vancouver tonight.
Where Vancouver may find themselves shoed in tonight is the fact that they are facing a team that has not played since Saturday night.
The Canucks, on the other hand, played last night in Colorado.
And while they did ultimately pull off the win, Vancouver did look a bit tired during the third period of last night's game.
This could be a big factor in their performance heading into tonight's matchup.
Another big element of tonight's game is the fact that if the Canucks lose, they will officially clinch thirty-second overall in the NHL for the 2025-26 NHL season.
This will give them the best odds at selecting first overall in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
This is especially ironic given the fact that this result could potentially come against the player that they traded in order to signal the beginning of their current rebuild.
While most of the fanfare will likely be around Quinn Hughes facing his former team, three current members of the Canucks will also be reuniting with their old clubs, Ziv Bulyan being one of them.
The former Wild defenseman is coming off a strong offensive game against the Avalanche on Wednesday, in which he exhibited some strong control over his plays and managed to net an assist in his team's winning effort.
