After blowing a 3-0 lead in a tough 4-3 OT loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday, March 13, head coach Rick Tocchet oversaw a pretty event-filled practice the following day. Defensive pairs were switched again, a skirmish between teammates broke out and even better, it was picture day!
New Defensive Pairs
First and foremost, welcome back, Tyler Myers. The gangly 6-foot-8 defenceman is back and with him being back, Tocchet has switched up his defensive pairings, placing him with Carson Soucy. The pairing has spent 224:07 5-on-5 minutes together, putting up a pedestrian 45.22 expected goals-for percentage (xGF%).
Tocchet likes the pairing a lot, saying this to the media after practice, “They had a really good stretch playing more of a shutdown role. I thought they did a really nice job unfortunately Souce got hurt. But we do like that pair. I’m not sure whether we’ll stay with it or not, but we’d be crazy not to get them back in the mix. They were pretty good a month ago.”
The other defensive pairing that has been created is Ian Cole and Nikita Zadorov. They’ve spent a shade over 94 minutes together at 5-on-5 and have been largely average as well, boasting a 49.21 xG%. Noah Juulsen and Mark Friedman were the fourth pair and look to be the two odd men out in a now deep blue line in Vancouver.
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From a pure on-paper standpoint, these pairings give Vancouver a better advantage on the defensive side of the puck. Soucy himself is probably the Canucks’ best pure defensive defenceman and pairing him with Myers can help negate some of the negatives that Myers brings to the table at times (turnovers, penalties, etc.). The pairing of Cole and Zadorov should bring lots of toughness and physicality as they have a combined 159 hits between the two of them this season.
The elite pairing of Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek was left untouched, as they should. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The two of them have spent a total of 980 minutes together at 5-on-5 and have been dominant, accumulating a combined 56.45 Corsi-for percentage (CF%). According to Natural Stat Trick, that number is the 10th-highest among all defensive pairs who have spent at least 200 minutes together at even strength.
Garland-Hronek Scuffle
Tensions were likely more than high given the way Vancouver lost a day prior versus the Avs. Well, that showed in practice as Conor Garland and Filip Hronek shared some brotherly love during a small-ice area drill near the end of practice. Punches were not thrown but the aforementioned Cole had to step in and break up the clash between the two.
Here’s what Tocchet had to say about the fracas, “I think guys need it, but you’ve got to be smart, too. I let it go more than I usually do because you want to test guys. I don’t want stupidity. I don’t want a guy just to hit a guy for the sake of it. That’s dumb. But I don’t mind a little bit of battle. Just don’t hurt each other.” To see tensions high after an embarrassing loss is a good thing, and it’s even better for Tocchet to embrace that, too.
Garland’s best attribute arguably is his ability to get down into the dirty areas and aggravate opponents with his ability to win puck battles. He’s a huge reason as to why the Canucks’ forecheck has been so stellar this season. It seems like he’s just as much of a pest sometimes in practice as he is in games, which is a wonderful trait to have.
The Canucks will look to test out their new-look blue line and put their anger toward the Washington Capitals on Saturday, March 16 at Rogers Arena.