Vancouver Canucks fans got a pleasant surprise on the weekend, as two of the team's injured stars took the ice for practice on Sunday.
Both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes participated in practice, their first since they last played on December 23, 2024. Pettersson, however, did not take part in special teams practice, while Hughes took his usual spot on the first power play unit, indicating that the Canucks captain was closer to a return.
Sure enough, head coach Rick Tocchet indicated on Monday morning that Hughes would be a game-time decision for the Canucks' Monday night game versus the Montreal Canadiens, while Pettersson probably won't be in the lineup.
"Game-time on Quinn; I don't think Petey's going to play tonight," said Tocchet. "He's still skating right now, I'll talk to him again. But Hughes is a possibility."
That comes as a bit of a surprise, as the initial reports suggested that Hughes would be out longer than Pettersson, with a "week-to-week" timeline compared to Pettersson being out "day-to-day." It's good news for the Canucks that both are back on the ice and even better that Hughes should be back in the lineup soon given how badly they missed him.
Without Hughes and Pettersson, the Canucks lost three of four games, with their one win coming in the shootout. They clearly missed Hughes, as the remaining defencemen struggled to consistently transition the puck up ice to create offence. Getting him back is a game-changer for the Canucks.
Unfortunately, the Canucks will be without Dakota Joshua on Monday night. He's out week-to-week according to Tocchet, though he specified that doesn't mean "three weeks" but probably closer to 8-9 days.
Joshua briefly left Friday's game against the Nashville Predators after Teddy Blueger hit Roman Josi into his left leg during the second period. Joshua was slow to get up and, after testing his leg out at the next whistle, went down the tunnel to the dressing room, though he returned for the third period.
In Montreal, the Canucks will be facing a Canadiens team that has been on a roll in recent weeks. They've won seven of their last nine games, though that still only brings them up to .500 on the season with an 18-18-3 record. Tocchet credited Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis for their improvement.
"We're playing a hot team," said Tocchet. "Marty, he's got these guys playing really well. We've just got to stick to our game a little bit longer. We had a couple of good games, I thought we played, but we've got to be on the right side of the one-goal games. That comes with big moments."
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With some uncertainty over whether Hughes will play, the defence pairings are up in the air. As for the forwards, with Dakota Joshua out, Jonathan Lekkerimäki has been called up on an emergency basis and will step into the lineup, but where exactly he'll play is unknown.
With that in mind, here are the Canucks' projected lines, which will be updated once they take the ice for warm-up:
Lekkerimäki's production in the AHL has slowed down a bit in recent weeks but he still has 12 goals and 17 points in 21 games, which is very good for a 20-year-old in his rookie season.
UPDATE: Accordingly for his skillset and production, Lekkerimäki has been placed directly into a top-six role alongside J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser, which frees up Jake DeBrusk to help out the second line with Pius Suter and Conor Garland.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen, with Arturs Silovs expected to be backup, though Tocchet said Thatcher Demko is close to a return after dealing with back spasms.
Montreal Canadiens projected lines
Cole Caufield has had the hot stick, with four goals in his last five games. He leads the Canadiens in goalscoring with 21 goals in 39 games, while Nick Suzuki leads in points with 38. Rookie defenceman Lane Hutson leads the Canadiens defence with 27 points.
Here are the Canadiens' projected lines based off their last game:
Cole Caufield - Nick Suzuki - Juraj Slafkovsky
Alex Newhook - Kirby Dach - Michael Pezzetta
Josh Anderson - Christian Dvorak - Brendan Gallagher
Emil Heineman - Jake Evans - Joel Armia
Lane Hutson - Mike Matheson
Kaiden Guhle - Alexandre Carrier
Arber Xhekaj - Jayden Struble
Sam Montembeault
Jakub Dobes
Patrik Laine and David Savard are both questionable for the Canadiens, as Laine has been sick and Savard has been dealing with an upper-body injury. If one or both are available, look for an update on these lines at game time.
The Canadiens' starting goaltender will presumably be Sam Montembeault, though that is unconfirmed. 23-year-old rookie Jakub Dobes has been outstanding in his two starts this season, with a shutout against the Florida Panthers on December 28 and a .957 save percentage against the Colorado Avalanche on January 4, so it's possible the Canadiens will ride the hot hand.
At the very least, Montembeault might be looking over his shoulder.
