The Vancouver Canucks' preseason kicks off Tuesday night with a game against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Arena.
While it's not exactly the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there's still something at stake in preseason games, as some players compete for roster spots or to skate on a top-six line. Others, whose spots in the lineup are more certain, will at least be looking to ramp up their game and get a running start on the regular season.
At the very least, it should be a step up from the Young Stars prospect tournament or training camp scrimmages.
This will be the second preseason game for the Kraken, who lost 6-1 to the Calgary Flames on Sunday. The Kraken missed the playoffs by 17 points last season but they made a big upgrade in the offseason on defence, signing Brandon Montour to a long-term deal, and improved their already strong forward depth by signing Chandler Stephenson.
In other words, the Kraken should be a better team this season. But that doesn't mean they'll be a better team in Tuesday's preseason tilt, as the quality of their team could vary wildly depending on who is in the lineup.
Vancouver Canucks' projected lines
While early preseason games don't always feature a lineup representative of what the team will ice in the regular season, fans who make the trek down to Rogers Arena or watch the game on Sportsnet will get a good mix of veterans and promising prospects.
That includes Brock Boeser skating on a line with Pius Suter and Jonathan Lekkerimäki, which is an intriguing lineup decision considering Lekkerimäki has primarily skated with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk through training camp.
Here are the projected lines based on Tuesday's morning skate:
Head coach Rick Tocchet highlighted that J.T. Miller was top three in the team's fitness tests ahead of camp, so doesn't feel the need to give him a lot of preseason games.
The most intriguing line here might be Nils Höglander, Aatu Räty, and Conor Garland. That's a line that has skated together all camp but it feels like Höglander and Räty are just placeholders for when Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger return to the lineup. Where does Höglander fit once Joshua returns? Does Räty have a legitimate shot at making the lineup?
Meanwhile, Sammy Blais will continue to compete for a contract on a PTO, skating with prospect Vilmer Alriksson, who has had a great camp, and centre Max Sasson, who has been angling to be the team's first call-up from the AHL.
On defence, prospect Elias Pettersson will be with Filip Hronek on the top pairing, which is a great opportunity for him to prove what he can do against NHL competition.
Arturs Silovs will get the start and is expected to play the entire game, though Tocchet also suggested he might pull him after two periods to get prospect Ty Young into the net for a period.
Seattle Kraken projected lines
Here are the projected lines for the Kraken after Tuesday's morning skate:
Jaden Schwartz - Ben Meyers - Andre Burakovsky
Brandon Tanev - Yanni Gourde - Eeli Tolvanen
Ryan Winterton - Logan Morrison - John Hayden
Eduard Sale - Carson Rehkopf - Jacob Melanson
Jamie Oleksiak - Brandon Montour
Maxime Lajoie - Will Borgen
Gustav Olofsson - Ty Nelson
Joey Daccord
Ales Stezka
The Kraken will be icing two forward lines that are fairly representative of what we could see from them in the regular season, though not their first line of Jared McCann, Matty Beniers, and Oliver Bjorkstrand.
The all-prospect fourth line could be one to watch. Rehkopf is one of the Kraken's top prospects, Eduard Sale is a 2023 first-round pick who has a wealth of offensive tools at his disposal, and Jacob Melanson is just a year removed from scoring 50 goals in the OHL.
The Kraken defence will include big free-agent signing Brandon Montour in his first game in a Kraken jersey alongside his projected partner, Jamie Oleksiak.
Backup goaltender Joey Daccord is expected to get the start in the Kraken net but will be replaced by Ales Stezka for the third period.
