Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing: Canucks @ Rags

When I was 19 my big life demands were not to flunk out of the comically expensive college I foolishly picked, not to lose my damned mind at the horrible low-paying job I had at the comically expensive college I foolishly picked and how I could best find the largest amount of alcohol possible to punish the brain cells that clearly abandoned me at the comically expensive college I foolishly picked.

In contrast, 19-year-old Jared McCann is strolling into Madison Square Garden and centering the top line of a Canadian NHL team.

Clearly one of us is living correctly and one of us is...um...excuse me...

A bit too early to go all "The era of McCann" but the youth movement marks another key moment this season with McCann stepping into the biggest moment of his young career. A guy who, mind you, wasn't even supposed to make this team after training camp.

Not to ignore the fact one Sedin is still better than most mortals and injecting Hansen back in is huge considering how he playing prior to the injury, but...yeah...

Vancouver’s four centers slotted in to play on Tuesday night’s matchup (Linden Vey, Bo Horvat, Adam Cracknell and McCann) combine for just 379 games of NHL experience. Meanwhile across the red-line the Rangers four centers account for 1,290 games of NHL experience. It’s a daunting task for McCann and company to go toe-to-toe with that cast of Rangers. Fortunately the Canucks center group might just have the perfect set of quirky assets to combat the Rangers skill and speed.

We got two goalies standing on their heads so far this road trip, getting some guys back from their brief stints in the hospital and now doubling down on the youth card while we wait for the captain to return.

It's never boring around here.

Human Guinea Pig Formations

Daniel Sedin - Jared McCann - Jannik Hansen

Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Radim Vrbata

Emerson Etem - Linden Vey - Derek Dorsett

Brandon Prust - Adam Cracknell - Alexandre Burrows

Alexander Edler - Chris Tanev

Ben Hutton - Luca Sbisa

Matt Bartkowski - Alex Biega

Ryan Miller

Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - J.T. Miller

Rick Nash - Kevin Hayes - Mats Zuccarello

Jesper Fast - Oscar Lindberg - Viktor Stalberg

Tanner Glass - Dominic Moore - Jayson Megna

Ryan McDonagh - Kevin Klein

Marc Staal - Dan Boyle

Keith Yandle - Dan Girardi

Henrik Lundqvist

Fearless Predictions

Only once in awhile the stars align for a relatively unknown castaway to return to the bright lights and the big city with a chance to stick it to headstrong coach who never saw any use for him.

So, in our fearless predictable ways, it's clear Etem will score 148 goals tonight.

Or just one goal.

Anything to make Vigneault grind his teeth and crack a crown.

GCG.