Game Day Preview #32: Dec 22/22- Canucks vs Seattle

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (13-15-3) vs SEATTLE KRAKEN (18-10-3)

ROGERS ARENA, VANCOUVER, BC

7:00 PM PST

TV: SPORTSNET PACIFIC RADIO: SN650

To say these past two games were bad is an understatement. No excuses, the Canucks simply got worked by far better teams, and were never a threat to make it a close game at any point. And why would we think anything would be different tonight? This team is broken, the time to fix it has already passed and we are looking at a decade where they will have missed the post season eight times.

I’m just so tired of this, honestly.

It’s mentally draining to see this team and how they fell from grace, so close to winning it all and devolving into one of the worst iterations of this cursed franchise. Ownership has time and time again resisted multiple calls by people who know better to do a complete rebuild, as the Aqualini family chase the high they felt in 2011. It’s delusional, because this team cannot, and will not succeed in its current form. Painful trades must now be made, inflicting more on a long suffering fan base because the greed and arrogance of ownership couldn’t admit they’d put together something that didn’t work.

Meanwhile, down the highway and across the border, the Seattle Kraken appear to have responded to their more traditional kind of expansion team season with a solid performance thus far. They seem to be jelling as a team, getting better performances out of the players they were looking to for leadership, and are in the mix in the West, looking very much like they’ll have playoff hockey in Puget Sound this spring.

They’ve yet to win a regular season contest against their geographical rivals from Vancouver though. It’s one of the few things the Canucks can still hold their heads high about these days. But you know that time is growing short. That first loss has to happen at some point, and with the Canucks possibly having Elias Pettersson out of the lineup with the flu, it’s probably going to be tonight.

LINEUPS

Bruce Boudreau has already said he may start Martin again tomorrow night against the Oilers, and that seems less than ideal.

GAME DAY CHATTER

GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN

A little pure venom in audio form to help you vent from all that holiday stress from DRAGHORIA. A real EXODUS vibe from these guys, and that’s always a good thing in my eyes. Check out the title track from their album ‘Dangerous Species’!

Enjoy the game, and stay warm, eh? Go Canucks Go!