The Canucks are one game closer to the regular season. That’s about all you can say about a dour affair Friday in Seattle.
Pre-season is for warming up. For getting some reps in before you really find your groove.
Past great Canucks teams have had terrible pre-seasons. Past bad Canucks teams have had great pre-seasons.
Pre-season doesn’t matter.
What does matter is what bits and pieces you can maybe see if you squint really hard.
And even then … w hat do you see.
That means changing rosters as well.
There’s little through line from the games on Tuesday and Wednesday to this one, just as there won’t be much to tie Saturday’s game in Calgary to the previous three.
Not really, no.
Did we learn anything on this night? Not really, no.
But there still a few bits, so let’s take a look at what we learned.
Help your goalie out
The first goal came off a deflection by a teammate and the second goal saw the puck deflected in off Derek Forbort’s butt.
Hardly a fair start to life in blue and green.
But Lankinen has been around the block. He didn’t let a couple bad bounces faze him and he put in a tidy performance for his new team.
He’s going to be fine.
It’s all about the environment in front of him.
Lankinen is at his best when he doesn’t sink too low, doesn’t let get his feet get too wide. That makes him small and less mobile, the opposite of the tall and narrow Torenius and Clark want from their goalies.
In Nashville, Lankien was allowed to drive a little on shots, rather than standing firm, a subtle difference from how things have been set up here.
Young D: Mynio draws praise
Do the Canucks have something in defence prospect Sawyer Mynio?
Maybe?
The 19-year-old got in the game after Tocchet said he hoped to get a look at him on Thursday.
And he was praised by the coach post game.
“I thought he was poised out there,” he said. Called the youngster a “great prospect.”
Kirill Kudryavtsev drew praise as well.
“I really like this kid, from rookie camp on,” Tocchet said.
For a team that’s light on defence prospects — look at the fact the Canucks had to sign a couple veterans in Vinny Desharnais and Forbort to fill out the depth chart as cases in point — both catching the eye of the head coach is notable.
Nice night for Sasson
Max Sasson’s line dominated play when he was on the ice.
He’s a smart player who is in a now or never season.
He’s 24. This is the player he’s going to be. He was plus-9 in even-strength shot differential on the night.
There’s no obvious spot for him on the NHL roster right, now, but like Aatu Raty, if he keeps up his steady, smart play, he’ll play NHL games.
Game of two halves
Overall, the first half of the game was dominated by Seattle.
The second wasn’t.
But it’s hard to draw a big conclusion from a game like this.