The biggest question for the Vancouver Canucks right now is when will Quinn Hughes make his return to the lineup.
It could be Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
Hughes' absence from the Canucks' two games on the weekend suggests that the team's medical staff made the right call when they didn't clear him to play for Team USA in the championship game of the 4 Nations Face-Off. It should put to rest any conspiracy theories that the Canucks were doing Team Canada a solid in the tournament by keeping Hughes out of the final.
It's not just anonymous accounts on social media making those claims either. Team USA forward — and childhood friend of the Hughes brother — Brady Tkachuk suggested it was "shady business" on the part of the Canucks to hold Hughes out of the final, saying, "We all know who they were cheering for," on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast.
Instead, it seems that Hughes needed even more rest from the oblique injury that has kept him out of the Canucks lineup for all of February.
Hughes suffered the injury on January 31 against the Dallas Stars. He left the game in the third period only to return a few minutes later, but was grimacing in obvious pain in his remaining shifts and was in clear distress when sitting on the bench. He then tried to immediately return the next game, only to be pulled from the ice in warm-up, then was held out for three more games ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off before it was announced he would miss the tournament.
Coming out of the break, Hughes was optimistic that he could return for Saturday's game against the Las Vegas Golden Knights but he was held out of not only that game but also Sunday's game against the Utah Hockey Club. The Canucks lost both games, scoring a single goal in each games and losing by one goal, notwithstanding empty-net goals.
Now, there's a chance Hughes will return against the Kings, meaning he was out for just short of four weeks. He was on the ice for the team's optional morning skate but head coach Rick Tocchet would not commit to whether he would be in the lineup.
"Quinn's probably going to be a game-time [decision]," said Tocchet. "He's skating out there today and he's going to go pretty hard to see how he feels."
UPDATE: The game-time decision evidently was that Hughes will not play.
Apparently not!
At first, it appeared that Hughes would be scratched but now he will be in the lineup, with the Canucks dressing seven defencemen. Hughes will get into his first game in 26 days.
One has to wonder if the attempts to return to action ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off delayed his recovery from his injury. If Hughes had immediately gone on the Injured Reserve list to rest when the injury occurred, would he have been able to return sooner?
It's hard to say. Players try to play through injury all the time, so it may have been a situation where Hughes would have tried to return before the break even if he wasn't pushing to play for his country. Maybe it wasn't clear how severe the injury was until he pushed it. Maybe he would've been out for four weeks no matter what.
Whatever the case may be, the Canucks just have to hope that he's fully healthy for the rest of the season. Their position in the playoffs is precarious and they'll need their best player at the top of his game.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With Hughes returning, the Canucks' defence pairings are getting a shake-up and could lead to some rotations with seven defencemen. The Canucks are also making significant changes to their forward lines after struggling to create offence on the weekend.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
Nils Höglander has shown an offensive spark recently and he has chemistry with Elias Pettersson, so putting them together alongside Jake DeBrusk, who scored the Canucks' only two goals on the weekend, makes sense.
Likewise, reuniting Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland makes sense, as that was a partnership that worked very well last season. Seeing how they mesh with Filip Chytil seems like a worthwhile experiment.
Unfortunately, that bumps Brock Boeser down to the third line with Pius Suter and Drew O'Connor. Boeser has struggled to produce of late, with just two points in his last eight games.
Hughes will start the game alongside Filip Hronek on the top pairing but his minutes could be managed in his return. Arshdeep Bains has been scratched, so I've placed Derek Forbort on the fourth line, though he will likely rotate in with Hughes and Elias "Junior" Pettersson.
Carson Soucy, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday, was partnered with Victor Mancini at practice, while the junior Pettersson skated with Forbort. Given the Canucks' predilection for playing defencemen on their proper side, that suggested Soucy and Mancini will be the third pairing on Wednesday, with Pettersson and Forbort scratched.
The junior Pettersson, however, will stay in the lineup and be paired with Soucy, who will be playing on his off-side.
"I don't want to keep yanking [Pettersson] out," said Tocchet. "I think he's done a nice job, so you want to see the arrow keep going, so I think it's important that he stays in. From there, that sixth spot is competition. We've got 20-something games left and we need people to get going. That's what happens with competition; when you have that competition, hopefully it ignites some guys."
The Canucks' starting goaltender is expected to be Kevin Lankinen, with Arturs Silovs presumably getting the start on Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks.
Los Angeles Kings projected lines
The Kings have been knocked out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers in three straight season. If the standings stay the way they are right now, the Kings will be up against the Oilers in the first round once again.
With a 31-17-7 record, the Kings have been very good this season, but not quite good enough to pass the Oilers and Golden Knights in Pacific Division. That leaves them in third place, six points ahead of the Canucks, albeit with two games in hand.
Adrian Kempe leads the Kings in scoring with 25 goals and 48 points in 55 games. They don't score a ton but they're one of the best defensive teams in the NHL, allowing the second-lowest shots against per game and the fifth-lowest goals against per game.
Here are the Kings' projected lines:
Alex Turcotte - Anze Kopitar - Adrian Kempe
Warren Foegele - Phillip Danault - Trevor Moore
Kevin Fiala - Quinton Byfield - Alex Laferriere
Tanner Jeannot - Trevor Lewis
Mikey Anderson - Vladislav Gavrikov
Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke
Jacob Moverare - Jordan Spence
Kyle Burroughs
David Rittich
Darcy Kuemper
The Kings have been running an 11-forward, 7-defenceman lineup for a significant portion of the 2024-25 season and it seems to be working for them. Despite the extra defenceman, Drew Doughty has still averaged nearly 26 minutes per game since returning to the Kings' lineup from a preseason injury.
With Doughty eating up major minutes, Brandt Clarke and Jacob Moverare are playing around 12 and 11 minutes per night. It's an interesting arrangement and you have to wonder if it will continue on into the playoffs.
On Wednesday night, however, Doughty was a late scratch. The Kings still dressed seven defencemen, with Kyle Burroughs stepping into the lineup.
With the Canucks also using seven defencemen, that means we'll see a rare game where 14 defencemen are dressed between the two teams.
The Kings' starting goaltender was expected to be Darcy Kuemper, who has been outstanding in the Kings' net this season with a .918 save percentage that is good for fourth in the NHL this season, but will instead by David Rittich, who has been significantly worse, with an .892 save percentage.
