With the Vancouver Canucks keeping their lineup for Saturday's preseason game against the Calgary Flames close to their chest until near the start of the game, there's not a lot of time for a preview.
Suffice it to say, the Canucks will be sending a fairly inexperienced lineup to Calgary, challenging them to see how they will perform against a more veteran-heavy Flames lineup.
The Canucks won in overtime in their previous preseason meeting with the Flames in Abbotsford, with Daniel Sprong scoring a magnificent last-minute goal to tie the game. The Flames will be looking for a better result in front of their fans on home ice.
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
With Aatu Räty as the first line centre, it should be immediately clear that this is a "throw them into the deep end and see if they can swim" situation.
Here are the projected lines:
Nils Höglander, Conor Garland, Daniel Sprong, and Phil Di Giuseppe are the veterans at forward for the Canucks, while Carson Soucy and Vincent Desharnais will be the top pairing, with the Canucks' veteran sixth and seventh defencemen, Noah Juulsen and Mark Friedman, matched with rookies Elias Pettersson and Akito Hirose.
This will be a tough test for Arturs Silovs, who is expected to play the first two periods before being replaced by Nikita Tolopilo.
Calgary Flames projected lines
As is often the case, the Flames will be dressing a lineup more representative of their potential opening night roster on home ice.
Here are the projected lines, courtesy of Sportsnet 960's Derek Wills:
Jonathan Huberdeau - Yegor Sharangovich - Anthony Mantha
Jakob Pelletier - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Sam Honzek - Connor Zary - Martin Frk
Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Adam Klapka
MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov
Joel Hanley - Rasmus Andersson
Artem Grushnikov - Brayden Pachal
Dan Vladar
Devin Cooley
This is a dangerous Flames lineup, at least to a Canucks preseason lineup with so many rookies and AHLers.
The Flames are dressing their projected first line, third line, and a few players who could find themselves on the fourth line. On defence, they'll have their top pairing and two more likely members of their six defencemen for opening night.
On top of that, they have their first and third-string goaltender dressed.
This will be a tough challenge for the Canucks' young squad. Don't be alarmed if the Flames control the pace of play in this one.
