Forget the lines, focus on who is missing.
Such is the life of covering the NHL in the COVID-19 bubble that we’re mostly left guessing what lineup changes the Vancouver Canucks might be contemplating.
In the good times, when we get to watch practice, there are still of course moments of misdirection from head coach Travis Green. That’s understandable. He is trying to gain any advantage he can, no matter how small, against the opposition.
If the lineup he’s been handed weren’t so flawed — they have how much tied up in fourth-liners and healthy scratches? — maybe he’d be a little more open with the local punditry when it came to his line decisions.
But that’s beside today’s point. In COVID times, independent media aren’t able to watch practice even from afar. And we’re left making Zapruder-like examinations of photos to make educated guesses of everything from line changes to simple attendance.
For a moment Tuesday morning, the official Canucks Twitter account shared an image from the Canucks’ morning skate that spoke quite a bit to the coach’s thinking. It showed most, if not all, of the Canucks’ roster, listening to the coach’s instructions.
The tweet was deleted but not before the photo was snagged by relentless Canucks tweeter Taj1944, who pushed it back out into the world.
It made for plenty of forensic examination, not only for the colour of sweaters the spare forwards were wearing — both Loui Eriksson and Zack MacEwen were in blue, indicating they were possible options to skate on one of the top two lines, Jake Virtanen in white, making him an option on the third or fourth line — but also for who couldn’t be seen.
Elias Pettersson and Tyler Toffoli weren’t in the photo. It’s entirely possible they were out of frame.
But what if they weren’t on the ice altogether?
It’s likely they might both just be banged up from Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. At times like this, key players are given every chance to get themselves as ready as possible, even if that means missing a morning pre-game ice session.
There’s a storyline, either way, going into Tuesday’s Game 2. Might be a bit different if media were allowed to watch practice.
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