J.T. Miller was on the ice for the Vancouver Canucks' optional morning skate on Tuesday ahead of their meeting with the Buffalo Sabres, which is as good an indication as any that there's no trade imminent. The fact that the workaholic Miller wasn't on the ice on Saturday morning sounded alarm bells.
Also on the ice was Mark Friedman, who was called up from the Abbotsford Canucks on Monday. With Tyler Myers suspended for three games and Noah Juulsen still recovering from an unknown injury, expect Friedman to play a string of games for the Canucks.
Notably, Friedman skated on the top pairing with Quinn Hughes at Monday's practice, which would be a significant assignment for the 29-year-old journeyman, though the pairings could change by game time. He could end up instead with Carson Soucy or Derek Forbort.
"Obviously, it's a big opportunity," said Friedman after the morning skate. "I'm old enough now to know when I've got to take advantage of it and tonight's one of those opportunities. I'm really excited and whether it's with Huggy or Forbs or whoever it is, I'm just going to play a really simple game and be reliable."
Friedman has played just a handful of minutes with Hughes in his 26 games with the Canucks but his underlying numbers with Hughes are strong, though that's the case for most players with Hughes. When asked what he can do to help Hughes, Friedman laughed.
"I mean, it's what he can do to help me," said Friedman. "He's so good. I've just got to get him the puck and know when he's getting up there offensively and just be really reliable."
"He just makes it easy," he added. "When I hear him calling for the puck, I've just got to get it to him right away and go about our day."
Friedman might end up playing at least a little bit with Hughes because head coach Rick Tocchet plans on using different pairings in different situations against the Sabres, which will include moving Filip Hronek away from Hughes.
"I told Fil yesterday that he might have a couple of different pairs," said Tocchet. "Situational hockey, so he'll have to be ready to play with Huggy sometimes and also be ready to have his own pair, so he's got to be ready for it."
Whoever Friedman ends up playing with, he's just happy to be back up in Vancouver.
"Every day in the NHL is a good day, man," said Friedman. "You can't take them for granted."
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
Aside from Friedman coming in for Myers, it looks like the Canucks won't be making any other changes after their win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Thatcher Demko, making his third straight start. Kevin Lankinen will be sitting out of the game while dealing with an illness, so the Canucks have called up Arturs Silovs from the AHL under emergency conditions to back up Demko.
"He's one of the best players in the league," said Tocchet. "He needs to run some games here — I said that to him a couple of weeks ago — so I think this is the time to get him going. It's no disrespect to Lanks — Lanks has been unbelievable for us and he's going to get some time — but I think right now it's important that we get Demmer some games."
Buffalo Sabres projected lines
The Sabres are dead last in the Eastern Conference but they've proven in the last couple of weeks that they can't be taken lightly with wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.
Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 20 goals and 38 points in 41 games, while Rasmus Dahlin is producing from the blue line with 32 points in 38 games, good for seventh in the NHL in points per game from a defenceman.
Here are the Sabres' projected lines, based on how they lined up against the Seattle Kraken on Monday night:
JJ Peterka - Jiri Kulich - Tage Thompson
Tyson Kozak - Dylan Cozens - Alex Tuch
Zach Benson - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn
Beck Malenstyn - Sam Lafferty - Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram
Owen Power - Mattias Samuelsson
Jacob Bryson - Connor Clifton
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
James Reimer
Jason Zucker is ill and will sit out the game, depriving the Sabres of a third of their first line. Tyson Kozak will come into the lineup on the second line, with JJ Peterka bumped up to the top line in Zucker's spot.
The Sabres' starting goaltender is expected to be Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in his return from injury. Devon Levi started against the Kraken and has been sent back down to the AHL, with James Reimer expected to back up Luukkonen.
Reimer has an .891 save percentage this season across seven starts with the Sabres and Anaheim Ducks.
