RINK WIDE POST-GAME: Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils | Game #32 – Dec. 14, 2025

RINK WIDE POST-GAME: Vancouver Canucks at New Jersey Devils | Game #32 – Dec. 14, 2025

It wasn’t pretty, but the Cucks find a way to grind out a win in their first game after trading Quinn Hughes. They beat New Jersey 2 to1. We’re breaking it down on Rinkwide Vancouver. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] And we welcome you inside the Pacific Toyota dealer studios. Visit shop toyota.ca or your local Pacific Toyota dealer. Today I’m Jeff Patterson. He’s fondar. It was an early start on a Sunday morning. And if you weren’t awake, that game might have put you to sleep. It uh wasn’t a classic. I don’t think the Hall of Fame is going to be calling for video of that one anytime soon. But it is the start of a new era in Vancouver Conucks hockey. Equin Hughes doesn’t play here anymore. In come three new guys and certainly one of them a big contributor to the Canucks victory here. So it gives us lots to talk about. Rinquite brought to you in part by bet 365. And yeah uh we won’t soon forget Quinn Hughes and all he did for the Vancouver Conucks. We do have to turn a page here and Zev Buum uh helps uh Kucks fans get on board here if he’s going to step into Quinn’s skates and try to do the things that he does. Buham with a goal and an assist in the first period uh you know on both connect goals here in a two-1 victory over the Devils. Yeah, I mean it’s exciting. It’s the new guy’s debut game bump that that happened here for the Vancouver Conucks. Our Marco Rossy was okay as well um in his debut. who hit the post uh in that second period of play. But yeah, Zo, I mean, look, he 32 games now in his NHL career and just turned 20 a few weeks ago, so this kid’s got all the potential in the world. Um was exciting. Made some really nice plays. Um didn’t look out of place. He’s not Quinn Hughes. I like it how he said in the interview with Murf after the first intermission, “I’m not Quinn Hughes yet.” And and it was interesting. I mean, obviously he was probably joking a little bit, but um the expectation obviously for him, he’s going to be the other guy in the Quinn Hughes trade, the guy that came back. And you know what, for one game in a weird circumstances, this team looked pretty good in that first period. Yeah, I I think that’s how you have to look at it. Uh guys worlds are turned upside down. They get this call late on Friday. They have to fly into New York, New York or New York and and join the Canucks. They get a practice yesterday, but their heads are still spinning trying to pick up systems and all those types of things. And then they get thrown to 12:30 local time start. So there’s no morning skate. There’s no sort of that game day routine. Maybe that helps. Maybe just get thrown off the deep end here. They’re all young players, but they’ve all played in the National Hockey League. And uh Buum of the three certainly stands out. You’re going to hear his name a bunch here as we go uh through this postgame live stream. The final numbers for Z Buum, 19 minutes and 50 seconds of ice time. Uh he gets the second assist on Jake De Brush goal a minute and 1 second in. uh the early power play goal and for Jake De Brasa, long time coming. We always talk about his streaks. They cut both ways. Uh he scores in bunches and then he goes quiet for far too long. Uh but he breaks out of a 10-ame drought and that had to feel good for Jake De Brusk. Uh kind of classic Jake De Brusk goal in that in around the net, the blue paint, gets his own rebound and shovels it past Jacob Marstrom to open the scoring for the Vancouver Conucks Garland with the primary assist. And there’s Z Buum with the secondary. So he’s on the score sheet 61 seconds into his time as a Canox. And then five minutes after that, it’s Buum who gets the bounce. Uh fires a puck to the net. Brendan Dylan, sorry guy, played his thousandth game recently. I don’t think he’s going to want this one on his highlight reel necessarily, but uh sometimes breaks go against you. They did for the Devils and for Z Buum. He’ll take it. His first as a Canuck. And I see the Canucks tweeting out that uh he’s the first defenseman in franchise history to ever pick up two points in the first period of his debut. So, lots of guys have played a first game for the Canucks and nobody has ever had a first period like that one that plays the position. So, a little bit of history in his opening game as a Kak, his fourth goal of the season. Didn’t know it then, but it stood up as the game winner as well. So, Bum, as we said, 19 minutes and 50 seconds, two shots on five attempts, got some power play time. uh and interesting and I think true to what he is at this stage of his career also didn’t play the final five minutes of the hockey game as the Cox were trying to lock down a 2-1 lead Adam Foot and his coaching staff trusting Phil Heronic and Marcus Patterson Tyler Meyers sprawling there to get his 6’7’s frame in front of a Donson Mercer attempt uh in the dying second. So, uh, they turn to the veterans. And again, Buum’s a young guy. Uh, he’s going to have to learn and first look at him. Uh, you know, I’m not surprised he didn’t play much. I don’t hold that against him. I just think that’s a coaching staff going with the guys that they know and that they trust. Well, absolutely. And I think those minutes are going to come for Bum. You know, he’s a guy that’s going to obviously it’s trial by fire right now for him, right? He’s in these games. They’re on the road. It’s a good chance to be around the teammates. He probably won’t feel settled until sometime well into January, to be honest. I mean, he’s a guy that, you know, he’s young, he’s excited, he’s full of energy, but getting traded is a whirlwind, obviously. Um, and for him to be able to come in and do what he did in that first period was obviously pretty good. And then honestly, Jeeoff, it was Vancouver Conucks hockey what we’ve been used to seeing after that first after after that opening frame. Unfortunately, it was, you’re right, that you know, the storylines have changed here, but the struggles to score goals continue. um relying on goalending. Now, to Thatcher Demco’s credit, uh Thatcher Demco gave the Conucks saves in moments that they haven’t been getting here for the last month or so. Uh and something I’ve been charting as the season has gone, this is just the second time all year that the Conucks have won when held to under three goals in a hockey game. So, it doesn’t happen often, but it did here. They beat the Devils by a score of two to one to open this road trip. They’ll carry on against the Rangers, the Islanders, Boston, and they’ll finish up in Philly. uh that’ll take them up to the Christmas break. So, Zeve Buum certainly has his fingerprints on this one. Connor Garland with two primary assists. He also drew uh the slashing penalty early in the hockey game in the first minute in fact that put the Conucks on the power play. Douggee Hamilton calls for slash. Garland makes the call, looks at the referee, basically puts his arm in the air. It was a bit of a a slow whistle, but they got the call. They go to work on the power play and they converted on their first two power plays. Power play had gone quiet for a long time. Did convert the other night against the Buffalo Sabres. And here uh they get two power play goals for the fifth time this season, but the first since that crazy 85 game in Florida at the end of a road trip in mid November. So uh power play hasn’t come through and hasn’t won them hockey games in a while. Uh but it did. The Canucks win the special teams battle and ultimately they win the hockey game. They go two for three with the man advantage. The Devils go one for two. And that power play, I mean, it looked it looked a lot different than what we’ve seen. It look, it’s going to be a long season. They’re going to get a lot of power plays, but for in that very short sample size, there wasn’t a lot of watching. There was a lot of puck movement, and there were guys getting into different positions, guys just moving around and not standing and watching is what we’ve come to see, accustomed to seeing. Look, Quinn Hughes is an insanely good hockey player. But I think that you can sit here and we watch hockey games all the time and and talk about them after and say the Conucks did watch a lot on the power play. They deferred to Quinn Hughes. This this time you look at Steve Boom. He’s distributing the puck left, right, and center. Guys are moving and getting into open spaces. They don’t have to look to their best player all the time. There’s other guys on this team and it goes to show you that, you know, sometimes a little change or as big change, I guess, but very big change can make just a subtle difference. Well, and keep in mind, too, that Leas Patterson missed his fourth straight game. So, no Quinn Hughes, no EP 40. In fact, the Conucks went into this game with Kefir Shwood as their leading point getter this season with 17 points. So, uh, yeah, they’re not out of the woods when it comes to generating and converting, but they did on their first two power plays. And as it turns out, that was enough. They beat the Devils by a score of two to one. We want your thoughts on this one. We’ll continue to talk it through and break it down, but uh, hit us up with a super chat. And in so doing, you’ll be supporting the BC Mental Health Foundation, changing the face of mental health and addiction by supporting breakthroughs in care, public understanding, research and knowledge exchange, and your super chat will bring you to the top of the queue and we’ll get it on the air here on Ring Quad Vancouver. Let’s get to the three stars of this afternoon’s contest. The three stars, as always on Ring Quad, are brought to you by Greta Bar. We’ve got the Conucks Army watch party coming up inside of a week now. Next Saturday, December 20th, it’s the early start. Vancouver at Boston just days before Christmas. So we’ll have a little fun and hopefully we gather get a bunch of Kuck fans and rinkwide Kuck convo Carson Price Kucks Army uh viewers and readers to join us at Greta for another Kucks Army watch party prizes. Greta’s got its terrific game day food and drink specials. It’s all happening on December 20th. And to be a part of it, just text Greta at 604256422. That’s 604256422 to secure your spot. Gratabar, the place to be. 50 West Cordova, Gretar. Let the games begin. Three stars as selected in the building at Credential Center. Thatcher Nemco, Zeve Buum, and Luke Hughes. Well, they got the three right. Just not quite in the right order. At least uh the way we Come on. The new guy gets the nod. Of course. Has to be. What are we doing here, Jersey? Come on. There is Eve Buum. We went through the numbers uh but in on both goals and turns out he gets the game winner. Uh so a nice debut for him and uh looking forward to seeing more of what he can do as he continues to grow and sort of finds his comfort level and just exhales now uh with a day between games. Um that was good like the ice tilted. I I thought the Conucks were good. They’re the better team in the first period. Devils had played uh matinea on Saturday beat Anaheim 4 to1. Uh but they were sluggish to start. The Conucks took advantage of that. After the first period though, Devils took over, found their footing. I don’t know if the Conucks kind of fell back and thought, “Hey, uh let’s just try and defend this thing through.” And ultimately that’s what they did. But uh the Conucks were outshot 13 to6 in the second period. 8-1. The Conucks had one. Yeah. Third period shot. It was Jake De Brusk from outside the blue line that Jacob Marstrom handled pretty easily and dropped down and played up ice. Uh but that Demco uh there were some big stops there. The Devils were applying pressure. They had a third period power play as well. And uh that looked like in just a second game back uh that looked a lot more like vintage Thatcher Demco. So he gets second star honors here. And there’s Luke Hughes. Has to be Hughes. It’s almost like it burned into our screen here. We just had to change the head shot. Four letters. But there’s the younger brother. Uh scores the Devil’s only goal. um has five shots on goal and he played 27 minutes and 1 second and played a ton in the third. He was dealing there. Uh had another chance in the second period that uh could have tied this hockey game. So I’m sure it was a let down for him. Jack already out of the lineup and then Quinn gets ripped away from this matchup. It was a day that I’m certain they had circled on their calendar. It sounded like they had a family gathering on Friday night before Quinn had to get on his private jet to get to Minnesota. He’s got a game this afternoon to play. But uh Luke uh through it all uh was among the best if not the best of the New Jersey Devils. So Zeve Buum, Thatcher Demco, Luke Hughes, the three stars brought to you by Greta. First career game-winning goal in his early career for Zeve Buum. The Thatcher Demco story here is going to get interesting between now and the trade deadline because I think that you know I think you told Thomas Dan said this is what I signed up for. no matter what it’s going to be. Like I want to be in Vancouver. If he goes on a run here and steals the Canucks some games. I mean, it’s Look, I think that there’s a good part of Tank Nation that that that wants to see this team obviously lose and stay in and around that 32nd mark, but you want that Demco to win a few because there may be teams that come knocking on the door. Look, it’s it’s no secret that the Conucks are still very open for business. Patrick Alvine said it so himself, as did Jim Rutherford. and and and I just wonder if that Demco can go on a run where he wins some games, plays well, someone’s going to come knocking on that door in March or sooner. Well, first things first, and we’ll just go with the assumption here, but it looks like he’s made it through backtoback games here healthy. Um, picks up his first win. I had to go back and look at this one. First win for Thatcher Demco since November 3rd at Nashville. remember came off the trip and that there was that maintenance week and it’s got to feel good for him. Had to take that weekend off and then he came back played 20 minutes against Winnipeg and that was it for a month. Uh stops 25 of 26 and as we said uh was busy in that third period and he was good. And so he gets through this thing. He delivers a victory which won’t thrill the tankists. But even the most hardcore tankists have to understand they’re not going to lose every game. Nope. They’re going to run into teams that struggle and the Devils are without all kinds of players. Jack Hughes is out of the lineup. Teemo Meyer out of the lineup. Uh they’ve got a bunch of other guys that uh are hurt and banged up and um you know that’s life. We hear it around the National Hockey League and so the Devils didn’t have their best stuff and the Conucks were able to eek out a victory here. Uh but as much as you want the Conucks to languish at the bottom of the standings, they are going to win uh a few more games certainly the rest of the way. They’re now 1217 and3. They’re up to 27 points, but even with a win here, I remain dead last in the National Hockey League. That’s the problem. That’s the hole they’ve dug themselves. Um, even a win doesn’t get them out of the basement. Uh, they’ve got 27 points in 32 games played. And, you know, the more they get wins like this one, the more you just look at that home ice record that is appalling. Canucks are 87 and two on the road. like they’ve got eight of their 12 wins away from home. The road record is not an issue. Yeah. The way that they have found ways to get wins away from home, that part’s fine. It’s the four wins on home ice in 15 games that is really the reason they are where they are in the standings now. Yes, Zum is the talk of the town right now and and good on him and as we said, want to see more of them as the Conucks move along here. Uh but there were two other guys that made their debuts as well. Marco Rossy plays 18 minutes and 16 seconds in this hockey game. Had a shot on goal, but he did hit a post in the second period as well. Uh moving in on the right side and Jacob Marstrom didn’t give him a lot to shoot at. So he was trying to pick his spot as we show the replay on the live stream, but left-handed shot coming in from the right side and tried to go up over the shoulder, got the bar, did not go in. And I thought it was interesting. Uh they had him out late in the game uh trying to preserve this 2-1 victory. So, you know, I think as we go here, we’ll learn a little bit more about how uh the Conucks view Marsi, the situations that they want him to play in. He was out on the power play, but uh I was a little surprised actually to see him out late in the game that way. Uh went nine and six on faceoffs, so won way more than he lost. Um and again, uh in a lowscoring game like this one, you know, he doesn’t make his mark necessarily, but didn’t look out of place either. out late in the game is is interesting because I think it well I mean the start atu didn’t play he was a healthy scratch in this hockey game. Drew O’ Connor stayed at center not in his natural position. Drew Connor got smoked in the faceoff circle. Yeah he was he was two and six in that faceoff circle. But I I think that David Camp for all he was built as this defensive forward. Maybe you do give got to give Marco Rossi a little bit of a shot there. Right. If he’s if he’s playing as your number one center you just trade it for him. Why not see what you have in it? I think you know with Z beam you had your defenseman there who were always going to be there to help protect the lead. So that was going to that those guys were going to be out there anyways. But the forward pickings Brock West was on the ice. He had Marco Rossy out there. I think that that was an an important decision for for Adam Foot to make um in in those final moments. I thought he was okay. I mean we didn’t he hits the post. Um he wins a lot more faceoffs than he loses. I thought that was good and I think it’s a good sign. I’d like to see him shoot the puck a little bit more. or the one against the post isn’t going to count, but um for a debut for a guy that you know has a lot of expectation to go out there and eat some minutes and play a lot, I thought he was good. Yeah. And I I would I mean it’s not reflected in the scoring, but boy, Brock Besser had to look at that and think sort of free of David Camp after a dozen games. Connor Garland sitting there going, “Hey, what about me?” Uh but they started with Rossy between Besser and Jake Deus. De Bruss scored although it was a power play goal but he had four shots on goal and Brock with a couple. So, uh you know that line was able to generate some looks at the very least and uh we said Jake De Bruss uh getting the monkey off his back with his first goal in the better part of three weeks. The other newcomer for the Vancouver Conucks Liam Ogrren who was a project in Minnesota and I think he’s going to be a project here in Vancouver now. Now, he started in the fourth line, basically played fourth line minutes 11 minutes and 39 seconds in this hockey game. Uh, not a whole lot going on there. He had a shot on goal and in the middle of a line change as Jersey scored off the rush. He was out on the ice for the lone New Jersey goal, but I’m not going to hold that one against him necessarily. Uh, but he’s a big body. He’s got the frame. I I want to see him use that part of it a little more. Like not a single hit in this hockey game. This wasn’t a terribly physical contest, but still I I thought about this the limited times that I saw him in Minnesota and just with one look here in Vancouver, uh it still seems like he is struggling to figure out, you know, who he is at the NHL level and what he’s going to have to do to make a mark here. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I think it obviously being traded is is one of those things that’s tough. It’s tough on young guys. It’s tough on veterans in the National Hockey League. I mean, only played in what, 47 hockey games. So, it’s it’s it’s a big shock to everybody, obviously, everyone involved. He’s 6 feet, 187 lbs, like you mentioned. He is a big kid. Um, and it’s going to take some time for him to be able to go out and and establish himself as an everyday guy. I mean, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was there was a game where Adam Foot says, “Yeah, you know what? Maybe just take a second and and kind of watch this one and see how we do things differently.” So, you get the momentum, you get the energy, you get the adrenaline in those new guys going in, but you’re right. I would like to see Liam Mogan throw around his weight a little bit more. Yeah, and I think that’s a good point that this is a five game road trip. There’s the one set of backto-backs, but I don’t know that it’s a guarantee that a guy like Ogrren plays every game between now and Christmas. Maybe they give him a couple of games and then as you said, let him just sit back, sort of process everything that’s happened here. Um, you know, you want it to work out. He’s a first round pick for a reason. Uh, but he hasn’t lived up to that potential and I I can see why Minnesota was prepared to move off him. Uh Buum obviously hurt, but you’re getting Quinn Hughes who’s an upgrade on Buum. Uh Marco Rossy obviously a 60point guy last year at the NHL level and the Conucks have been tied to him before and they need help down the middle. So they need BUM to hit and he did in this game. And I say hit, I mean become the player they hope he can be. Rossi they’re going to need and they’ll get EP 40 back maybe as early as Tuesday against the Rangers. They put him on IR today. That’s just paperwork. They had to clear up a roster spot to activate Rossi, but EP40 was put on the IR retroactive to a week ago. So, he can come off. They could activate him tomorrow. Uh, but then they would still need a corresponding roster move. So, there’s still some balls in the air here uh with a bunch of bodies around the Vancouver Conucks, but it’s not going to be a long-term thing. Patterson practiced yesterday, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he comes back in time for the big battle with JT on Tuesday at at Madison Square. Uh, and then you know what do the Conucks look like when they’ve got Elias Patterson as their number one center and Marco Rossy behind him and Adam Foot has some options and it’s not David Camp playing way higher in the lineup than he ought to. And I did kind of think it was it was a little funny. I mean, come on, you have to laugh a little bit. David Camp had the puck on his stick in the dying seconds empty net and didn’t even try. Iced 25. Didn’t even try to put the puck in the net. Just But yeah, then ices it. Um, he may never get a point. I mean, honestly, we were asking two weeks ago, will he have a point by Christmas? Well, there’s one more game to scratch off the list. There’s four to go here. I don’t know. And now that if Pety comes back and you got Rossy like Camp’s ice time’s going to drop down and his roll, um, your guess is as good as mine. Whether this guy’s going to get a point uh by Christmas time, it’s certainly it’s on his Christmas list. Let’s get to the stat that stands out. And the stat that stands out is always delivered by Uber Eats. And Uber Eats is enabling fans to maximize their fandom all season long with exclusive game day deals on the app. Every time the Canucks are playing at home, you can get a buy 1 get one six-piece chicken McNuggets from McDonald’s in Vancouver only on Uber Eatats. From game day eats to paper plates and napkins if you’re hosting to all the ingredients you need to make your favorite game day dip before, during, or after the game. Uber Eatats is assisting every hockey fan’s experience all season long. Hashtag crave the stats. Kucks won. They won with just 10 five on five shots in this hockey game uh at evens. The shots were 22 to 10 in favor of New Jersey. So the Canucks did their damage on the power play and you know some nights that is how you have to win is with special teams. Uh but again uh when you sort of put the two goals in the first seven minutes of this game aside after that there wasn’t a whole lot happening for the Vancouver Conucks here. So uh the grind is real. It’s going to continue for Adam Foot and his coaching staff to try to find ways to create a little more offense. Uh just 10 shots at five on five certainly stands out and not necessarily for the right reasons. I’m the big vibes guy here on this program as everyone knows. There weren’t many vibes in this one. No, but all in all, Jeff, with everything that’s gone on this season, these last few weeks with Quinton Hughes and the drama and everything that’s going on, this one’s got to feel good for those guys just to be able to go there, get the win in New York, afternoon game, you’re counted out, your franchise defenseman’s gone. You get this new the 20-year-old new kid coming in. Like, this one has to feel good for that group. Having said that, you’re not going to have a lot of success if you only have 10 five on five shots every single game. Nope. Um, but this one is in the works and it does go in as the 12th victory of the season uh for the Vancouver Conucks. So, yeah, we’ll see what they look like on Tuesday against the Rangers. And then, as we said, the Islanders, uh, you know, this is not an easy road trip for the Canucks, but the Devils were there. They were there for the taking and Conucks found a way to get this thing done. Uh, thanks in large part again to the goalending that Demco, who’s not going to play every game on this trip, but he’s played two in a row. I would think he would want the start against the Rangers, Madison Square, JT, all that kind of stuff. Uh, and so maybe you give it to him and then Kevin Lankin can have two of the final three games on the trip here. They got the backto-backs. Uh, they’ll certainly split those. So, you know, we’ll see where things go. Uh, but again, it was a solid, very solid, if not strong performance for Thatcher Demco. We got a bunch of super chats that I want to get to here and we will do that. Uh, this portion of Ring Quad brought to you by your Pacific Toyota dealers and the Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid. It’s a no compromise approach to electric vehicles that offers the best of both worlds. You can drive up to 72 km on battery alone. That’s enough to get you from downtown to the rink to the grocery store and then home to recharge. Seamlessly transitions from electric mode to the gas engine for a combined range of 962 km. No sacrifices when it comes to horsepower or style. It looks good. It’s sleek, low. It’s got the wide exterior, sophisticated interior, and it’s loaded with tech that’s actually easy to use. Listen up because right now you can lease a 2026 Prius plug-in hybrid SE from $109 weekly at 3.99% APR for 64 months with $3,300 down. Visit shop toyota.ca or your local Pacific Toyota dealer today. Super chat. tab at it. This one’s from a bunch of numbers, I guess, is the uh the handle. So, uh do you think EP40 gets traded this season? They’re in the trady mood here. We still expect that uh Kefir Sherwood and perhaps other dominoes will fall here. What about Pety’s uh short-term future with the Vancouver Conucks? Can’t say no to anybody on that roster right now. There’s no untouchables. There was a time when you and I were doing shows here saying that Quinn Hughes was untouchable on that roster. Look what happened a couple days ago. See you. Uh this one comes from Free Pey. Uh Quinn who’s uh what a direct approach to Power Play One and we talked about that. Uh and this is not a knock on Quinn Hughes, but it is a knock on the guys around him that just deferred way too much. It was always back to Quinn. Let Quinn do his thing. Uh, and whether Quinn was in the right headsp space recently, whatever, he hadn’t been doing his thing as much. Power play had gone a little stagnant. You take Quinn out of the equation, and we said EP4 didn’t play in this game either. All of a sudden, these are all elite level players that have worked their way to the NHL. They’re not strangers to a power play. Um, you know, it puts a little more pressure on them, but you also saw the results and the power play worked well in this hockey game. So, I’m not going to say the power play is better off in the long run without Quinn Hughes, but we’ve saw it in the games that Quinn missed earlier with injury as well. Uh, sometimes guys are forced to play a more direct approach and take a little more on themselves. And hey, uh, it worked out. Super chat from Cam in the Valley. Do you think the Canucks make another trade before the roster freeze? That would be Friday. Yes. I think there’s a couple of guys that probably packed a little bit more than they would usually pack for on a five-game road trip. I mean, look, the obvious answer is Ke for Sherwood. Um, I think he’s a little bit surprised that after everything that’s happened, he hasn’t been the one to to be moved yet. Uh, Connor Garland is an interesting name that keeps coming up. And then there’s the no move clause guys, and there’s a lot of those guys on this roster. So, anything can happen. Um I it it wouldn’t surprise me if someone was moved by Friday, but uh yeah, I mean Jim Rutherford got the one out of the way pretty quick. You know, three three weeks ago is when they started talking about and the and the and the deal was done. Three weeks ago, a little bit over almost a month ago, maybe a little bit more than that, is when he said he was open for business. So, we’ll see what happens here in the next few days. Yeah, Billy Garren making his meatballs on Friday and I got the phone call. I said, “Yeah, there was a little fist pump there. Uh they got the deal done.” Uh, Richard in the chat says, “Now we s see why Minnesota fans were upset about trading Buum.” Uh, fair enough, but I think they’re gonna be pretty excited when they see 43 skate out on the ice in a wild jersey here and make his debut at home against the Boston Bruins. And Adam says, “I think having a blue chip prospect is just exciting. It’s been a long time since we’ve had someone like Buum.” And sure, uh, I mean, you go back to Pety jumping on board and scoring in his debut and, uh, 10 goals in his first 10 games in the NHL and Quinn Hughes jumping from college in the final five games that season. That all gave us a a taste and and even back it up to Brock who scored in his, uh, debut, NHL debut against many against Minnesota in Minnesota, but he backed it up with 29 goals as a rookie. Uh those were the days like and so it has been a little while between trading first rounders and first rounders in Pud Coulson uh Leer Mackey you know guys that haven’t hit their peak yet or or even really made their mark uh with the Canucks. Yeah. I mean, this is part of rebuilding is stripping it down, going young and hoping that these guys now develop into the next wave of, you know, frontline players for the Vancouver Consets. Marco Rossy’s 24, so, you know, he’s a little closer to that 25 number that we all look at as sort of, you know, there are late bloomers in the NHL, but I mean, I think by the time you’re 24, you have a pretty good idea of the kind of player. We don’t know the ceiling yet for for Z Bule and that that part I will agree with Adam is exciting and I think it’s gonna be fun to watch this guy spread his wings and you know we’ll see how they use him. Uh they had him paired with Tyler Myers for the most part today although it was Myers and Marcus Patterson were together uh on the one goal that the Conucks gave up but I at some point does he get the chance to play with Phil Heronic? says, you know, do you move him into the Queen Hughes spot and just allow him to eat more minutes and have the opportunity to play with uh the guy that is now the best defenseman on the Vancouver Canucks and that’s Philip Heronic. Someone in our chat says Buum could very well end up being better than Hughes. And this is where you and I kind of sat and talked about this. There’s a lot of Z Bu’s buum today and it for fantast for a lot of reasons. He had the adrenaline pumping, great debut, awesome interview with Murf, you know, says all the right things, did all the right things on the ice, but it’s Quinn Hughes. Yeah, he’s a Nor Trophy defenseman. Led the team in scoring. Um, one of, if not the the best defenseman in the NHL after Kale Mar, you know, Muriel Heiskin in, you know, who who else in that Josh Morsy, there’s a lot of good players in the National Hockey League. And Quinn Hughes is right there. I’m not saying Zume is not going to get there or can’t get there, but it’s Quinn Hughes. The Conucks lost Quinn Hughes and they brought in Ze Buum and hopefully he can be on a pathway to getting to that level and I think that let’s pump the brakes a little bit. You are right. Um, great debut and let’s continue to watch this kid grow. Let’s not put a lot of expectations on him and what he needs to be. I think letting him grow and develop into an NHL player and like you mentioned the next step maybe play with Philip Bronick, get those more get more minutes, learn how to grow. Kid just turned 20 years old. He’s played 30 games in the National Hockey League. like let’s not throw those expectations on him right now. Uh it was interesting too that gets the second assist on the Buum goal. Uh I wondered on social uh is that the first time two guys from San Diego have ever teamed up for a goal in the national hockey league. Let’s be honest, there aren’t many San Dieans that have played in the NHL. They actually have two of them now. And that Demco gets his first assist of the season as well. So, I don’t know, but I’m going to guess that it probably was the first time that two guys from San Diego uh have teamed up to produce a goal at the National Hockey League level. And I think the other thing too with Buum and and I get it from a fans perspective, like it goes back to the the last chat we had there, there’s this episode of hope or this idea of hope. Like hope’s been in short supply here as this team has spiraled to the bottom of the standings. And so, if people want to get excited about a guy in his debut that has a goal and an assist, I get it. Yeah. all in, but stop a little bit short of he’s going to be better than Quinn Hughes. Uh maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Even if he becomes 75% of Quinn Hughes, he’ll be an amazing player. Absolutely. So, I I get plays the same position. He was traded for him. Uh he’s now going to be part of what the Conucks are trying to put together here. I get all the comparisons, but I do think just, you know, pump the brakes a little and let this guy sort of develop on his own and become the player that I think everybody hopes that that he can be. Uh, I thought it was another strong day for Phil Heronic and and there’s going to be an adjustment for him. Like, not only had he and Quinn developed a bond off the ice, but they’ve been locked together every time like the last couple of seasons. And now, you know, Philon is going to look up and it’s Marcus Patterson who definitely isn’t Quinn Hughes. is an adventure. He isn’t going to be in the places that Quinn Hughes is or isn’t going to be giving Phil Heronic the puck in the places that he’s used to. So, there’s going to be adjustment there. But, I thought Phil Heronic had a strong game. 24 minutes and 57 seconds to lead all Canucks in ice time in this one. Yeah. And look, I I think the interesting thing just going back to Buum, Philip Ronick went and could go about his business because he was partnered with Quinn Hughes. Hughes could go and do his thing and you knew what you were going to get and he could be that stayhome prototypical shutdown defenseman on that top pair. With Marcus Patterson, he’s gonna have to do a little bit more than that. He’s going to have to be the offensive guy a little bit as well as as well as take care of his own end and sometimes cover some of his mistakes. So, it’s a lot more work who we’ve said on this show for a guy that’s playing some of the best hockey in his career right now and Philip Ronic. Imagine he throws beat him there. That’s another project because not only are you playing with a guy that has so much offensive upside, but you also kind of have to teach him the game a little bit as well. A guy that’s pretty raw rookie who’s made some mistakes in the NHL and will continue to, but for Philip Ronic, it’s it’s going to be a learning curve here to play with a guy that’s played for a long time who isn’t having isn’t playing his best hockey right now. And if there’s a potential for him to play with someone else, he’s going to have to play teacher again. Uh, keep those super chats coming. They support the BC Mental Health Foundation. We’ll get back into super chats and other comments uh in our live chat as well. Uh we haven’t addressed late in the first period. Conucks are up two nothing. Tyler Myers gets called for interference. Mhm. And then Kefir Sherwood tries to throw the long bomb there. Not sure what was going on. I saw people calling him Philip Rivers. He wears number 44. Philip Rivers at 44. Comes back. Yeah. Uh keeper Sherwood. I mean it’s a game you play in instincts. Puck comes to him. First clearing attempt doesn’t get out. second one and he just picked it up and and tried to chuck it and so he gets called for closing his hand on the puck. Uh Devils had a five on three for a minute and 19 seconds. That as you look back it could have been a turning point for them. Now they did score early in the second period but if they get one there they got that much more time to tie the hockey game and so credit to the Knox penalty killers. We haven’t said that uh an awful lot as this season has gone along but uh penalty killers stepped up in that moment. Uh, so just a tip of the cap to to those guys and yeah, I have no idea what Kefir Sherwood was thinking in that moment. Neither do I. I It’s just one of those things. Maybe a brain fart just kind of, you know, get it out and hope and hope really just hope for hope the referees aren’t paying too much attention this early in the morning, but crisis was averted there. They didn’t score on that twoman advantage, so they were okay. Um, they ended up getting through it. And then in the second period, there was the shift where David Camp broke his stick and the Devils were buzzing and uh again unable to get the tying goal there. So, uh they had the Conucks under siege as we said. They outshot the Conucks 21 to7 over the final 40 minutes. That’s not necessarily the blueprint uh to success most nights, but they had their two goals and they were able to grind this one across the finish line. I just want to correct I said earlier they they won the special teams battle. They did. They went two for three. Uh Devils went 0 for three. I’d given the Devils credit for a power play goal that they didn’t score. So Luc’s goal comes off the rush uh four minutes and two seconds into the second period. Made it two to one. That’s the way this game stayed the rest of the way. I didn’t love the Conucks approach to the third period. I wasn’t surprised by it, I suppose, but uh still against better opponents, you sit back and get outshot 8 to1, that’s probably going to blow up in your face. Where where have we seen this season? Not many times them taking a lead into the third period and just sitting. But that would indicate there was any other way that they were going to play going into the third period. No, you’re right. You know what I mean? Yep. And and so again, with a coaching staff that’s got three new faces and trying to figure out uh who should go and when and what. So you let 35 try and get you that dub. Yes. And and he did. Um another super chat. This one comes from seven and seven. We’re talking a lot about uh trades here. uh is the season I suppose. Uh if Riel gets traded since he cleared waivers, what would you expect back? And yes, as this game went along, Lucas Reichel, who was placed on waivers on Saturday, has cleared waivers. Rick Dolly reporting the Knucks are still trying to trade him. Um they gave him a fourthrounder for him. There’s no way that they’re recouping that fourth rounder for a guy who has done absolutely nothing in his time here, limited as it is, but just the one assist and now has what played one of the last 10 games uh for the Vancouver Conucks. Uh this feels like a future considerations kind of trade, which is essentially giving a guy away. Maybe maybe you could get a sixth or a seventh round draft choice just sort of as a a throw in, but I I don’t think they can get as much as they paid. And at the time, look, they had nine guys out of the lineup. I didn’t mind them taking the swing and fourth round wasn’t prohibitive, but again, I I think this is going to be a sunken cost for the Canucks. I don’t see any way that they recoup the value uh on Lucas Reichel. I I don’t know that. I mean, I think they’ve been trying to shop him here for the last couple of weeks and yeah, pretty much since they got him, uh, you know, two teams now, two bad teams essentially that he couldn’t crack the lineup. I don’t imagine that the teams are, you know, ringing Jim Rutherford’s phone off the hook here right now trying to get their their paws on Lucas Reichel. Yeah, I think when Jim Rutherford said that Quinn Hughes was available, his phone was a lot busier than Lucas Reichel being available. Um, I I’m also of the mind like you’re 32nd in the league. Play the guy. The only way you’re going to be able to at least like team acquiring teams they know how he has played but like they’re like oh so you’ve just sat him and you expect us to give up a pick for him right like for the last little while if he can’t get into your lineup on what plot is he getting into ours or or who views him as that and a lot of other teams had the opportunity to acquire Lucas Reichel when Lucas Reichel was available for trade from Chicago. Well, and the other thing too is they tried him as a center and again at the time I didn’t have a problem. They needed warm bodies that could skate and shoot and he can do that at the least. Um, but he’s not a center. No, but they haven’t tried him on the wing, which is where he has had some success. So, that’s a little bit of a disconnect for me. Um, you know, if he has to go down to Abbottzford, I’m sure Abby would take any and all reinforcements. Uh, and there may be another one coming. And we talked about if they activate Elias Patterson here for Tuesday, they’re going to have to either send Max Sassin down with no waivers or put Archie Baines on waiverss. I would think those are the two guys. Uh you mentioned it briefly, but I do want to circle back here because this makes no sense to me. none whatsoever that you continue to run Drew O’ Conor now for four games as a centerman and Atu Ratu who a week ago was the toast of the town with the big game against the Minnesota Wild and he was coming into his own and limited ice time give him more and instead they take him right out of the lineup like explain that one to me if you can you can’t you just trust him more and Auatu is a guy that more more nights than not he was the leading faceoff guy for for their hockey team. He’s one of the best guys in the circle faceoff win percentage um for the Vancouver Conucks. So, you look at it and say when you’re already depleted at center, you have a natural centerman being healthy scratch for a guy who doesn’t play that position. Again, it’s it just goes to I mean, look, I I don’t think that Atarachi is going to sit out every single game here um on this road trip. I I assume he’s going to get back in at some point here pretty quick, maybe as early as Tuesday. We’ll see what happens with with Elias Person and some other stuff as well. But yeah, um kind of curious there. Um speaking of guys sort of that you want to make their mark here and um Dro Conor as a center, you know, you mentioned he struggled in the faceoff circle. It’s not his natural position. Uh I would assume he’ll get back to the wing at some point here. Look, I I I want to be clear here like I’m not being hard on this guy. Um he’s been back for three games now. But I thought we would see a little more jump from Nils Hoglander, not offensively even, but just being the spark plug kind of guy, the pain in the ass to play against. And maybe he’s still struggling to find the speed of the game, although this wasn’t a particularly quick game. But uh uh boy, as I I went through my notes here, I nope, nothing. There’s just, you know, you look at his box score, 13 minutes of ice time, one shot on goal, one hit, one giveaway, one block shot, just the shot was from the top of the circle, easily collected by Yeah. Um, you know, again, I there’s no rusher. They’re the last place team. It’s not like he’s going to be the savior coming back, but I just thought with two months on the shelf, this is an energy guy. I thought two months of pentup energy, we’d kind of see him come firing out of a cannon. He was sick the other day, right? That is true. He missed Saturday, so maybe we’ll cut him a little slack there. No, that’s a good shout. Um, but want to see more. Bottom line is I do and I think they and probably Hoglander himself want to see a little bit more. All right. Spatzilla is a regular contributor and you know, he’s the guy that says shout out to Rinkquad and guys putting in the shift and all that kind of stuff. Usually I’m down with Spatzilla. This one super chat. He says, “Hugh is in full heel mode in my mind now should be booed upon his return.” Okay. When we talked about this, I think for Kuck fans and most people that love watching their teams, if you’re with us, you’re with us. If you ain’t with us, then to hell with you. And I think that that’s going to be a little bit. The Quinn Hughes contributions to the Vancouver Conucks will be remembered. They they very much so will be remembered. Greatest defenseman to ever put on a jersey for this hockey club. one of the best players to ever put on a jersey for this hockey club. But dude, didn’t want to be here. He I’m out. I I have a conversation with the GM and the president and and my agent. I do not want to be here. A change of scenery is is is what I want. So that’s fine. He’s not for it. He’s not getting booed when he comes back. He’ll get cheered and then I think he should get booed. Well, we’ll see about that. But he’s getting he’s getting the massive video tribute. And yeah, it’s unfortunate that Min’s made its one and only appearance here this season. The Conucks do play in Minnesota April 2nd. So, uh we’ll see where they are as a team and what the season means, but you can put that one on your calendar as a game to look forward to certainly and there will be a lot of talk around that. The Knucks are in Colorado the night before, so they’re not going to get a lot of time in Minnesota, but uh uh there is one game still to come between the Canucks and Minnesota this season, and then we’ll have to wait for the schedule to come out next summer to find out when Quinn is coming back and is he still a member of the Minnesota Wild when he comes back or um yeah, I mean, that’s for another day. Uh but this much we know, Conucks are out on a five-game road trip. This is their 32nd game of the season, which if you do some easy math, there are 50 games, 50 games to go here. So, now that they’ve made their big move, and we do assume that there are other moves to come. I think people would be highly disappointed now if there aren’t other moves to follow, but uh what do the final 50 look like? What like what’s in your mind what’s important now to the Vancouver Conucks sitting in 32nd in the National Hockey League effort? uh character, leadership from those that you’re you lose your captain, who’s stepping up and being the leader. I think Adam Foot said that they’re going to rotate the assistants around. I want to see who who gets those um you know, different nights, night in and night out. And that’s what you’re going to expect. You’re 32nd in the National Hockey League. Like this team isn’t good enough to go on a run where they’re 35, 12, and whatever. It’s just it’s not in the cards for the Vancouver Conucks. But yeah, I do want to see effort. Um you want to see guys show up to the rank every single day. You want to see guys playing for jobs. Um and and and that’s really all there is to to look for. Maybe guys play well enough to get traded. Maybe guys are going to wave no trade clauses to that’s obviously not on the ice stuff, but maybe there’s going to be a little bit of that. But I think, you know, you want to see the emergence of Zeb Bum. You want to see him continue to develop as a hockey player. You hope Marco Rossi can really solidify himself once Elias Person comes back into that second line center role. And then beyond that, you look for contributions. We’ve been looking all season for Evander Kane. We’ve been looking all season for Jake De Brush to get a five on five goal. We’ve been looking all season for Brock Ber to be the Brock Ber that we know that he has been in the past here. And then Connor Garland, who hasn’t scored in forever either. Yeah. Um so contributions and things like that. I think the number one thing for me would be effort night in and night out. Um you’re not going to sulk your way, you know, through the rest of the season. This is still a profession. your professional athletes and you have to be professional about it. All right. Uh this was an early start. There were other games on the schedule here, including Quinn Hughes making his Minnesota debut. Uh so where are you looking on the out of town scoreboard for our bet 365 line of the night? Uh big dog guy. And we’re going to go to tomorrow. Tomorrow. Yeah, big dog guy. We’re going to tomorrow night’s schedule. The Anaheim Ducks. I like them in New York just before the Canucks see them at Madison Square Garden. Give me Ottawa Senators at Winnipeg and give me the Florida Panthers. Three road dogs. So, you put those three together, it’s a pretty decent parlay on bet 365. Uh, if you want to add something for fun a little bit later on this afternoon, give me two Quinn Hughes shots and a Quinn Hughes point in his Minnesota Wild debut. Whatever you bet, it’s never ordinary. You bet 365. Download on the app, get it on the game, use code nation. Bet 365 must be 19 or older. Please play responsibly. condensed schedule is is is fun, Jeff, because there’s so much stuff going on all the time. You look at how many teams play back to backs and there really isn’t there’s no rest for the wicket anymore. I mean, these these players are playing every single night, every other night. So, um it’s fun and it makes the gambling portion of it that much harder. Well, I’m glad you threw Quinn in at the end there. I mean, one thing that I think everybody now knows about Queen Hughes from his time here, uh, he’s a hockey nerd and you know full well that he knows what Zeve Buum did in his Canucks debut. He knows what was going. I mean, he watches a ton of Devils hockey because his brothers are on that team. Just happened that they were playing his old team. So, he was probably keeping an eye on the Canucks and the Devils and he’ll want to uh, you know, meet that challenge head on here this afternoon. So, don’t be surprised if he has a a big afternoon uh in his Minnesota debut. All right, to your point about the condensed schedule. So, the Conucks got the Devils on the back end of backtobacks, they got the Rangers on the back end of back to backs after the Rangers play Anaheim tomorrow. So, the Conucks are just following Anaheim around here for the first couple of games uh in the New York area. Rangers beat Montreal 5-4 in overtime last night. They were down three nothing in the first and then old friend JT Miller took over. Scores the tying goal and then he scored the winner on a power play in overtime as well. Our Tammy Paneran scored on a penalty shot. One of his seven shots and 15 attempts in the hockey game. Uh so he was dealing. Um Rangers are in that big pack in the East. It’s crazy what like you put a couple wins together and you can go from way outside the playoff picture to I mean Detroit did that here where they went from outside to first place in their division. Um Rangers are 16 13 and4 overall. Uh they’re not very good at home. We all know the early season struggles. They’ve been a little bit better of late. 48 and three at MSG. Paneran leads the team with 33 points. Adam Fox is second in scoring, but he’s out right now. And then JT up to nine goals and 20 points in the 31 games that he has played. Uh we’ll see how they handle their goalending. If they go Sherkin against the Ducks, then the Conucks may see Jonathan Quick. But guess what? Jonathan Quick’s good. Jonathan Quick shut them out here in Vancouver back in late October. So, uh even though they seem to get their fill of backup goalenders, um Quick’s already blanked them once this year. So, we’ll see how that all shakes down. That’s a four:00 start Pacific time on Tuesday. And then there’s a couple of days between uh games. Uh they see the Islanders on Friday and Boston back-to-back on Saturday. And again, the Saturday game 4:00 start. That’s our Conucks Army watch party at Greta. Hopefully we will see you there. All right. Uh yeah, we have all turned a page from Quinn Hughes and his playing days here in Vancouver. Zeve Buum giving people reason to believe in his first look in a Vancouver uniform. He has a goal, the gamewinner. He also gets an assist. So, a two-point afternoon for him. And Jake De Brusk, uh, you’d heard some postgame quotes from him recently. Really down on himself, beat himself up. Uh, knowing that a goal here or goal there could help the Vancouver Conucks cause. He hasn’t been scoring much. But, he gets his first and 10 after he for sure had gone 10 without a goal. And then he scored the other night against Buffalo. So, now it’s Brock Besser with one goal in 14 and Connor Garland has one goal in his last nine. need to get those guys going and then get some of these uh other new players whether it’s Marco Rossi or Liam Ogrren get them and Nils Hoglander get a few of these guys uh contributing offensively as well. All right, 2-1 the road trip is off and running. The Canucks defeat the New Jersey Devils up next. The Rangers on Tuesday. That’s when we’ll have our next episode of Rinkwide Vancouver. Already looking forward to that. Uh Jacob Lazar in on a Sunday keeping us good morning. Yeah. Uh technical producer behind the scenes. We thank him for his help. Uh for I’m Jeff. Thanks so much for spending a little bit of your Sunday with us again. The Canucks beat the Devils by a score of 2 to1. You’ve been listening and watching Rquad Vancouver. [Music]

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The Canucks travel to New Jersey, but it’s not another edition of the “Hughes Bowl”. Jack is still injured and Quinn has been traded to Minnesota. .

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