10 TAKEAWAYS FROM THE VANCOUVER CANUCKS’ JUST ANNOUNCED 2024-25 NHL SCHEDULE
The Vancouver Canucks 2024-25 regular season schedule has been released. As always, the team will play 41 home games and 41 out on the road. And like every year, there are quirks and stretches that stand out. Here are 10 takeaways now that we know when and where the team will play next season:
1) Just in time for the holidays, Big Z returns on December 14th. Nikita Zadorov should get a rousing welcome back to Vancouver although he’ll do it wearing a Boston uniform, so we’ll see how that goes. Zadorov and Elias Lindholm will see the Canucks a few weeks earlier when Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and Derek Forbort make their returns to Beantown on November 26th.
2) Coaches love practice time and the early portion of the Canucks schedule should afford Rick Tocchet and his staff plenty of opportunity to work with the players. The Canucks play just six times in the first 17 nights of the season. Their first back to back set on the schedule doesn’t come until mid-November when they host Chicago and Nashville on consecutive nights. They will play their first 15 games of the season without encountering the challenge of a back to back.
3) The visit by the Blackhawks will mark the first time North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard plays an NHL game in his hometown. The NHL’s reigning Rookie of the Year was injured last season when the Hawks made their lone trip to Vancouver in mid-January. Bedard and the Blackhawks will be back in Vancouver on March 15th.
4) On the topic of first times, the new guys come calling only once this season. The Utah Hockey Club will be at Rogers Arena on Sunday March 16th. The Canucks will visit Salt Lake City on two occasions – December 18th and February 23rd.
5) March is a beast with 15 games in 30 nights, the final six of which are on an eastern road trip. The Canucks will face the Rangers in a 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific start at Madison Square Garden on March 22nd. That road trip, however, is spaced out well with no back-to-backs, which will give the Canucks plenty of rest time while based in the New York area as they face the Devils on Monday the 24th and the Islanders on Wednesday the 26th.
6) If all goes as planned, Tyler Myers will appear in his 1000th NHL regular season game in Philadelphia on October 19th. Myers enters the season having played in 995 games over his lengthy career. He was set to make Game 82 in Winnipeg his milestone night, but an injury in early March forced him to miss five games. So he came up just shy of the 1000-game mark.
7) It’s not quite a Winter Classic, but the Canucks will host the Seattle Kraken in a Saturday matinee in their first game after Christmas. The visitors from the Emerald City will head north for a 1pm puck drop at Rogers Arena. It’s one of two scheduled Saturday early afternoon home dates for the Canucks, who will also host Anaheim in a 1 o’clock face-off on April 5th. The Canucks also have a 1pm start slated on Sunday December 8th when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town.
8) The Canucks ring in the New Year with a compressed portion of their schedule playing six games in 10 nights – with five of those on the road. The back end of that stretch is a four games in six night Eastern road trip that starts in Montreal on a Monday and continues to Washington on the Wednesday. It finishes with a back to back set of games in Carolina and Toronto on Friday and Saturday nights. After a bit of a breather, the Canucks will stop off in Winnipeg to face the Jets before heading home.
9) With the 4 Nations Face-Off scheduled for mid-February, the Canucks will play just three home games between January 26th and March 5th. They are set to host the Red Wings on February 2nd, Colorado on Feburary 4th and Toronto on Feburary 8th. And yes, that is a scheduled 4pm start at Rogers Arena. After the game against the Leafs, the Canucks don’t play again until Saturday, February 22nd, in Vegas.
10 )It’s not quite the nine-game homestand the Canucks enjoyed last March. But if they find themselves in a push for the division title or even for playoff positioning, the team finishes with six of its final eight games on home ice. The only road trip is a quick two-gamer to Dallas and Colorado in the middle of April. Among the home games in that stretch are both visits from the Vegas Golden Knights in what could be key Pacific Division contests. The Knights are in Vancouver on Sunday April 6th and then return for the season-finale on Wednesday April 16th.
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2024-07-02T17:24:14Z dg43tfdfdgfd