Canucks Live: After Leafs beat down, is there any hope for this season?

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Welcome to Canucks Live. Here we’ll highlight some of the news that drops daily about the Canucks. Come back throughout the day as we update with all the news you need to know. If you haven’t done so already, sign up for our Canucks Report to get our stories delivered to your inbox every day.

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GAME DAY SKATE

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Garland back, Sherwood out, Tolopilo starts

True to form of a season gone completely sideways, the Canucks had good, bad, and intriguing developments this morning.

Culture-carrying winger Conor Garland returns tonight in Montreal after missing five games with effects of a slew-foot injury suffered Dec. 30 against the Philadelphia Flyers. He has 22 points (7-15) in 33 games and can provide an injection of speed, skill, savvy and a sneaky shot to prop up the power play and penalty kill.

Kiefer Sherwood, arguably the team MVP for the manner in which he drags the Canucks into the fight every night, wants to face the Canadiens, but will probably miss a week because of the wear and tear he puts on his body. The unrestricted free agent right winger, who tops the wish list of many trade suitors, leads his club in goals (17) and points (23) and ranks second overall in hits with 210.

Nikita Tolopilo got the emergency recall from the AHL affiliate in Abbotsford when Thatcher Demko suffered a lower-body injury Saturday in Toronto. The starter is still being evaluated, and while there’s optimism for a short absence, Canucks head coach Adam Foote cautioned he could be out longer.

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Tolopilo is getting the surprise start tonight in front end of back-to-back games, which means back-up Kevin Lankinen will see the net on Tuesday in Ottawa.

Tolopilo, 25, has appeared in four NHL games this season and sports a 2-1-0 mark, 2.74 goals-against average, and .911 saves percentage. His AHL numbers are 4-4-3 record with a 3.02 GAA and .900 saves percentage.

Canucks centre Marco Rossi, who suffered a lower-body injury after blocking a third-period shot against the Flyers is at least two to three weeks away from returning to the lineup, according to Foote.

Recalled defenceman Victor Mancini slots in tonight and Zeev Buium is sitting out.

Lines, pairing versus Canadiens:

DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson
Garland-Battle-Boeser
Ohcren-Sasson-O’Connor
Kane-Raty-Hoglander

Willander-Hronek
Joseph-Myers
Pettersson-Mancini

To tank, or not to tank

It has been an issue in this market for quite some time: To tank or not to tank.

To be clear, tanking in a true sense is trying to do what you can to have a better shot in the draft lottery. Not necessarily losing on purpose, but fielding an uncompetitive team that will give an effort but not bring results.

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This is the whole reason the idea of a draft lottery was created. The NBA and the NHL had a couple of drafts where generational players were up for grabs, a couple of the earliest examples were the Rockets being fully dreadful to get Hakeem Olajuwon, and the Penguins doing whatever they could do to get Mario Lemieux.

Canucks fans have been calling for a tank for a few years now, missing out on true burgeoning superstars Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini.

This year, it’s a good draft, seemingly with great players in the top four. But judging from the reaction to the Canucks 5-0 pounding at the hands of the Leafs, fans may want a high draft pick but seem angered at the path the team is taking to get there.

They’ve already shipped out Quinn Hughes for three young prospects who were first-round picks and an additional first-rounder in this summer’s draft.

The expectation is they’ll soon move on from restricted free agents who they won’t sign anyway — Kiefer Sherwood, Evander Kane — with trades for picks or decent young prospects. It seems the calls are growing louder to move anyone and everyone: Thatcher Demko and Brock Boeser, who were just re-signed this summer, Tyler Myers and even Elias Pettersson are subject to weekly rumours. You have to wonder if fans have the stomach to live through a truly torn-down rebuild. Face it, if the Canucks get a top pick in this summer’s draft, it’s not going to drag them into the playoffs next season.

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You’ll have a good core with Tom Willander, Braeden Cootes, Zeev Biuim, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and whomever they get in the draft. But there will be growing pains. Would you suffer through another couple of rough seasons, buy tickets, merchandise, watch games in support? Or would you divert your attention and come back when they’re good?

What awaits this week on tough trip

The Canadiens provide an interesting test, having gone through their own playoff desert and are now one of the NHL’s more intriguing young teams. Ben Kuzma looked at the week ahead for the Canucks and the tall task ahead of them.

Being stuck in the muck of a six-game losing streak, and just one win in the last nine, has made this slog the “January jolt” of reality. It goes well beyond a double-digit deficit to close an 11-point gap just to pull into a tie for the final wild-card post-season position.

It’s the sobering reality of being at the rebuild road, not the retool, or hybrid experiment path. The Canucks don’t need a few players to become competitive on a consistent basis, they need an overhaul.

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The worst feeling is being good enough to compete, but not good enough to win consistently. And this six-game road trip is proof that the encouraging development of a young defensive core is trumped by a roster that’s simply not good enough.

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One thing’s clear, the Canucks are playing like the worst team in the NHL. The Athletic’s weekend roundup has them at the very bottom of the NHL’s pyramid.

1. Vancouver Canucks (16-23-5, -40) — With six-straight losses and Thatcher Demko hurt again, the tank is well and truly rolling. The question is whether you can trust them to pull it off.

Not only have the Canucks plunged back to the last place in the NHL, they’re 11 points out of a playoff spot. And the trade market is heating up. Teams like the Leafs, Jets and Bruins, who had playoff aspirations, are showing signs of life, and are apparently hunting for reinforcements. All of them are mentioned in the Sherwood sweepstakes. The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman did a detailed breakdown of what Sherwood could bring to a playoff suitor.

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All of that gives the Canucks room to get creative here and juice this situation for all its worth (assuming the front office can actually navigate this situation properly, and their track record says otherwise).

Sherwood has the type of skill set general managers covet. He can frustrate opponents with his pesky style, add a spark off the rush and energize a team when it matters most. But with a wide-open playoff field, there may be even more buyers thinking the winger could be what gives their team the edge, which could elevate the price and the pressure of this situation.

Maybe Sherwood can be the difference. Maybe he was only scratching the surface these last two seasons, and can find a new level of consistency with a contender. That is the reward any interested team has to hope for — it just has to be weighed with the risk of his streaky game and acquisition cost.

Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …