Conor Garland is the Vancouver Canucks' active iron man, with a streak of 227 consecutive games. That streak could be in jeopardy on Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
Garland was absent from the Canucks' otherwise fully-attended morning skate on Tuesday and the Canucks called up Linus Karlsson from the AHL on an emergency basis, thereby not using one of the four non-emergency recalls that they're allowed after the trade deadline.
The Canucks have already used two of those four recalls. They sent Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Victor Mancini down to the AHL at the trade deadline to ensure they will be eligible for the AHL playoffs, then called them back up. They did the same with Arturs Silovs but his recall is considered to be under emergency conditions with Thatcher Demko still unavailable to play.
Karlsson's call-up means that Garland's status for Tuesday night is legitimately up in the air. He didn't miss the morning skate for maintenance but might legitimately miss the game.
"Gars is banged up; he'll be a game-time [decision]," said head coach Rick Tocchet following the morning skate. "It's a bunch of stuff he's been dealing with. He's a guy who just wants to play all the time, so we're going to have to see what happens after six hours. We've got to make a good decision with him."
Garland missed a practice last week and also blocked a shot off his right ankle during Sunday's game against the Utah Hockey Club, so it's understandable that he might have multiple ailments.
Just a couple of games ago, the Canucks were finally fully healthy, at least among their skaters. Now, at the most crucial point in the season, they could be missing two key forwards in Garland and Filip Chytil, the latter of whom is still going through the NHL's concussion protocol.
"He's had [concussions] before, so we've got to make sure we treat this properly," said Tocchet.
It's a tough time to be dealing with injuries to such significant skaters, as the Canucks are facing the best team in the NHL.
The Jets' 47-17-4 record gives them a league-leading 98 points and they have a mind-boggling plus-81 goal differential. The best goal differential in the NHL last season was plus-68. With the league's best power play and a smothering defensive game backstopped by two-time Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck, the Jets are an utter nightmare to play against.
They're also the likely first-round match-up in the playoffs for whoever finishes in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Assuming they make the playoffs at all, that will be the Canucks.
"It's obviously a test," said Quinn Hughes. "I don't know if anyone's thinking about the first round — at least, we're not. We're focused on tonight; we need the two points. But it definitely is a test against one of the best teams in the league."
Vancouver Canucks projected lines
The Canucks are changing up their forward lines again and not just because of the uncertainty over Garland's status. At Tuesday's morning skate, Brock Boeser was back on the top line with Elias Pettersson.
"I haven't been playing great as of late," said Boeser. "I've been hard on myself. I expect myself to be better for our team and help drive the bus to help us win hockey games. So, I'm excited for the opportunity and looking forward to tonight."
Here are the Canucks' projected lines:
Linus Karlsson has racked up goals in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, scoring 21 goals in 30 games. In fact, he's now Abbotsford's all-time franchise leader in goalscoring and earned himself a one-year, one-way contract extension from the Canucks as a result.
Elias "Junior" Pettersson will draw back into the lineup on defence, with Victor Mancini sitting out as a healthy scratch. That will move Derek Forbort over to his off-side on the right, thought Tocchet suggested we might see a few different combinations during the game.
The Canucks' starting goaltender will be Kevin Lankinen. He got lit up for six goals in the Canucks' last game against the Jets, though that was hardly his fault, as the team in front of him made a litany of egregious mistakes.
Winnipeg Jets projected lines
We get it, Jets. You're perfect, you're beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista, you're a model. Ugh.
Here are the Jets' projected lines:
Kyle Connor - Mark Scheifele - Gabriel Vilardi
Nikolaj Ehlers - Vladislav Namestnikov - Cole Perfetti
Nino Niederreiter - Adam Lowry - Mason Appleton
Brandon Tanev - Morgan Barron - Alex Iafallo
Josh Morrissey - Dylan DeMelo
Dylan Samberg - Luke Schenn
Haydn Fleury - Colin Miller
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Kyle Connor leads the Jets in scoring with 36 goals and 85 points in 68 games. He had a natural hattrick in the first period against the Canucks in their last meeting.
The Jets' starting goaltender will be Hellebuyck, who has the league's best goals against average at 1.99 and best save percentage at .927.
