Brendan Batchelor spotted Nikita Tolopilo on the Canucks roster this morning, a sign the goalie has been recalled from Abbotsford ahead of tonight's game in Vegas.
Vancouver is 3-17-1 and last in the NHL, and it is riding a seven-game losing streak. The Canucks lost 5-1 to the Rangers on Friday night, so a change in net is hardly a shock.
Batchelor noted that the move shows up on the NHL media site, though nothing official has come from the team yet.
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Tolopilo is a 26-year-old, 6-foot-6 goalie from Minsk, Belarus. He hasn't played an NHL game this season, and over his career he has 23 appearances.
That is the profile of a depth option, and the Canucks are asking him to join a crisis. Whether he starts or simply sits behind someone else, the team hasn't said.
Head coach Manny Malhotra has watched his team go 1-9-0 over its last 10 games. Vancouver has scored 57 goals and allowed 95, a difference of -38 that tells you the problems go well past one position.
Does a goalie recall fix a team that is 32nd in the league?
No. A fresh body in the crease can change a lineup, but it won't change what the numbers say about this team. The Canucks have given up 38 more goals than they have scored, and that is a whole-roster problem.
Vancouver is also 1-9-0 at home and 2-8-1 on the road. The pain is the same everywhere, so don't expect a new name on the depth chart to turn a trip to Vegas into a fix.
Still, general manager Ryan Johnson has to try something, and the crease is the obvious place when a team is allowing this many goals. We think the bigger decisions come later, once he sees whether any change moves the needle.
The Canucks and Golden Knights meet in Las Vegas tonight, and the first thing to watch is who Malhotra sends out for warmups.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
Who should start in goal for the Canucks in Vegas tonight?
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