With Canucks depth about to be tested, can Justin Bailey and Zack MacEwen help?
The Canucks’ lineup has been relatively fixed for an extended stretch of games lately, which is unusual on Canada’s West Coast – as Canucks fans know. With Motte on IR, the Canucks will be without a regular penalty killer and a winger who has made Vancouver’s fourth line playable in matchup minutes. Without Motte’s speed off the wall, Vancouver’s fourth line just hasn’t been disruptive enough to limit the damage when facing the top-six matchups that coach Travis Green tends to feed them. It’s possible MacEwen’s contributions look significantly different in a more traditional fourth-line role, although there’s nothing traditional about the way Green prefers to use his fourth line. There’s not much in their NHL or AHL track records that’s suggests either forward possesses untapped top-nine upside and it will certainly be interesting to track how they fare if they’re utilized on a Canucks fourth line that tends to get thrown into the fire against top-six matchups with zeal and discipline.
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