A healthy scratch in Sunday’s 3-0 loss to Washington, Sven Baertschi will be back in the Canucks’ lineup tonight in Carolina.
Baertschi was a minus-3 in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to Florida. Hence, the spot in the press box against the Capitals. The 24-year-old winger has just four goals in 26 games, and that’s not enough on a team that badly needs his offense.
“It’s part of developing,” he said of the healthy scratching. “It’s just one game. Honestly, it didn’t really faze me. I’m a confident player. I’m just happy to be back.”
Not only will Baertschi be back in the lineup, he’ll be manning one of the points on the first-unit power play. Vancouver went 0-for-5 with the man advantage in D.C. -- which, again, is not something the Canucks can afford.
Baertschi will be an interesting player to watch going forward, because it’s no guarantee that the Canucks will choose to protect him in the expansion draft. Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, and Loui Eriksson all must be protected due to their no-movement clauses, and there’s no way Bo Horvat will be available for Vegas to pick. That only leaves three spots for Jannik Hansen, Brandon Sutter, Markus Granlund, Baertschi and any others.