GAME DAY: Canucks vs. Oilers

After a whirlwind training camp, the Canucks begin the first of seven pre-season tune-ups, starting with a home and home against the Oilers.

Pre-season contests are always interesting as you see who the coaches send out, especially early before the cuts have been made, but tonight will give us a look at some of the new faces as well as some youngsters. These are the projected lineups for tonight:
D.Sedin - Wellwood - Pyatt
Pettinger - Krog - Simek
Jaffray - Kesler - Gendur
Cowan - Rypien - Raymond
Labrie

Ohlund - Heshka
Mitchell - Baumgartner
Rahimi - Edler
Davison - Sharrow
(Hat tip to WetCoaster of CDC)

Cory Schneider will start in goal with Karl Goehring (who?) backing him up. Not a surprise to see the Sedins split up to start the pre-season, but an interesting combination pairing Daniel with newcomer Kyle Wellwood and Taylor Pyatt. The 2nd and 3rd lines both look fast and the interesting combination of tough guys Jeff Cowan and Rick Rypien with Mason Raymond on the 4th line is an odd one... but you've got to put him somewhere, right? After the horrific number of injuries sustained in last year's camp here in Victoria, the fact they all came out of it healthy is an automatic bonus for the Canucks. At press time we didn't have a lineup for the Oilers, so your guess is as good as mine, but you can bet this being a home game the Oilers will probably give their fans a look at some of the new faces (Eric Cole, Robbie Schremp and Gilbert Brule). The Oilers haven't made a lot of changes from last year, incuding standing pat in net, and while they did play better at times, still missed the playoffs. Some are saying this team is a darkhorse to do some damage, and while they seemed to have addressed the offensive side of the table with Brule and Cole, defensively they are still in the same boat they were last year. The game goes at 6pm tonight on Sportsnet, with it being webcast on canucks.com and as always on the air on team 1040. By the way, John Shorthouse makes his Sportsnet debut tonight, and no word on which of the 47 play by play men are calling the radio tonight...