Vancouver Canucks to Make Shocking Scratch

The Vancouver Canucks are making a big change to their lineup for Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson is expected to be a healthy scratch for the contest. Travis Dermot was seen at practice in Ekman Larsson's regular spot on a pairing with Tyler Myers, so he is expected to replace the veteran. Furthermore, OEL was on the fourth pairing at practice.

Ekman-Larsson being scratched is certainly notable, as he carries a $7.26 million cap hit and is expected to be one of their top players. Yet, he has had a lot of struggles this season, so Vancouver is hoping that scratching him will result in an improvement with his play. In 40 games on the year, he has a decent 19 points, but his minus-14 rating displays that he has had trouble being reliable when it comes to his defensive play.

It will be in interesting to see how Ekman-Larsson responds to the scratch from here. Sometimes a player needs a wake-up call, so let’s see if this move does exactly that for the 888-game veteran.

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