Wow!....Canucks aren't getting a lot of love, even on the Canucks board!. Looking at their lineup, I can't see on paper why they'd be much worse than the team that was the last Canadian club standing before their season ended against Vegas.
I mean Schmidt slots in for Tanev, and is actually an upgrade. Tofoli was a loss, but he was hurt and missed both the Wild-Blues series, and was playing at less than 70 percent when he did play. Leivo is obviously a loss, but he missed half the season and wasn't around for the playoffs either.
The loss of Markstrom is the biggest wildcard, but with Holby and Demko sharing the load, there's a chance the Canucks could actually be better off in goal. Green played Markstrom until his tongue was hanging out, and as a result, he was injured twice during the season.
And as far as where the Canucks actually play their games, with no fans in the building, it really doesn't matter where they hit the ice. There's really no such thing as an actual 'road game'. So the travel won't be a factor at all. No six game road-trips, with morning starts in the Eastern time zones. Probably no back to backs in different cities. About the only thing that would kill the Canucks would be injuries because they have zero depth.
So count me as being shocked if the Canucks and Sens end up battling it out in the Canadian Division turtle derby.