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Sift through the rubble long enough and there could be something of value.

Say what you want about minor-league lineups and a mean-nothing meeting in the big National Hockey League picture, the fact the Vancouver Canucks were clobbered 9-4 by the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Arena in a pre-season blowout was unsettling.

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Compete levels were waning. Board battles were few and far between. Five of nine minors were for slashes of frustration about being a step behind. There was a free-fly zone in front of goalies Richard Bachman and Thatcher Demko and too many simply seemed overwhelmed by the moment.

“We looked like a team that had just got thrown together — which we were,” said Utica Comets coach Trent Cull, who ran the bench while the Canucks staff and veterans were jetting to China for two pre-season games this week against the Los Angeles Kings.

“We hadn’t practised before as a group. I hope we have the game group practise more to get in sync on special teams and the D-zone and plenty of other things we need to get better at (before pre-season games Wednesday in Calgary and Friday in Edmonton). Getting thrown in there today as a group, we need more time to perfect things.