Nycholat, Funk and Lukowich have been sent to the AHL. I’m not really surprised about Nycholat or Funk, and I think Lukowich was a victim of a deep Canucks defense corps. Read more at…
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Mats Sundin officially announced his retirement from the NHL Wednesday.
Mats Sundin held a press conference in Sweden today to announce his offical retirement from the National Hockey League.
Sundin who recently married, explained it was simply time.
”It was just time, I think. Obviously, it’s not an easy decision but I feel with body and soul right now, it’s time to quit my professional career as a hockey player,” said Sundin. ”I’m very glad that I played last season with the Vancouver Canucks and I think I needed that. But now with the season getting started again, it actually feels nice not having to practice every day and play games every other day so I think this is the right time for me.”
Sundin leaves the game at the age of 38, having amassed 1,349 points (564 goals, 785 assists over 1,346), ranking him 25th on the all-time list. He thanked the organizations he played for, and called the city of Toronto his second home.
I’m obviously very grateful for having a chance to play in the National Hockey League and represent the Quebec Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks,” said Sundin. “It has been a dream come true for me.”
“I spent 13 years with the Toronto Maple Leafs and I had the honour to be the captain for the most historic and greatest franchise in hockey history and it’s also my second home,” added Sundin.
Sundin spent part of last season with the Vancouver Canucks, and the reviews were mixed on the tenure. Some felt Sundin had clearly lost a step, and some were angry how long it took him to get into shape. The club maintained he was a valuable addition, and in the playoffs, Sundin played his best hockey for the team.
As was kind of expected, the Canucks sent both Michael Grabner and Cory Schneider down to the Manitoba Moose today, keeping both Sergei Shirokov and Cody Hodgson with the big club for now. Lawrence Nycholat and Brad Lukowich were both placed on waivers.
It’s not that big of a surprise that Grabner’s going to be starting the season in Winnipeg. No one was given more of a chance to shine than he was, with appearances in seven of the nine pre-season games. The problem is, he only picked up one assist. That ain’t going to keep you here.
Cody Hodgson is another matter. While no one would claim that he had a stellar pre-season, he may have extended his NHL life for this year by another nine games before being sent back to Brampton. Unless he sets the world on fire, don’t expect to see him here in November.
Ed Willes wrote in this morning’s Province that this edition of the Canucks may be the best ever. Even better than the 2003-04 team, which had extremely high expectations put on it before flaming out. While that team may have had Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund, and the Sedins, this one has Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler, and the Sedins – just five years older. And that much better. And, oh, yeah. This guy named Roberto Luongo.
Is it unfair to place lofty expectations on the Canucks? Possibly. The two years that they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals they were hardly expected to do anything in the playoffs. It almost seems like the more promise they show, the harder they crash. And the more unlikely they seem to have success, the better they perform. Who knows why.
Sergei Shirokov played his way on to this team as well. Is he going to be another Pavel Bure? Hell, no. But is he going to help Canucks forget about some of the other Russians that have played here, like Artem Chubarov or Vladamir Krutov? Hell, yeah. He’s going to be an exciting player, no doubt. Not a 50 goal guy, but still exciting, nonetheless.
It’s going to be a fun year, and it all starts in Calgary on Thursday night. Predictions?
Update: Okay, so what do I know? According to Canucks.com, Cody Hodgson has been assigned to the Brampton Batillion of the OHL. This came down about 15 minutes ago. So, when I posted, he technically was still here. It just hadn’t been made public yet. Probably better for Cody in the long run.
Cody Hodgson isn’t ready for the prime time. Today the Canucks announced that they’re sending him back to his junior team, the Brampton Battalion, for the season. It’s really too…
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The Canucks invade the Rexall Centre in Edmonton for the final (thank god) preseason game of the year, before the season kicks off this Thursday in Calgary.
Canucks.com will be streaming the game live, and you can join us to talk about the game here on the official Canucks.com Fan Zone Live Blog for tonight.
Today the Canucks announced that they have released forward Mark Parrish. Not a huge surprise here, Parrish had been more or less invisible in the pre-season games he played for Vancouver. Might have…
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Got up this morning to check TSN’s website for the final score of the Canucks’ game that I missed last night to find that they’d lost 3-2 in overtime. Then I made the mistake of reading the comments posted to the story. These people need to get a life.
A loss in preseason and they’re saying that Vancouver has just proven that they’re going to completely meltdown, barely win any games, let alone make the playoffs, and that the city should cancel the parade. Damn Leafs fans sure do get bitter, don’t they? Sure, they’ve won 11 Stanley Cups. In a SIX TEAM LEAGUE.
Look, people. NO Canucks fan would be stupid enough to say that they’re going to go 82-0 and then 16-0 in the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup. They’re GOING TO LOSE GAMES. And Canucks fans also don’t *expect* to win the Cup at the start of every season (those are Habs fans – and with 23 cups, that’s fair).
The truth is, the two best Canadian teams last year (and it looks like this year as well) are the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames. Deal with it. Personally, I think that the Canucks will finish somewhere between 4th and 7th in the West this year. Same thing I predicted last year. The fact that Calgary had a train wreck at the end of the season that allowed the Canucks to pick up their second Northwest title in three years was an extra bonus. But if the Canucks hadn’t also been winning games, it wouldn’t have mattered what Calgary did.
They also said that the Canucks weren’t playing well, but that they just got hot at the right time. Uh…yes? Isn’t that the whole point? To get on a hot streak and win games at the end of the year?
Anyway, the rant is over. The Canucks lost, and now everyone can just get over it and start thinking about the regular season again.
Here’s the latest cuts out of Canucks’ camp | Full Story
Back to junior:
Yann Sauve, Defence St. John, QMJHL
Sent to Manitoba
Taylor Ellington, Defence
Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Left…
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Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault has signed a new contract that will keep him behind the Canucks bench till 2013. I like this move, and look forward to him coaching us to a cup!
» Read more at…
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