The Vancouver Canucks

In all, the Canucks regular season has been a damned good one. Despite a less-than stellar campaign from Roberto Luongo and long-term injuries to Daniel Sedin, Kevin Bieksa, Pavol Demitra, and Willie Mitchell, our boys have performed well. Henrk Sedin leads the scoring race, as just the fourth Canuck to crack the century mark. Mikael Samuelsson, Alexandre Burrows and Ryan Kesler are all having career years, and Mason Raymond has chipped in for 20-plus goals for good measure.

So what do the playoffs hold? Why should we self-appointed pundits wait for the end of the season? I’m completely willing to stick my neck out there before the match-ups are even finalized.

Here are a few predictions on the Western Conference match-ups based on what we see right now, T-minus six games before the second season begins:

(1) San Jose Sharks vs (8) LA Kings

You heard it here first: the Kings will finish up as the eighth seed in the West. San Jose should walk through the upstart Kings, especially considering the Sharks recent winning streak. The Kings, on the other hand, have lost four straight and seven of their last ten games. Sure, LA has Ryan Smyth to stir up some emotion in the room, but this is just a too-young team that’s flagging after an impossibly fast start. San Jose, on the other hand, has woken up from their post-Olympic nap, and look dangerous. This is a healthy, hungry team that wants to ditch their rep as playoff chokers. Dont be surprised if Joe Thornton plays an angrier game after sitting out a couple to rest the shoulder he injured in this weekends win over the Canucks.

Preediction: Sharks in five.

(2) Chicago Blackhawks vs (7) Colorado Avalanche

The Avs haven’t exactly been tearing it up themselves, but they wont stumble quite enough to let the sad-sack Flames catch them, and theyll take advantage of their five remaining home dates to skip past the Kings. Steve Duchene is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, and Paul Stastny is a scoring threat from anywhere, but these guys just wont be able to skate with Chicago. The Hawks cant be happy to be without Brian Campbell on the back end, but this is a team full of speed and swagger. Last years run to the conference final was considered a fluke these kids didn’t know what they were doing this years club has their eyes on Lord Stanley

Prediction: Chicago in five.

(3) Vancouver Canucks vs (6) Nashville Predators

The Predators are putting together quite the late-season run in Smashville, and, interestingly this team looks a lot like the Canucks. Oh, they don’t have a 100-point man like we do in fact, not a single player is over 50 points. But this is a team that scores by committee, something we’ve been privy to here in Vancouver. They play well on the road. There is no dominant top line; everyone on this Preds squad chips in. The defence corps for Vancouver will have to keep their wits about them. Nashville has ten players with ten goals or more; we have nine. The lingering concussion symptoms for Willie Mitchell put the Canucks D under the spotlight, something that literally bit the teams back end in last years heartbreaking second-round loss to the Hawks. And goaltending? Since the Olympic break, Pekka Rinne leads Roberto Luongo in goals against average, save percentage and shutouts. To paraphrase Alain Vigneault, however, if Luongo is the Canucks biggest worry heading into the playoffs, they’ll be all right. Sure, Bobby Lou’s GAA hasn’t been what it should be. Yeah, he let in a few weak goals against Edmonton. But hey, this is Roberto Luongo here, and that was Edmonton; its not like were still being subjected to Dan Cloutier in the #1 position. If the Sedins score, great. If not, no worries, for the first time in a while, we’ve got other guys who will.

Prediction: Vancouver in six.

(4) Phoenix Coyotes vs (5) Detroit Red Wings

Hockey fans are shaking their heads over both of these teams. With the off-season legal circus over Jim Balsillie trying to move the Yotes to southern Ontario, was there even a single hockey expert who picked them to top 100 points? They’re played over their heads all season, and there’s no reason to think they wont continue to do so. Oh, wait there’s the small matter of that other team on the ice. Detroit, just three weeks ago, flirted with tenth spot in the West. Its taken a Herculean effort by coach Mike Babcock to shape this veteran Red Wing squad for another run at Lord Stanley. And goaltending? Ilya Bryzgalov has none other than Wayne Gretzky trumpeting his name for Hart Trophy consideration. Jimmy Howard just won a spectacular goaltending duel with Rinne in Nashville one where both goalies played shutout hockey for 65 minutes, and Detroit finally won it in the 11th round of the shootout. Detroit, like San Jose, is healthy and hungry. Detroit, unlike San Jose, has been a Cup finalist the past two years these guys know how to win.

Prediction: Detroit in four.

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced the signing of Brown University’s Aaron Volpatti. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Volpatti, a 6′-2″ 215 pound forward, is a native of Revelstoke, BC., has drawn a lot of attention with his aggressive, hard hitting style, and he also possesses a nice scoring touch. In a recent interview Volpatti said he had heard from Vancouver, Nashville and Edmonton and Boston, but that being from British Columbia the Canucks were certainly a favoured destination. 

In 37 games this season, Volpatti notched 17 goals, 15 assists and led Brown with 115 penalty minutes.

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Philip Yo, CanucksCorner.com

There were some anxious fans worrying about what would happen with Ryan Kesler this summer. The gritty centre has been a huge part of the Canucks team over the last two seasons and was approaching restricted free agency this summer. There is no doubt that Kesler would be the recipient of numerous offer sheets. But worry not, Friday morning Mike Gillis made the surprise announcement that Ryan Kesler was re-signed for a 6 year term worth $30 million. The deal would give Kesler a $5 million cap hit over the duration of the contract.

Ryan Kesler: Photo by csztova, on Flickr

The announcement was all the more surprising given the news reports that had surfaced throughout the season regarding the negotiations. However, it took just 24 hours for Kesler’s agent and the Vancouver Canucks to finally come to terms on the new deal. This contract means that Kesler will have the second longest active contract on the Canucks after Roberto Luongo’s 12 years. The Sedin’s will still have 5 years remaining on their contracts after this season.

The core players for the Vancouver Canucks over the foreseeable future will consist of the following:

Roberto Luongo, 12 years @ 5.33 million
Daniel Sedin, 5 years @ 6.1 million per
Henrik Sedin, 5 years @ 6.1 million per
Ryan Kesler, 6 years @ $5 million per
Alex Edler, 3 years @ $3.25 million per
Alex Burrows, 3 years @ 2 million per
Mikael Samuelsson, 2 years @ $2.5 million per

*2010-2011 Total Cap Hit:* $30.28 million

If the Canucks plan on winning a Stanley Cup soon, these will be the players who will make it happen. With a little over half of the expected salary cap locked up in these players, a lot of attention will turn to the upcoming prospects to help fill the holes and save cap space. Unfortunately, it looks like Mason Raymond could be a casualty of the cap after his breakout year. However, because this is just his first year of success, he may be willing to settle for a slightly lower cap hit.

Michael Grabner has been a name that has been bounced about in the Vancouver media for several years now. He showed early this season that he may have what it takes to survive in the NHL, but he’ll need to show that he can consistently deliver. With Samuelsson out, these next few weeks could be very telling for what lies in store for the Canucks next season. If Grabner continues his strong play from before his injury, the Canucks may go with Grabner next season. If he doesn’t, then they will most likely do their best to re-sign Raymond.

And then there is Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder. Hodgson is coming off a serious back injury and has missed most of this season due to that. With a loss of almost an entire year of development it may be wise to have Cody spend a year in Manitoba. The same will likely happen with Schroeder who recently decided to go pro and end his NCAA career.

Whatever the case may be, the Canucks arguably have their strongest top six forward core in history. They also have their best goaltender in history holding down the fort in net. If the Canucks are to finally win a cup, these players are as good as any to make that happen.

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Coming into the season, the Vancouver defense core was envied around the league. Things were so strong on the back end, Mike Gillis felt  justified in letting stalwart, career-Canuck Mattias Ohlund go via free agency. Now, nearly 70 regular season games later, with Kevin Bieksa returning after a lengthy recovery from a skate cut, this D is closer to the one that so scared Western Conference teams in the pre- season, but will it be enough to make a deep run into the playoffs?

Perhaps the one problem this squad faces is the lack of a shut down defenseman. It’s a hole left gaping wide by the continued absence of Willie Mitchell, who would normally eat up 20-plus minutes of ice  time against the opposition’s top players if he wasn’t still experiencing symptoms from the concussion suffered back in January. Mitchell doesn’t guarantee wins, but he’s a settling influence and a rare animal: a big, tough blueliner who plays a smart game. Without him, the top six sag just a little. Why do you think Luongo is  sitting on four shutouts at this point in the season, instead of  nine? Why his goals against average in the past 10 games is nearly double where it should be? NHL coaches exploit those lapses faster than a Sami Salo slapshot. In an extended series against teams like Chicago, San Jose or Detroit, Vancouver will find themselves in tough without a big, tough presence in front of Luongo to scare the bejesus out of the other guys’ forwards.

Bieksa shores up the blue line for sure – he’s not been spectacular, but he’s looked solid in his first few games back. In that dominant first period against the Flames, Juice even jumped up into a rush in just his second game back. You know, to bolster up the NHL’s second-highest scoring offense. But as tough as this guy is, he’s not big enough to wrestle with Dustin Byfuglien, Joe Thornton or even Todd Bertuzzi.

A man who is big enough is Andrew Alberts, the one guy Gillis did manage to pick up at the deadline. Alain Vigneault has been sitting Shane O’Brien in order to get a good look at the new guy. Sadly, he  hasn’t looked like top six; he’s barely looked NHL. He was out of position on Phoenix’s first two goals on “The Road Trip”, and got out-muscled and out-hustled by John Tavares to put Vancouver down 2-0 and 4-2 against the 27th-place New York Islanders. The latter of those Tavares plays came with 7.2 ticks left on the clock in the second period, after the Canucks had clawed their way back to within one.

Instead of making an 11th third period comeback, Vancouver watched the 20-year-old pile up five points, more points than any other rookie in that storied franchise has ever scored. Pat Lafontaine,

Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, even Mike Bossy – they didn’t get on the scoresheet five times in a single game in their first year. The Nuck defense, led by the twice-guilty Alberts, let Tavares have his way. Inexcusable.

Don’t even get me started on #41’s pylon impression against the Senators. Jason Spezza, with a head of steam at centre ice, saw Salo to his left and Alberts to his right. No hesitation. He went straight for Alberts, and just plain embarrassed the big man.

The defense isn’t a disaster — Aaron Rome has been a pleasant surprise. With injuries to Mitchell, Bieksa and Salo, Rome has seen a lot more ice than AV had ever intended. He’s played good strong defense, and even sprung a few breakaways, including Kyle Wellwood’s memorable game-winning goal against the Red Wings in Detroit.

Salo and Christian Ehrhoff have been great on the offensive points. It’s a good thing, too, or we’d also be talking about the coaching staff’s inability to make it work with veteran quarterback Matthieu Schneider. Alex Edler hasn’t duplicated his 10-goal performance from last season, but he’s been good.

Shane O’Brien is no Mitchell. He’s slower than a top four blueliner should be, he can’t find shooting lanes nearly often enough, and every once in a while he gets run around and ends up wearing the goat horns. But he’s a damn sight more reliable than Alberts. O’Brien needs to be in the lineup for the stretch run, or we risk more losses to teams like NYI. San Jose? Detroit? Phoenix? Don’t even think about it.

This Canucks team isn’t looking to win games 2-1 like it was two or three years ago. But the Black Hawks showed us last year that 7-5 isn’t going to go our way most nights. It’s a simple recipe, really. Tighter D, or much earlier tee times than most Vancouver fans would like to see.

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Can’t get to a TV for the Canucks game? If you have a computer handy, you’re in BC and the game is on Sportsnet, you’ll be able to watch the new live stream at Canucks.com.

After a couple of recent test runs the Canucks will be airing all remaining Rogers Sportsnet broadcast for free on Canucks.com, with no registration required. The only requirements are a computer and bandwidth to handle the streaming video, and an IP address located in British Columbia.

“Streaming live games on Canucks.com has been a priority for our organization. We have successfully worked through the many logistics and are fortunate to have a great partner in Rogers Sportsnet.”, said Victor De Bonis, CEO of Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “As an organization we are committed to investing in digital media and we will continue to explore the different ways we can engage our loyal fans.”

The technology makes use of the NHL Game Center interface and from the sample I’ve seen, it  provides excellent picture quality. There are also live stats available in the form of widgets. There is an additional plug-in to install if you want the advanced features such as rewind etc.

The folks at Canucks have been working hard on this project for a couple of years now, and are one of the first, if not the first team in the league to offer live streaming of their games.

Check it out for the next Rogers Sportsnet Canucks telecast!

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The Canucks have a bit of a history of coming home from a road trip, and no matter how well they played away from GM Place, managing to have a completely useless game.  And they just came back from the mother of all road trips. 

Luckily, though, they broke with tradition, and easily handled the Ottawa Senators, a team that couldn’t get it done against Calgary the other night either.  But you have to hand it to Pascal Leclaire.  The guy got shelled in the first period, with the Canucks firing 17 shots to just 2 for the Sens, and they got out of the first period down only 1 – 0, courtesy of Mikael Samuelsson.  Seriously, though, the guy made some great saves.

The Sens almost made it a game when Jason Spezza walked around Andrew Alberts and buried the puck behind Luongo. 

After that, though, Alex Burrows got the lead back on a breakaway from his own blue line while the Canucks were shorthanded.  That makes 31 for Burr this year, including his 5th shorthanded goal. 

After that the Canucks kept on rolling, with Samuelsson picking up his 2nd, and Daniel Sedin taking a pass from Henrik and tipping the puck in.  Sami Salo finished off the scoring, picking up his 8th of the year.

Courtesy of NHL.com

Which is not to say that the Canucks didn’t get away with a few things, because they certainly did.  They turned out to not have much of an impact on the final score, though, as the Senators really collapsed after the Burrows goal.

The Canucks were blatently playing with six skaters at one point during a powerplay, giving them a 6 on 4 advantage before the offending player counted the blue jerseys before the officials did and got his ass off the ice.  HNIC didn’t miss it though, and were quick to point it out on the replay.  Kyle Wellwood also let loose with a shot well after the whistle that Leclaire stopped, but the Sens were more than a little pissed about the whole thing.

Sure was good to see Kevin Bieksa back on the ice, too.  Didn’t really appear to be in late season form, but there were no glaring mistakes, either.

Next up is Calgary, who currently sit in 9th place in the West.  Sounds good, eh?  They have won their last four, though, so this promises to be a hell of a game tonight.

Nucks Misconduct posted their thoughts on the game here.

Finally, tonight is the Canucks for Kids Telethon, which benefits Canuck Place.  You can donate here, or on the Team1040 or Rogers Sportsnet starting at noon, Pacific time.  Or, if you’d like to donate by phone, call 604.777.CARE, #2273 from your Telus mobile phone, or at 1.866.480.KIDS.

Please try and help out in any way that you can.

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This Sunday the Canucks take on the Calgary Flames at General Motors place, and the organization will be taking on issues that effect our children on a daily basis. The annual Canucks For Kids Telethon will also take place, and the Canucks and their organization need you help, to help the the kids.

Earlier this week Henrik and Daniel Sedin announced a generous donation $1.5 Million dollars to BC Children’s Hospital. Through the telethon, the organizations hopes to be able to help so many other children who are struck with illness and who are in need.

During Sunday’s game which will be aired on Sportsnet you’ll be able  to learn more about the money is utilized and the impact it has on these kids.

There are three ways you can help:

1. Donate using the secure online server, or
2. Call 604-899-4646, or
3. Make a cheque to the Canucks for Kids Fund and mail to:

Canucks for Kids Fund
800 Griffiths Way
General Motors Place
Vancouver, B.C.
V6B 6G1

Since it was first created 25 years ago, the Canucks for Kids Fund has granted over $28 million dollars to charities in British Columbia serving children and their families. There is no greater reward than making British Columbia a better place for families and children in need. If you can help, please make a donation, and help the kids!

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Saturday evening the Vancouver Canucks return home. It will be the first time in 42 days the majority of the Canucks have stepped onto the ice at General Motors Place.

What better way for fans to show that support Saturday to wear blue to the game, and give the team a playoff type welcome back. There will likely be a ceremony to honour the teams Olympians, but it would be nice if the fans gave the team a standing ovation when they take to the ice.

“There were days when you woke up in another hotel and wondered ‘Where are we now?’ before you get it together a little bit,” said center Ryan Kesler, “The last six we’ve played here on the other end of the Games, that hasn’t been as bad … but those first eight were real tough. They took forever.”

The longest road trip in NHL history, 13 cities, 14 games and 20,737 kilometers is over. And the Canucks emerge from it 8-5-1, collecting 17 of a possible 28 points and still sitting 3rd in the conference and atop the Northwest Division. There were bumps along the way, but the club has to be pleased at how they coped with the trip, especially with key injuries to the defense adding to an already tough stretch.

Now, with 10 of their last 15 games on home ice, the Canucks look to kick their road weary bodies into overdrive and hit the playoffs running on all cylinders. They will likely get the services of Kevin Bieksa back soon while the future of Willie Mitchell is unclear.

So make some noise for the boys! Spread the word, tell your fellow fans, tweet your faces off! They did us proud now let’s get loud and show the team we’re behind them down the stretch!

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With just 16 games left in the season, Henrik Sedin finds himself four points behind Alex Ovechkin for the league league in scoring. 

Ryan Kesler powered the Americans to an unlikely silver medal at the Olympics and has just been announced as the poster boy for NHL 2K11.

Alexandre Burrows just topped the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, Mikael Samuelsson’s first-career hat trick has him at a personal best 27 goals on the campaign, and in all, eight Canucks are in double digits for goals this season. Kyle Wellwood needs just one more marker to join the 10-goal club.

But around the locker room, it’s Jannik Hansen that’s the man of the moment.

In the last two games – both of which Vancouver entered the third period down a goal – Hansen has been the Canuck with a GWG beside his name, something that likely means a lengthy stay in the press box for odd-man-out Steve Bernier. Bernier hasn’t scored an important goal in recent memory. Hansen, on the other hand, has two very memorable ones. They were very different goals.

In Nashville on Sunday, he scored perhaps the most intelligent goal Canuck fans have been privy to all season. (That’s saying something; the Sedins are two of the most cerebral forwards in this man’s NHL.) Hansen noticed two Predators collide at the Canuck blue line, jumped across centre and tapped his stick on the ice. He corralled a pass from Kyle Wellwood, settled the rolling puck between the faceoff circles, and took a wrist shot on Pekka Rinne. Nope, he didn’t pick the corner, or hit the sweet spot Trevor Linden was always fond of, between the goalie’s glove and goalie stick. In fact, Rinne made the save. What made the difference? Hansen didn’t peel off at full speed into the corner, like so many more “natural” scorers seem to do. He didn’t go past the net at all. In fact, he just plain stopped, and looked for the puck. Lo and behold, the Finn couldn’t control the shot, and it rolled right to Hansen – who was right there to swat it home. Smart.

Tuesday was less brainy a play, maybe, but it was still pretty damned smart. Aaron Rome’s shot was a hot one, and Colorado goalie Craig Anderson was pretty rattled after allowing Vancouver to tie the game at four. I mean, hell, the Avs had led 3-0 after the first period. 

What goalie wouldn’t be worried?

(Besides, the ’Nucks are in ol’ Craig’s head – just as the Blackhawks seem to have Luongo’s number these days, Vancouver is just about the only team to get to Anderson this season. Even John Garrett called the Avalanche goaltender “the most consistent goalie this year in the NHL.”)

Hansen saw how far out of the net Anderson was, and just skated into the crease to look for garbage. He got it. The puck caromed off his rib, hit the goalie’s arm, and bounced into the net. Ugly, but it counted, and the Canucks had a 5-4 lead with two minutes left. For the second time in two games, Hansen celebrated a game-winning goal.

Guaranteed, more than one of the boys in the locker room has offered to buy the Great Dane a drink after this road trip’s over.

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After a horrible effort in Chicago the other night, the Canucks had to regroup, and try and win in a rink that hasn’t been that good to them in recent times.  Nashville.  The Preds aren’t really that good, but they always seem to wind up frustrating the Canucks.

Not to mention the fact that if the Canucks were able to win the game, it would be the quickest that they’ve gotten to 40 wins in their history.  And on  top of that, they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the road trip from hell.  Just two more and they can get ready to play on some friendly ice again.

The game started off well enough, with Alex Burrows getting into a fight with Dan Hamhuis just three minutes in.  Not there was ever really a chance that this one was going to turn into something similar to the Hawks game the other night.  Alex Edler shook of a hard shot into the boards to take a pass from Pavol Demitra and pick up his third of the year. 

The the Canucks did something that they’ve done far too often lately.  Given up the lead and had to come back.  And did they ever.  The Canucks lead the league in coming from behind when trailing after two periods, and they didn’t disappoint again.  After a breakaway goal of his own the other night, Kyle Wellwood threw a pass up to Jannik Hansen for his own breakaway goal when Pekka Rinne thought he’d covered the puck, and not given up the rebound.

The Sedins finally seemed to get going again as well, with Henrik picking up an empty net goal to seal the deal in the final minute.

So not only did the Canucks come from behind yet again, as I mentioned above, they got to 40 wins in only 65 games, making 50 wins a distinct possibility.  Not many people thought that was going to happen at the start of the year, eh?  Especially considering the slow start, and even slower start on the road.

But now it’s Colorado for a chance to open up the division lead, in what could very much turn into a preview of the first round of the playoffs. 

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