We've Moved!

Checkout the new and improved Dan Cloutier for Vezina. www.dancloutierforvezina.com

Mathieu Schneider Close to Signing?

Sportsnet's Dan Murphy is reporting that Mathieu Schneider is close to signing a one-year deal with the Canucks. There is no word on the financial terms but it will certainly be less than the 5.625 cap hit that Schneider was worth in 08-09. The Canucks have roughly 3.4 million worth of cap space to play with so as a result, signing Schneider would likely be Mike Gillis' final offseason acquisition baring any trades. He had 9 goals and 23 assists in 67 games last season with Atlanta and Montreal.

Schneider is clearly not the player he once was, however, he should help fill in a gap on the Canucks blue line that was left by Mattias Ohlund which, until now, has not been addressed. Mike Gillis had been on the record saying that signing another defenseman has been one of his top priorities this summer. Schneider will likely find himself playing on the third pairing with Shane O'Brien when the season faces off in October. Where Schneider's real value will hopefully be felt is on the power play where he has 99 career goals and 389 career points. There will also be questions about his durability as he has missed significant time in the last three years due to injury.

Schneider's Carrer Stats

A Very Swede Era

With all the attention surrounding the Sedins as unrestricted free agency loomed on July 1st, many people in Vancouver didn’t give a lot of thought to the fact that Mattias Ohlund would not be returning to the Canucks for the 2009-2010 season. It was almost a forgone conclusion after some of the comments that he made towards the end of the regular. The fact that Ohlund’s departure flew under the radar was only fitting for the way that he played. Ohlund was a quiet competitor that got the job done on most night. He could shut down some of the better players in the league and contribute offensively as well. In the last year or so he has lost a step or two, but Tampa Bay is getting a quality person and quality player for the next seven years or so. He’ll serve as fantastic mentor to Victor Hedman as Tampa Bay looks towards the future. While the number of people that read this blog is relatively low, I would like to do my part to send Mattias off in style and acknowledge as many of his accomplishments as I can think of because he was a class player and as a fan I appreciate the eleven years he put into the Canucks. This post will end up being long, but hopefully informative at the same time.

On June 28th, 1994, then Canucks head coach and general manager walked up the stage in Hartford and selected the six foot three Swede from Lulea HF. The fans at that time probably didn’t know what they had at that point, after all we were still licking our wounds from losing to the Rangers in Game Seven of the finals. Nonetheless, Quinn made Ohlund the thirteenth pick in the draft. When the Canucks and Ohlund could not come to terms on a contract, Ohlund spent the next three years developing his game in the Swedish Elite League. He ended up impressing as a rookie in Sweden and helped Lulea win the league championship in 1996.

As Ohlund was about to enter his fourth season after being selected in the 94 draft and still unsigned, the Maple Leafs offered Ohlund a five-year deal worth ten million. It was considerable money at the time, especially for a rookie, but Pat Quinn wasn’t going to let his first round pick walk away to Toronto and matched the Leafs offer. In a fitting twist of fate, Ohlund made his debut against the Leafs in 1997 and scored in his first NHL game. It was a goal that we would see many times over the next eleven years as Ohlund skated through center and hammered a slap shot past Felix Potvin. His efforts were noted by the NHL that season as he was nominated for the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, finishing only behind Sergei Samsonov. As a nice consolation prize, Ohlund was named to the league’s all rookie team. The Canucks and their fans also recognized Ohlund’s contribution to the blue line by naming him the winner of the Babe Pratt Trophy as the team’s top defenseman. It was an award that Ohlund would win four times as a member of the Canucks (98, 00, 04, 06). In February Ohlund was also selected to the Swedish National team for the 1998 Olympics. It was the first time that teams were stacked withNHLplayers. Ohlund would record an assist in limited time for Sweden.

After two great seasons, Ohlund’s career was put into question as he was struck in the eye by a puck in a game against the Ottawa Senators. Ohlund, who didn’t wear a visor when he broke into the league would put one on permanently after eventually recovering from the serious eye injury. When he returned he was the Ohlund that Canucks fans had remembered as he scored 20 points in the second half of the season. It was not enough to launch the Canucks into the playoffs, but a healthy Ohlund in 00-01 would help the Canucks gets back into the playoffs.

In 01-02 Ohlund had perhaps his greatest season as a Canuck. He scored a career high 36 points and the Canucks made it interesting against the Red Wings before going down in six games. It was the first time that Ohlund managed to play a full season in three years as he played in 81 Canuck games that year. In 02-03 he would be limited again due to injuries but still played in 59 games where he put up 29 points. He was also a factor in the playoffs, where he chipped in 3 goals and 7 points in the 13 playoff games that season. Ohlund would miss 29 games in the 07-08 season but from this point on he was able to stay healthy and be a year long contributor on the Canucks. In 2002 he was also selected to play for Sweden in the Olympics for a second time. This time a much bigger role was expected from Ohlund, butunfortunately for the Swedes they were upset by Belarus in the quarterfinals.

For the next three seasons, Ohlund would be a model of consistency for the Canucks. He did everything that was expected of him, whether it was playing about the other teams top offensively players, killing penalties or manning the power play. He would score 34-33-and 31 points respectively between 03-04 and 06-07. In the 2004 playoffs, Ohlund made a lasting impression on the hockey world when hedropped the gloves with Jarome Iginla in the dying second of the a Canucks game three victory. In 2006 he was named to the Swedish Olympic for a third time. This time Sweden and Ohlund were rewarded with a gold medal.

This past season, (08-09) Ohlund played is final season with the Canucks and left his mark on the organizations record book. He became the Canucks all time leading scorer for defensemen as a notched his 321st career point on March 15th, 2009. Before the season was over he would extend his lead to 325. As he leaves Vancouver he is also the all-time Canucks leading goal scorer for defensemen with 93.

“Plainly, I want to to try something new. It’s going to be fun to see what happens this summer and whichNHLteams that are interested.” …. “This is a family decision, where a lot factors will play in. But at my age, it would of course be fun to end up in a club with a decent chance at winning the Stanley Cup.” (Quote taken fromHockey in Swenglish)

It was a good ride that had some good times. I don’t have any hard feelings towards him for wanting to get a fresh start somewhere else while he still can. Everyone can use a fresh perspective sometimes. His comments on the matter back in March suggest that he wanted to play for a contender which makes him signing with Tampa Bay a bit odd, but either way I will wish him the best down south.

If you’re still following along with this I appreciate you still reading, but if not then who can blame you. I just wanted to do my part to show some thanks to Ohlund’s great work on the Canucks blue line for the last twelve seasons. Please leave comments or links to Ohlund videos to help remember what great Canucks that he was.

Relief is Spelt S-E-D-I-N

As you are undoubtedly aware by now, the Sedin twins have signed identical five year contracts worth a combined 61 million dollars. It was major relief for me and losing the Canucks greatest offensive weapon would have had major implications for the present and future. Lets be honest, if they hadn’t signed long term deals the Canucks would basically be going into rebuild mode. Without an actual first line player going into free agency the team could have been falling on hard times. Perhaps Mike Gillis would have been able to put something together for the likes of Cammalleri or Gaborik, but that’s clearly not something to bank on.

Now the question is, where do the Canucks go from here? They haven’t gotten any better while the other Canadian teams in their division arguably have. The Flames added Jay Bouwmeester, but now lack depth up front with the departure of Cammalleri. The Oilers are definitely in better shape if they land Dany Heatley. Nikolai Khabibulin is also an upgrade over Dwayne Roloson in goal. Minnesota has not been very active today, but you can never count them out. Colorado is destined for another year as the doormat of the Western Conference. So where does that leave the Canucks are this point looking ahead to 09-10. They overtook Calgary for top spot in the Northwest largely due to the ineptitude of the Flames in the final month of the season. The Canucks will compete again for first place, but do they have enough to push themselves over the top?

Signing the Sedins was Gillis’ top priority this offseason and now he’ll need to ideally add another top six forward and a defenseman to replace Mattias Ohlund. It was sad to see Ohlund sign with Tampa Bay today, but I have made my peace with the fact he was not going to be back quite a while ago. The addition of another top forward would help bridge the gap between now and the future as Cody Hodgson and Michael Grabner and sure to challenge for roster spots this fall.

Canucks Pregame and Other Stuff

So, I thought now would a good time to make my way back into the wonderful world of hockey blogging when I should be writing term papers for school. Procrastination is a great thing. There has been a lot to talk about as far as the Canucks go. A big game tonight in Minnesota where the Canucks have already won twice this year. Of course I’ll weight in on the Canucks-Blackhawks brawl from Sunday night. Better late than never I suppose.

Canucks vs Wild Pregame Thoughts
Later on today the Canucks will have their first opportunity to take over top spot in the Northwest division for the first time since probably December. I’m actually not totally sure the last time they occupied top spot in the division but it’s definitely been a while. Back then I was more concerned about being overtaken by Minnesota, but interestingly enough the Wild are barely hanging into the playoff race for the time being.

Tonight’s game should favour the Canucks considering they have beaten the Wild twice at home already this season and neither of those wins included Roberto Luongo. Curtis Sanford got the call in a 3-2 win November 20th and who could forget Cory Schneider’s first NHL victory on December 5th. It was most definitely the finest game he put together during his call up here.

Also setting up well for Vancouver is the fact that the Sedin’s have typically performed extremely well against the Wild in their career and with Alex Burrows scoring on a nightly basis the top line should provide plenty of problems for the Wild defense. I’ll try and find the stats to back up the Sedin’s domination of Minnesota, and if you know them be sure to leave a comment.

For Minnesota, a loss might effectively end their playoff aspirations. With just six games to go and trailing eighth place St. Louis by three points they will need to win this game on home ice. The Canucks faced a desperate team in St. Louis and didn’t answer the call all that well, but with first place now on the line I would expect a better effort, especially against a team that they are 4-0-1 against. Gaborik’s return to the lineup has energized their offense a bit, but at this point it does not appear that it will be enough and with his desire to play in a more offensive system this might be the last time we see him playing for the Wild against Vancouver

Canucks-Blackhawks Brawl: Burrows and Eager
The Canucks soundly beating the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday was encouraging proof that this team could indeed handle a playoff series against the Hawks. The win only evened the season series, but the last two times out the Canucks have dominated Chicago. The brawl that erupted in the third period was proof that the Hawks may indeed be worrying about the Canucks as a first round opponent and that Vancouver had definitely gotten into the heads of their potential opponent.

Dustin Byfuglien’s push in the face of Luongo was the unnecessary trigger to the start of all the fun. Up until that point it hadn’t been a particularly rough game, but I think at that point it should that the Hawks had certainly lost their composure and were perhaps trying to send a message for the playoffs. After the game Daniel Sedin disagreed by saying “it’s not 1975 anymore” but I think it was more than just being a poor loser. I don’t really have a problem with the tactics of sending a message for future games and I didn’t think the push was particularly cheap but some of the things on both sides that followed were rather embarrassing for players on both sides.

Alex Burrows is my favourite player on this team, but i couldn’t help by be disgusted that he decided to pull on Duncan Keith’s fair during their half fight. Pulling hair is just something you don’t do and I would not have opposed a one game suspension for it. Unfortunately I’m not all that surprised that it happened considering some of the things he has been accused of in the past. On the other side, Ben Eager’s MMA take down on Bieksa was dangerous and unnecessary. Bieksa is lucky his head wasn’t smashed into the ice. When you’re as big as Eager and you want to fight then do it properly instead of slamming you opponent onto the ice. His psychotic attempt to get away from the linesman was ridiculous and surprisingly did not end up in a suspension for someone who is considered a repeat offender. I like brawls as much as the next guy, but they sure bring up a lot of questionable behavior and heat up the debates on both sides.

The RPM Line is Revving it Up

It has been far too long since I last had an update here but now that I have some free time for the first time in weeks it seems like a good time to share my thoughts about what has happened with the Canucks in the last few weeks. When I made my last post the Canucks were in the middle of one of the worst stretches in franchise history and now they look like an entirely different team with wins in five of six and points in eight of ten. There are a lot of things that have been factors in the turn around and I’ll take my stab at explaining them later, but first I want to talk about last nights game against the Canadiens.

I was pretty excited going into the game on Sunday not so much for the product that was going to be on the ice but in the stands. It always makes for an interesting atmosphere when the visitors have a lot of content in the house. I’d guess it was probably about a 60-40 split in favour of the Canucks fans, but the Habs fans that were there were plenty noisy. It was much like the Leafs game in Vancouver back in January that I was lucky to attend as well, unlike that one, this game wasn’t over quite as early and despite the Canucks scoring two quick goals halfway though the first period, the Habs managed to keep it close until Henrik Sedin scored the back breaker in the last minute of the second.

After seeing the Canucks play pretty well in Dallas and lose a hard fought game and coupled with the fact that the Canadiens have been brutal on the road lately I was pretty confident that this would not be the game where the Canucks disappoint and obviously they didn’t. Javoslav Halak was great and kept the game close for a while, his save on the Kesler tip as well as the Sundin slap shot from the slot stick out the most. I also thought it was a nice gesture from Guy Carbonneau to stick Carey Price in even for a couple minutes so his family could see him play. You certainly can’t blame him for starting Halak after he stole the game in Colorado and Price being awful since returning from injury.

On the subject of goaltending, Sunday was definitely Luongo’s best game back since being injured and I think it would be pretty difficult to argue otherwise. He was pretty good against Chicago too, but on Sunday he made all the saves he needed to including a few great ones and most importantly he didn’t allow any bad goals which it seems the Canucks have had to overcome one a game. That was something that they were having trouble doing when they were losing.

So I think the big question for me right now is how have the Canucks turned their season around so drastically in such a short period of time? It seem like they have gone from a team that couldn’t win to a team that is scoring at will. A lot of people want to look towards the new “RPM” line as the major factor. Pavol Demitra has played like the guy a lot of people though he was going to be when we signed him (I was more skeptical at first) and the memories of the Mats Sundin parade to the penalty box and floating around seem to be long gone. On top of all that Ryan Kesler is the offensive force the Canucks organization hoped that he would be when he was drafted. While all that has been fantastic there has been a bunch of other factors that have contributed

The defense has been much improved and are chipping in more frequently on the offensive end of things. Alex Edler seems to have found his grove and his booming slap shot as well as cleaned up his defensive play. He is looking much more like the player from last season. Mattias Ohlund has also found his game and Shane O’Brien appears back to playing much more physical. Work could still be done on Bieksa and Mitchell but I expect both to be shutting the opposition down sooner than later.

Even the bottom two lines seem to be performing much better. In the last two games Kyle Wellwood has been much better than he has for most of the season and I am left to wonder if being scratched for a few games is what managed to light a fire under him. A trip to the minors was a wake up call for him earlier in the season and perhaps being scratched did the same. On the fourth line Jannik Hansen has meshed in well with Hordichuk and Johnson. Hansen provides a bit of scoring potential on a line without much pure talent. The odd man out right now is Mason Raymond and while he has played himself out of the lineup I wonder what sitting out for a long stretch will do to his development.

In general it has been nice to see some consistency in the lines for the last several games, but who knows how long that will really last with Vigneault has coach. I am curious to if people think that the consistency is what has allowed the Canucks to get things going the last two weeks or so. Demitra said in the media that he was upset about his always changing linemates and now it seems like he is set with at least Sundin for a while. Of course there is Alex Burrows who is now getting his chance with the Sedins. I can’t really see that stick for long and I imagine Pyatt and Bernier will get another shot up there

Shades of 2006

I can’t help but makes comparisons between this Vancouver Canucks team and the one that free fell their way out of the playoffs in 2006. I’m sure most people who are reading this can remember the Canucks and Oilers battling for 8th place in the West and at the same time fighting for the title for who could choke the most. Of course the Canucks played their way out of the post season and the Oilers ended up coming within one win of winning the Stanley Cup.

WIth the season hanging in the balance on March 31st in 2006 the Canucks went a dismal 1-4-2 before being eliminated on April 13th, the second to last game of the season. Now in 2009, the season hanging in the balance of sorts as the Canucks have a record of 1-4-2 since January 2nd. Not only have the Canucks lost six of their last seven games but they have, in general, looked terrible while doing it. The loss against the Blues were simply inexcusable, and while a loss against the Devils and the talented Coyotes could perhaps be excused if the team played hard, they simply looked as if they mailed in the efforts both nights. Unlike in 2006 the Canucks can still turn their season around, but they’re going to have to do it pretty quickly.

The return of Luongo between the pipes on Thursday night gave Canucks fan some optimism that he would come in and save the team from their horrendous slump, but like a guy who hasn’t played in two months, he let in the first shot of the game just over a minute into it. Anything that Vancouver fans had to hold onto in terms of hope were stolen that quickly and a full on panic swooped through GM Place. I don’t think I have ever had less fun at a hockey game than I did on Thursday.

So what needs to change? For starters the defense needs to play smarter and pick up their men in front of the net. I can’t even begin to count how many times that players have scored a goal standing all by themselves without a defender even close to him. We can blame Sanford, LaBarbera and Luongo for weak goals all we want but the truth of the matter is, in the last five games or so the defense has been lost.

The poor decision making by the defenders doesn’t even stop there. Far too many times the defenseman has pinched in at the offensive blue line to try and and hold the puck in. One glaring occurrence of this was when Willie Mitchell stepped up in the first period against the Devils and couldn’t hold the puck in. The Devils ended up on a 2 on 1 and it was 2-0 just like that. If its not leading to 2 on 1s its leading to 3 on 2s. I don’t think I have ever seen a team get more odd man rushes in a game than I saw the Coyotes get on Thursday since Canada played Kazakhstan at the World Juniors.

For the forwards I don’t even really know where to start exactly. The Sedins have played two of their worst games that I can remember over the last couple of days. But the blame can’t really be thrown at them because they have produced this season on a whole and are usually very consistent players. Pavol Demitra has been nowhere good enough despite scoring a soft goal on Clemmensen on Tuesday. Mason Raymond is still showing his inexperience and we continue to wait for Mats Sundin to work off the rust, but how long can we continue to afford to wait? A lot of people have disagreed with scratching Kyle Wellwood from the game last night but I can’t say it really bothered me. It’s true that Wellwood is second on the team in goals, but five on five Wellwood has proven to essentially be worthless and you might even argue that he has been ineffective playing with anyone but the Sedins on the power play. Vigneault seems like he’s committed to getting Mats Sundin going with the twins on the power play which relegates Wellwood to the second unit where he has been nowhere near good enough to hold on to his spot in the lineup.

If there has been anything positive to take out of the last few games its the resurgence of Steve Bernier and pretty much the entire checking line. Bernier-Kesler-Burrows have been pretty good on a nightly basis, even Vigneault had the sense to put the trio on the ice with two minutes to go when the Canucks desperately needed a goal against St. Louis. Bernier, Kesler and Burrows all have four points in their past five games.

As for the biggest change of all that might be needed, the Canucks may have to starting considering cutting ties with their coach, Alain Vigneault. Much like in 2006 when Marc Crawford appeared to have lost his influence on his team, Vigneault doesn’t seem to be able to get this team prepared to play a whole game anymore. Personally speaking I wouldn’t mind the Canucks bringing in someone else for a fresh look at things. They can’t trade the whole team so perhaps they need to bring in a new coach. There are plenty of coaches out there right now who are proven winners that can’t be a big impact on a team short term. Peter Laviolette, John Tortorella and Pat Quinn to name a few. One also has to remember that Mike Gillis did not hire Vigneault and while they seem to have a good working relationship, Gillis may use this as an opportunity to bring in his own guy, if not now perhaps at the end of the season.

Much like the team that fizzled out of the playoffs in 2006, the 2009 version of the Vancouver Canucks has far too many good players to be playing like this.

ASG, Luongo and the World Juniors

All Star Snub
A lot of people have written about what a joke the all-star game has become already, but with the Canucks being off today I wanted to add in some of my own comments. As a Canucks fan I was pretty disappointed that Daniel Sedin (41 points through 41 games when the rosters were announced) was left off the roster. What does Daniel need to do to show that he is an elite player in this league? Not only is he averaging a point a game, but he is sixth in western conference scoring. Sounds like an all-star to me. And Daniel wasn’t the only deserving player to be left off the team. Patrick Marleau (42 points in 39 games, +15) is another glaring snub in the all-star selection process. There are others of course but i simply can’t name them all.

You see the NHL felt that it needed to have representatives from all of its teams at the all-star game so instead of the game representing the best players in the league so far during the season you get players who are playing ok on bad teams. I’m sure Keith Tkachuk and Mike Modano are all-stars if I somehow flashed back to 2002. The idea of selecting a player from every team seems absolutely absurd when there are barely more spots on the team to fill than there are teams in a conference. The idea of selecting at least one player from every team was a policy that even MLB was smart enough to scrap. Although they still award home field advantage to the winner of the all-star game so I can’t praise them too much.

Something also must be done about letting the fans voting in the starting lineup. I’m well aware that the all-star game is for the fans, but I am disappointed that people who found a loophole in the voting process could stuff the ballot for their favourite players. Although this would bother me a lot less if the NHL was competent enough to select the most deserving reserves. Ever since the vote for Rory campaign took off the NHL all-star game has become more and more of a joke and like the Rory movement, the NHL will likely shrug this one off too.

Luongo Making Progress
As a Canucks fan I was happy to hear that Roberto Luongo was back in net taking shots yesterday as he traveled with the team to Edmonton. Luongo took controlled shots from his teammates and did not push himself too hard. Its solid progress and it looks as if the Canucks captain should be back between the pipes soon after the all-star break. If Jason LaBarbera keeps playing the way that he is then there is certainly no need for Luongo to rush himself back into the net. Not that he was going to anyway.

And no I did not forget that Roberto Luongo was named to the all-star team during my rant of the selection process. As much as I love Luongo I can’t understand how a guy who has missed more than a month of the season can be named on the Western Conferences all-star goaltenders. I would assume Steve Mason will be replacing him on the roster when the announcement that he won’t play due to injury comes out.

Cody Hodgson at the World Juniors
The World Juniors have been over for a few days now but I wanted to add how much I enjoyed watching Cody Hodgson during the tournament. Hodgson looked to me like he will no doubt be joining the Canucks next season. He did pretty much everything that Canada and Pat Quinn could have asked from him. He ran the power and piled up the assits on John Tavares’ goals, he scored the back breaker in the gold medal game to put Canada up 3-0 and he was their most reliable forward on defence and was counted on to kill penalties.

I didn’t have a problem with John Tavares being named MVP of the tournament but it would have been nice to see Hodgson be named one of the top three players on Canada for the tournament. Jordan Eberle and John Tavares were well deserving, but I thought the leading scorer in the tournament could have taken a spot instead of PK Subban. I have nothing but love for PK though and Habs fans will love him when he’s ready to make the jump to the NHL. The award would have been nice but Hodgson’s play still spoke for itself on the ice

Nikita Filatov
Finally I want to say how impressed I was with Nikita Filatov during the tournament. He seemed to win games on his own for Russia and in my opinion he really raised his play during the quater final and bronze medal game. It must have been tough for him to play so well during the bronze medal game after Russia was defeated by a miracle goal by Eberle in the Semis.

His great play was not unnoticed by the Blue Jackets who recalled him after the tournament. He scored 1 goal in 4 games during October with the Blue Jackets.

Canucks vs Oilers Post Game Thoughts

Much like December 17th when the Oilers and Canucks met on Trevor Linden night, the game was overshadowed by another story. Mats Sundin was finally going to dress for the Canucks this season! After months of speculation and weeks of waiting we should finally get to see the man in action. While he didn’t put a point on the board in the Canucks 4-2 victory there were a lot of positives to take from the game. More on Sundin in a bit though.

Just yesterday in my previous blog entry I talked about how Steve Bernier was having trouble finishing off his chances, well tonight I was extremely pleased to see that he was able to capitalize as he scored twice in 12 seconds in the second period to put the Canucks ahead 3-1 heading to the intermission. The two goals were just three seconds off the record for fastest two goals by a Canuck. Not to be forgotten was the nice set up from behind the net by Bernier to assist on Alex Burrows goal with just over five minutes left in the second to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately he could not pick up the hat trick as he hit the post midway through the third period in a scramble in front of Roloson. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Bernier who will no doubt be finding himself teamed up with Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows more often with Hansen being sent down to the minors.

Overall I thought the Canucks played a fantastic road game. Through the first two periods they prevented Edmonton from getting any kind of real scoring chance other than the one which Edmonton ended up scoring on the power play. The relatively light night for Jason LaBarbera was a large contrast from his first three games in Vancouver when he was forced to make a few big saves to keep the Canucks in the game. LaBarbera can not really be blamed on either Edmonton goal as they had three whacks on the first and a fantastic/lucky deflection by Erik Cole on the second left him no chance on the shot that appeared would go way wide. All in all it didn’t seem to be your typical Oilers-Canucks game as the first 35 minutes were rather slow and tightly checked rather than the wide open games these two teams usually generate. I can’t complain however, as I am just happy to see the Canucks pick up the two points they desperately need from this game.

If there was one negative to make about tonight’s game was that I didn’t like how the Canucks allowed the Oilers back into the game right after Burrows had scored. It was really an opportunity for them to take control of the game and not allow the Oilers any momentum to tie the game up. Instead the Oilers came out with a good shift and Bieksa ended up taking a penalty and the game was soon tied up. This seems like a theme that has come up a bit too often lately. The Canucks have lacked some of that killer instinct to put games away early. Bernier’s second goal did give the Canucks a two goal lead eventually though and it was too much for the Oilers to overcome, although they certainly made it interesting with a few great chances late.

Back on to the topic of Sundin, I had originally had him pegged for about 12 minutes tonight and I was surprised that he managed to play 15:03 after playing only 3 minutes and change in the first period. The first period was really a feeling out period it would seem as he seemed to take almost half shifts while Raymond and Wellwood were still holding possession in the Oilers zone. The biggest thing he did in that period was throw a hit in the corner on his first shift.

The second was a lot more active for Sundin, he was a strong big body in front of the net and played the power play. He spent some time playing the left side of the top power play unit with the Sedins and it was pretty clear that it was going to take some time for the trio to jell. Sundin was content at setting up just below the face off dot trying to pick up one timers while the Sedin’s game was much more cycle orientated. That’s not to say that they won’t make up a deadly power play combo in the future, its just that there is simply work to be done. The couple shots that he did end up attempting were blocked or deflected. Mats did not end up registering a shot on goal. Also towards the end of the period I was pleased to see him not back down from Steve Staios. After a long layoff it’s easy to try and shy away from that kind of thing but he wasn’t going to take any of it from the Oilers tonight.

The third was much like the second period, Sundin showed flashes of the dominant power forward that he is by driving the puck to the net on one shift and making a few more shot attempts. All in all I think Sundin played it mostly like a pre-season game. It was certainly a feeling out process for him and he should be much more dangerous on Friday and Saturday.

Canucks Player of the Game: Steve Bernier (2 goals, 1 assist, +2, 13:13 TOI)

If you have comments or anything else to add than I’d love to hear from you.

The Forwards Through 41

Coming into the season many people thought that the Canucks would struggle to fill the net, but so far that really hasn’t been the case. Many players are having good individual seasons statistically speaking, however, the problem seems to be with their inconsistency from night to night. A power play that has struggled for the majority of the season has certainly not helped matters. To show the inconsistency of the team, you can look at the 6-0 win on opening night against the Flames and compare it to the November 12th loss where they made Peter Budaj look like a Vezina trophy winner. Don’t get me wrong, Budaj played great that night but he was no doubt aided by the Canucks ability to find the back of the net when the opportunities knocked.

On the top line, Daniel and Henrik Sedin have been their ever reliable selves. They burst out of the gate early and looked as if they were going to play out of their minds in a contract year. They came back to earth after a hot start but in the last month both twins have been by far the Canucks best forwards, as they should be. Their play has been great despite the constant revolving door at right wing. Steve Bernier, Taylor Pyatt, Mason Raymond, Jannik Hansen and Pavol Demitra have all extended auditions on the top line with the twins with none of the bunch managing to stick. How long Demitra remains on that line is up in the air as Alain Vigneault may decide he is better suited with Mats Sundin

The second line in Vancouver has been met with as much change as the third player on the top line. Mason Raymond has been exciting to watch despite his inconsistency, although that is to be expected with such a young and skilled player. Raymond’s speed and stick work has allowed him to put himself or others in prime scoring situations, however his ability to finish a play off has lacked. He seems to lack any kind of accuracy as he has beccome prone to missing the net and outthinking himself as he comes in off the wing. At just 23 Raymond should become a bigger threat in the future.

Also having issues with inconstancy is Pavol Demitra, The Slovak won over the hearts of Canucks fans on the the second night of the season as he scored the overtime winner in Calgary. Unfortunately he has the ability to disappear for games at a time. Demitra’s best games this year have not surprisingly been with Daneil and Henrik, but if he wants to stay on the top line he’ll have to chip in more often than the 11 goals he had in the first half of the season despite missing ten games.

Another player who appears to be gripping his stick a bit too tight is Steve Bernier. Bernier was one of Gillis’ biggest offseason additions that was intended to play on the top line with the Sedins. The 23 year old has done a lot of things right but has seemed to lack the ability to finish plays off in front of the net. It’s certainly not for his lack of effort though as Bernier has been a physical presence on the ice. In the first half of the season Bernier managed 7 goals to go along with 12 assists.

Its hard what exactly to make of the tenure of Kyle Wellwood. Wellwood was claimed off waivers by the Canucks after several injury plagued seasons with the Maple Leafs. In fact his 14 goals is now a career high for the Ontario native. Wellwood’s presence on the power play, where he has scored the majority of his goals this year, has been welcome, however his five on five play could use some work. For a long stretch in November and December, Welly found himself playing with Darcy Hordichuk on the fourth line. Despite that Wellwood’s sharp shooting has been needed on the power play despite his reputation of being more of a playmaker.

A lot of people haven’t liked the play of Taylor Pyatt but I think he was starting to come around before his injury. He probably will never reach the 23 goals he scored in 06-07 again but the 6’4, 230lb first round draft choice was effective on the penalty kill and proved that he could be responsible in his own zone. Pyatt had much of the same problems as Steve Bernier did when he found the puck on his stick around the net. The pysical aspect of Pyatt’s game is something that needs to be addressed. With such a large frame it would be nice if he would use it more often and exert himself as a physical force on the forecheck.

The shutdown line of Burrows-Kesler-Hansen has been as good as advertised this season defensively. Burrows and Kesler jumped out of the gate offensively and were the Canucks go to players for a period in October. Both of them have considerably come back to earth on that front, and Kesler has only recently gotten things going again in the opponents end of the ice. On penalty kills the two provide an offensive threat and are by far the best Canucks players on the penalty kill. Burrows especially has a knack for scoring on shorthanded breakaways. In September people had Kesler pencilled in as the Selke Trophy winner and while its questionable as to whether he has lived up to that billing he is certainly one of the better two way forwards in the league. While Jannik Hansen was sent to the minors yesterday I was extremely pleased with him play this season. His grit and willingness to play physical were welcomed and its unfortunate that he was sent down despite other players on the roster being far less valuable.

On the fourth line, Darcy Hordichuk has been a nice signing by Mike Gillis. Hordichuk has been exactly what the Canucks wanted when they signed him, he hits everything that he can without taking penalties and fights when the situation requires it. His 4 goals so far this season is probably 3 more than what the Canucks expected out of him. So far so good. Ryan Johnson who was brought in to be a shot block specialist was solid before he injured his foot and hand. Despite his unorthodox style to blocking shots he was a fixture on the penalty kill that the Canucks have had difficulty replacing. Mike Brown has essentially been a waste of a roster space as he takes bad penalties at bad times. Even his fights are uneventful as they usually involve him falling over to tackling the other player. Why the Canucks are so worried about having someone claim him on waivers in beyond me. In a limited number of games Jason Jaffray has been a nice addition to the fourth line. Chipping in offensively when he can with the talent around him, Jaffray has not backed down from other and despite not being a fighter has held his own in a few scraps this season.

Tommorow night the Canucks take on the Oilers in Edmonton. Will Sundin play or not is the question on everyones mind as the Canucks will try and end a two game losing streak.

The Canucks First Half Review

So I am about to make my triumphant entrance into the world of blogging. If you’re reading this I appreciate you stopping by even though you must have misclicked to get here. Nonetheless I urge you not to click that back button too quickly as I feel I can provide some insightful analysis on the Canucks. For my first article I think it would be fitting to address the play of the Canucks over the first half of the season.

On Sunday night the Canucks fell to the Dallas Stars in a shootout, a theme that has become far to common over the past two seasons. The Canucks missed the playoffs for a variety of reasons last season, but leaving 9 points on the table for shootout losses certainly didn’t help matter (They had a 6-9 record in shootouts in 07-08). This season the results are not any better as the Canucks have won just once in shootouts while leaving 5 extra points to the opponents taking. The one win in the shootout was the marathon win in Anaheim on Halloween that was undoubtedly due to Luongo’s ability to keep the shootout alive for 13 rounds. On Sunday night against Dallas the Canucks did show that they might be coming out of their scoring slump as Kesler and Wellwood both scored. Jason LaBarbera could not close out the win on the two chances that he got, in what was otherwise a spectacular night for him. Mats Sundin in his career has been a good shootout performer should help.

I want to spend the rest of the article here addressing the play of some of the players and whether or not they have met the expectations of that the team and fans put on them this season. We’ll start with the goaltenders and defense tonight and finish up with the forwards in the next article.

The goaltending was supposed to be the strongest position of the Canucks but it has been met with mixed results. Roberto Luongo has been a consistent presence in the crease of every NHL team he has played for and finally suffered the first his first major injury of his career. Prior to his injury on November 22nd, Luongo was looking like the MVP of the league with a 11-5-2 record and a save percentage of .928 to go along with 5 shutouts. Steve Mason of Columbus just matched the five shutouts of Luongo earlier this month. The return of the Canucks Captain would be a big boost to the team as they head into the stretch run.

In relief, Curtis Sanford has been inconsistent. On some night the previously seldom used backup has looked incredible and on others a goalie who would have a difficult time cracking an AHL lineup. Speaking of AHLgoaltenders, Corey Schneider made his NHL debut in Calgary on November 29th and looked spectacular with the exception of one questionable goal that turned out to be the game winner. Bad goals at bad times would seem to plaque Schneider, especially on his December 7th shootout loss in Colorado which ultimately cost the Canucks a point. On the plus side he was great in his first NHL victory, a 2-1 win in Minnesota on December 5th. Jason LaBarbera appears that he is poised to handle the load for the Canucks as they wait for the return of Roberto Luongo. Despite a 1-0-2 record in his first three starts, LaBarbera has shown the skill and size that the Los Angles Kings were so high on a few years ago.

On defense the Canucks have been extremely solid and trustworthy at the top of the depth chart. Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa have been great as the teams shutdown pair and have found a way to chip in on the offense. The over aggressiveness of Bieksa seems to been cured and he has become more patient and picks his spots to be physical much better. Willie Mitchell has been his always reliable self on defense with a plus 7 rating. Although Mitchell’s plus 7 is solid it is not as spectacular as Mattias Ohlund’s plus 13 as the Swede is having one of the better seasons of his career. Mike Gillis will not want to let Ohlund get to free agency this offseason.

Having a poor sophomore season is Alex Edler. The Canucks and their fans expected big things from the 2004 third round draft pick. Edler has been plagued this season by poor passes, untimely giveaways and his uncanny ability to get his shot blocked on the power play. Much of the struggles may have to do with Edler being too fancy with the puck in his own zone. Simplifying his play will be something that Edler will want to consider in the second half of the season. One of the most memorable mistake would be the giveaway to Curtis Glencross in a 4-3 loss on November 27th. To give Edler credit he has tallied 17 points this season, something that will be important for the Canucks as they move forward.

Shane O’Brien who was acquired in a trade for Lukas Krajicek has been a steady physical force on the back end. Despite some early season problems with penalties O’Brien has become a reliable presence on defense and has done a nice job sticking up for him teammates when the situation has required it. Because of his physical style of play and his many fighting majors this season it is not surprising that O’Brien leads the league in penalty minutes with 118. As long as he keep the minor penalties where the opposition ends up on the power play to a minimum, O’Brien should prove to be reliable.

In a very limited part-time role, Rob Davison has provided much of the same intangibles that O’Brien has. Davison’s physical style of play is exactly what Mike Gillis brought him in for. Davison beat up on Luke Schenn in memorable game against the Maple Leafs.. Also in a part time role, Lawrence Nycholat has tried to provide an offensive spark from the backend and has been used to quarterback the second unit of the power play on some nights. Through 12 games he has picked up only one point, but given his small role and little expected of him he has been good enough when needed.

Sami Salo, the final member of the Canucks defense has been slowed down yet again by a variety of injures, most recently broken ribs courtesy of Ethan Moreau. The Fin with the big shot had a slow start to the season but it appeared he was turning his game around just before his injury. Everyone should remember his booming shot on the power play on November 24th to defeat the Red Wings in overtime.

Hopefully you have enjoyed this and I’ll be looking into the forward tomorrow as the Canucks enjoy another off-day before heading to Edmonton on Wednesday for what could potentially be the beginning of the Mats Sundin era in Vancouver