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.