Two More Years

Well, Mike Gillis has solved one problem facing the Canucks this off-season. He has re-signed Canuck’s head coach Alain Vigneault to a two year contract extension. That means two more years of coach AV’s uncontrollable laughter, nauseatingly consistent interviews, and controversial comments. Vigneault has been making quite a few of those lately, such as saying that Kesler’s shoulder injury isn’t an excuse for his poor play, revealing that he believed that Daniel Sedin was going to be ready for game one against the Kings, and that Luongo is leaning more towards a trade than anything else. He later took those comments back, but after saying stuff like that, one really has to wonder why he would say it if it wasn’t true. True or not, Gillis has some tough decisions to make. Luongo or Schneider (maybe neither), Re-sign Raymond or not, re-sign Salo or let him retire, and of course, what style the Canucks should play next season: Defensive or offensive.

With all these questions looming over the Canucks organisation one has to wonder if next year’s team will resemble this year’s or will there be a minor rebuild. No one can really know for sure, but I am guessing that either way the Canucks will be a force to reckon with. Bigger and stronger, more experienced, we can do it! Go Canucks Go!

What Now

Well, this is a little late but, the Canucks were ousted in the first round. By LA. The eighth seeded team. In five games. You can’t get much more depressing than that. Unless you think about what is to come for the upcoming summer. Unless Gillis can work miracles the Canucks are going to have one less starting goalie. The big debate would be which goalie will stay. Of course that’s not all. Sami Salo has three options, ask for a trade, ask for a contract extension, or retire. After watching Salo since he came to the Canucks, I can almost certainly say, he won’t ask for a trade. He will most likely sign a contract extension or retire. Mason Raymond is an RFA at the end of this season and while he has been a key player in the past, with the back injury he sustained in the last playoffs he hasn’t quite been the same. Of course Alain Vigneault is also under fire after his team’s early playoff exit. 

Whatever happens, no matter who goes where, I believe that Gillis, being the magical genius that he is, will make the Canucks a better team. Better, hopefully, than the team that thousands of heartbroken fans watched salute them after their elimination. As the always hopeful fan says, “there’s always next year!” So, faithful Canucks fans, stay loyal and Go Canucks Go!

T-3 games

With only three games remaining in the regular season the Canucks are finally starting to pick up their game. Winning six in a row is always a good way to end the season. Now that the playoffs are right around the corner Canucks fans should be getting very excited. The Canucks are tied for first place in the league and could win home ice advantage. Unfortunately, they had that last year and still didn’t win the Stanley Cup.Tell me what your playoff traditions and superstitions are and the best ones will be posted in next weeks post!

The Home Stretch

For the most part it was an exciting, fast-paced game. Not at all what most people expected from Montreal. Neither was the final score. The Canucks were dominated by the Canadiens in the third period and dropped the game 4-1.

It all started rather promising. Lots of skating and good chances in the Montreal zone. Then, in the second period, Ryan Kesler worked his magic and scored a beauty to give the Canucks the lead, but at the very end of he second Blake Geoffrion, wearing a combination of his great-grandfather and grandfather’s numbers, scored his first goal as a Montreal Canadien. This tied the game and decided who got the momentum in the third. It clearly wasn’t the Canucks.

The third period showed a less than amiable effort by the Canucks. The Canadiens scored in the first 13 seconds and everything went downhill from there. The Habs went on to score two more and nail the coffin closed on Vancouver’s hopes of winning the game.

After the game, Alain Vigneault targeted the Canuck’s top line by saying that the most concerning part is “when our best players aren’t our best players on the ice.” While the Sedin’s and Burrows haven’t been playing their best as of late, last night was a step up from other games. I’m sure that if it weren’t for P.K. Subban setting his sights on Henrik all night, he would have snapped his longest pointless streak of his career which was extended to eight games. That’s not to say that it was all Subban’s fault. It would be nice to see Henrik stand up for himself every once in a while. He did, however, call out the refs for their lack of consistency in calling penalties ”This might be the only sport where rules change throughout the season depending what game you are playing and if it’s playoffs or whatever.” He has a point.

Henrik wasn’t the only one who had the blame placed on him. Vigneault also called out Alex Edler saying that “I don’t know where [Alex Edler] is right now, but he’s not playing well.” Pretty much the entire team has to start playing better or start taking these games seriously as we reach the home stretch.

With just thirteen games left to play until the playoffs, the Canucks are just about guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, but their play of late is making many fans nervous. If they can’t play well in the regular season, how are they going to make it through the playoffs, or maybe its just a ruse to make other teams believe that they will be easily defeated. Either way, no Canucks fan likes to see that.

Again and Again and Again!

Last night the Canucks played the Dallas Stars (again) and gave up the lead (again) to lose the game (again). This has a been a recurring theme with the Canucks lately, yes, even before they traded Hodgson. This game was the first time the Canucks have dropped two regulation games since November. So no, The world is not ending yet Canucks fans! That is saying something about how good the Canucks have been this season. Dallas is on a streak right now and playing with everything on the line as they are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008. 

The first period was okay at best. No one scored, but Kassian was awarded a penalty shot within the first minute of the game. He missed but  it was still exciting. After that the excitement level of the game went way down. It seemed like it was never going to end.

The second period was a tad better, but only because Higgins scored a nice one on two goal. That excitement didn’t last very long and ten minutes later Dallas tied the game. With 23 seconds left the Stars took the lead.

I think it’s safe to say that the game was pretty much over by the end of the second. The third period brought three more Dallas goals and one more Vancouver goal. There was a quick push at the end of the game that looked very promising for the Canucks until the Stars scored on the empty net.

That game needed a serious kick in the butt. Hopefully the next game will be more exciting. Bring it on Winnipeg!

Redemption Song

Today was the game that every Canucks fan had marked on their calendar. Today was the day that the Vancouver Canucks took on the Stanley Cup champion Bruins. To say it was an emotional game would be an understatement. Any game where there were 67 penalty minutes assessed in the first period can only be described by one word: Legen-wait for it-dary!

The first period was a game in itself. There was an early brawl after Lucic punched Burrows in the face in front of the Canucks bench. The Canucks got a two-man advantage for two minutes out of it and Lucic got two minutes for roughing and a game misconduct for leaving the bench to join the scrum. The Canucks scored on the 5 on 3 when Salo took a slapshot that was blocked and rebounded to Kesler who had a wide open net to shoot at. Nearly ten minutes later Marchand tied it up with a nifty backhand that beat Schneider.

The second period was not as spirited but it was pretty close. Peverley gave the Bruins their first lead of the game 7:12 into the period with a wrist shot when Chara shot the puck into the Canucks end from his own blueline on what Cory Schneider and most people thought was icing. Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows helped the Canucks capitalize on a five minute clipping major when Brad Marchand took a low shot on Salo who flipped over backwards and landed on his shoulders. Marchand also got a game misconduct.

The Canucks started the third period with 1:53 of powerplay time left. Cody Hodgson took the opportunity of a nice feed from Hamhuis to rocket one past Tim Thomas. Krejci scored a few seconds later but that was the last of the scoring for this game. With a few minutes left in the game Boston pulled their goalie and then Hamhuis took a delay of game penalty which caused some serious pressure from Boston but a few nice saves from Schneider and some beautiful defensive plays the time ran all the way out and the final score was 4-3 Canucks.

Game Notes:

• Milan Lucic’s game misconduct has been rescinded by the league
• Andrew Ebbett will stay in Boston for surgery on a broken collarbone after a hard hit in the first
• Salo was evaluated and has an apparent upper-body injury. He will be re-evaluated tomorrow for a possible concussion. He traveled with the Canucks to Florida
• Brad Marchand will have a hearing with Brendan Shanahan in the next few days
• The Canucks scored all four goals on the powerplay

Why The Canucks are Better Than Last Year’s Team

The Sedin’s have been playing well as of late, and by well I mean like the 1999 first and second overall draft picks that they are. As a Canucks fan I have almost gotten used to the “Sedin Sister” jokes, but I will never quite understand them.

The Sedins are currently atop the league in points and they have both been playing a more physical, defensive game. If Canucks fans ever needed a good omen, this is the best you’re gonna get!

After a rough start to the season Luongo has finally picked up his game. He’s been handling the puck better and has been in position a lot more. With his new-found confidence Luongo has been playing all around better hockey.

When Ehrhoff signed with the Sabres this off-season most people thought that the Canuck’s powerplay would crumble, but instead of signing a new defenseman to replace him, Gillis decided to let another defenseman try to fill Ehrhoff’s big shoes. So far that plan has worked, especially when it comes to Alex Edler. He currently leads all Canucks defensemen this season with 28 points. I strongly believe that “Angry Eddy” will become a star d-man in the coming years.

In 2004 the Canuck’s drafted a young Danish player 257th overall. Few people thought he would turn out to be anything other than a fourth-liner at best, but he did it, and now he’s a permanent fixture on the team. Jannik Hansen is the player that can be moved to any line and succeed. With his “hands finally catching up to his speed.” as Vigneault says, Hansen could turn out to be the kind of player the Canucks need to go all the way.