Canorcas

Don't let Seguin score four goals. Oh, and a win would be nice.

The Stork For all the (justified?) boourns the Canucks' scouting staff have to deal with, every now and then they pick up a gem and it goes largely unnoticed. That is until it's too obvious to ignore. Chris Tanev says hello, by the way. There's no need to go through the Canucks' woeful drafting record in the past decade. Everything that needs to be said has been spoken. We're still wondering where Nathan Smith is and most of us still have R.J Umberger getting laid out by Brian Campbell bookmarked somewhere on Youtube. The fact is poor scouting and poor drafting have been an area of concern for this organization and they look enviously around the league, marveling at all the players who successfully graduated from their respective hockey programs. Even the one real stud the Canucks drafted in 2004 by the name of Cory Schneider had to leave town. We all know how that went. But not all of scouting is left in the fate of the draft floor. Eddie Lack was a quiet addition to the organization in April of 2010. Not surprisingly, it was a fellow Swede who noticed his raw talent and skill. Former Canuck and current team scout Lars Lindgren was asked to keep tabs on Jacob Markstrom-- then with Brynas IF of the Swedish Elite League. Markstrom was a hot name at the time-- big, fast, technically sound and competitive. Lindgren was joined by perhaps a dozen scouts from various clubs trying to determine if he'd be the next Swedish phenom in net. But while the others were too busy keeping track of Markstrom, nobody paid much attention to his back-up, a tall, lanky and goofy kid by the name of Eddie Lack. Nobody that is, except Lindgren. Despite playing just a handful of games, Lindgren had seen enough. The potential was there. The skillset was there. All he needed was a chance. Lack wasn't on anybody's list and had been passed in the draft after a relatively unexciting junior-level career. Goaltending is a difficult position to judge. There's really no obvious way of determining if a goalie will pan out the way you expect them to. Some put together excellent junior careers and cease to stop pucks at the highest level. Others develop slower but once they're in form, they become franchise-quality netminders. Hindsight is 20/20 and as this article is being written, Lack's future seems to be in better shape than his former teammate Markstrom's. Maybe that's what happens when you play in Florida, though. Regardless, you put their numbers side-by-side and you can clearly see the Canucks unearthed a diamond in the rough with Lack. Markstrom was drafted 31st overall in 2008 by the Panthers and has yet to cement his role as starter. In fact, he had that opportunity this season after Florida chose to let Jose Theodore walk during the summer. How did that end up? Well they signed Tim Thomas who had essentially quit the Boston Bruins and hockey all of last year. Yikes. Markstrom, now with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL, is at a crucial part of his career and you can bet GM Dave Tallon is scratching his head over his own mess. If Markstrom was ready, he'd be playing. That's the short of it. In contrast, Lack has slipped under the radar the past few seasons-- mostly due to a long-term hip injury that kept him out for all but 13 games last year with the Chicago Wolves. Today, he is Roberto Luongo's backup and has looked solid in all of his four starts for Vancouver this year. His technique is sound, his rebound control is manageable and he endeared himself to Canucks fans when he stood his ground and took a jab at a player who crashed his crease. Checkmarks across the board. At only 25 years old, there's still room for him to grow-- in terms of size and skill. But shooters can't ignore how big he looks between the pipes. Lack is listed at 6'5, 196 pounds. That's Pekka Rinne territory. Having a natural size advantage is always beneficial as long as you have speed to match-- and there's no lack of agility there. And it's not like Lack became Roberto's backup by default. The team had options. They even signed Joacim Eriksson this off-season to bring in more competition during training camp and he played quite well. But Lack played better. Beyond his position, Lack is a likable guy. He's funny, goofy, polite, speaks with a country-style Swedish accent and has his own dance move (seriously!). He genuinely seems to be enjoying his time in Vancouver and seems unfazed by the fact Roberto owns the crease in Vancouver for the rest of his playing days. Instead, he seems eager to learn from one of the game's best and is happy to fit in with a team that has a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. Not a bad career so far for a guy who was never supposed to play in the National Hockey League.

It must be a difficult time to be a David Booth fan these days. There’s not much love in this city for the eccentric 28-year old, who came over from the Florida Panthers in 2011. Since then, Booth has scored 18 goals and 35 points in 79 games. If those 79 games were over the course of a single season and not bits and pieces over two years, they wouldn’t be so bad. But considering Booth has spent more time in the infirmary than on the ice, there hasn’t been much traction to the Support Booth movement. To be fair, Booth’s $4.25 million dollar contract was signed in the heels of a strong 2009 campaign with the Panthers. The Michigan native had put up 31 goals and 60 points with the lowly Panthers and seemed like the next big thing in the sunshine state. Less than 3 months later, everything changed. October 24th, 2009. That is a date David Booth will never forget. It was the day that Booth’s career came to an abrupt halt. Mike Richards, then with the Philadelphia Flyers, caught Booth with his head down and delivered what would surely be a suspension-worthy hit in today’s game. The hit that changed everything. Booth was sidelined indefinitely with a concussion and missed the next 45 games as a result. That hit did more than just change Booth’s career. It changed NHL policy. Shortly after that incident, Colin Campbell stepped down as the league’s disciplinarian and Brendan Shanahan took the job a few short weeks later. To this day, Shanahan has tried to send a message that headshots will no longer be the norm in professional hockey. There was a general sense of agreement that headshots had to be eliminated from the game in order to protect players like Booth and Marc Savard. It was an ugly time for the league. It is perplexing that Canucks fans aren’t more sympathetic to Booth who clearly has yet to pull himself together completely from that incident. Beloved captain Markus Naslund had a similar regression after suffering his own headshot in 2004. We’re all too familiar with the Bertuzzi incident that occurred as a consequence of that. But it’s true, after suffering a hit to his head, Naslund was never quite the same. Even after a lockout canceled the entire 2004-2005 season, Naslund came back in 2006 and looked slower and weaker. For the next four seasons, Nazzy would put up fewer numbers until he finally retired early in 2009, walking away from the second-year of his contract with the Rangers. Was his heart in the game? It seems obvious now that it was not. And that in itself was strange, as Naslund was a fierce competitor in his prime and wanted nothing more than to raise the Stanley Cup in Vancouver. Concussions have serious after effects. It is quite literally a brain injury and it has long lasting effects even years after the original date of injury. It should be no surprise to anyone that David Booth has yet to fully emerge in Vancouver. He’s been looking for his game for the past several years now and was quietly shipped out of Florida due to these lingering effects. They simply didn’t want to deal with the trouble of looking after an expensive but broken player. It is alarming that despite Booth’s relative young age and physical condition that he hasn’t been able to play a complete game. But age and physique is of little consequence when one’s brain is seriously injured. It hurts anyone and everyone in different ways. There is still an opportunity for David Booth to become an important player for Vancouver. But don’t be fooled—he’ll never be that 30-goal scorer who rushes down the ice and slams the net. That style of play led to the most serious injury of his career—it’s hard to ask anyone to keep doing that and ignore the consequences. Not even Markus Naslund played the same after his own injury. Fans and management noticed a less-involved Naslund, often setting up perimeter plays and unwilling to get into high-traffic areas. Booth is no exception here. He is human, just like the rest of us. When he stubs his toe, it hurts. When he hits his funny bone, it still smarts. And anyone who has suffered a concussion as seriously as he has would know how traumatic that experience must have been. In the salary cap world of professional hockey though, players are criticized over and over why they aren’t scoring enough goals or enough points in contrast to their wage. It’s almost unfair how anyone can find out just how much money an athlete makes- that sort of information is generally kept private in most occupations. Would there be as many complaints if Booth was making league minimum? Probably not. When his playing days are over, Booth will walk away from hockey with a brain injury that may continue to nag him for the rest of his life. Not convinced? Just ask Marc Savard or Chris Pronger what those injuries are like—they’ll be happy to educate you. In the case of David Booth, we should be relieved that a player is still able to play after suffering such a devastating and serious injury. Not everything in hockey is business. And nothing in your brain is invulnerable.

Louis C.K.?

You got it!

Nope

Essensa

The Amazing Patrick White! is correct

Staios!

Correct!

Should be simple enough..