Lancaster

The PP should only be an extra weapon available. A team needs to be good 5 on 5 to be successful.

I've always been critical of the Miller trade.... but holy moly..... This isn't Mike Milbury level... but sheesh.... do Bill Guerin have a stash of secret photos of Rutherford or something?

I hope Tryamkin returns. He's not a nuclear deterrent by any means... but he's the type of player that isn't going to take crap and is willing to step up for a teammate. Didn't he defend Drew Shore after he took a cheap shot? Tryamkin isn't a good fighter, but he's big enough to manhandle most players.

More just a complaint on the flimsy excuses used by the NHL. Nagano, okay. Sochi, okay. PyeongChang, too far? It just makes the NHL looks bushleague. The Olympics isn't just a local event. People in China and Japan will still be watching. It anything, it would have garnered more exciting and appeal going forward for China.

From what I can gather for why they weren't at the South Korean Olympics... one was it was too far. Since China is even farther.... not sure how they can justify it how distance is no longer an issue.

One of my favourite Sedins memory were when they were rookies.... and Crawford sent them out to kill a 5 on 3 PK alongside Murray Baron. I think they were caught like on the ice for most of the penalty... but they killed it off. The commentators kept going on about how it is a good learning experience for them. The Twins used to be pretty decent on the penalty kill back in the days.

Pearson might be a long-term piece going forward. While he seemingly has been around forever, he's only a couple of years older than Horvat. Decent stats, championship experience... he's probably a keeper.

True... but too many barriers in place. The stereotypical Indian taxi driver with a degree in computer science isn't too far off from the truth. Walk into a myriad of Tim Hortons, ethnic restaurant, etc... many of the workers probably have a degree or experience needed for Canada.... but credentials aren't recognized. My buddy was a mechanical engineer and manager in Korea... but had to slug it out at Tim Hortons and a few other random jobs for a few years to get her PR. Then have to go to BCIT to take some random intro to engineering course or whatever... then finally land a job related to her original specialty. The process probably took like 4-5 years. She had the desire and commitment to tough it out and it was lucky that her company valued actual experience and skills rather than credentials. Another friend, she is a pharmacist in Japan. Tried to tough it out here for a few years, but after realizing there is no way to transfer her experience/credentials, she was told she had to take the entire pharmacy program again but as an international student... or she will need to find some low level job to get her PR and then re-take the program as a domestic student. Too many uncertainties.... thus she returned back to Japan and opened her own pharmacy, and a loss to Canada. My wife was a school teacher in Japan. Her credentials aren't completely transferable, and she will need to take courses for a few years to meet the Canadian requirement. Prior to now being a stay-at-home mother, she was just working at a Japanese language school/daycare. Supposedly a teaching shortage, but potentially another loss for Canada. Lots of my international friends are or were in similar situations. Canada says it needs more skilled labour, but it makes no attempt to let them actually work in their dedicated field... but more than willing to provide working holiday visas and other work permits to let them slave away waiting tables and washing dishes.

Teach Pettersson the "Mother of All Elbows", lol.

Unfortunately, there are many who don't (or won't) differentiate between illegal immigrants, refugees, and legal immigrants. Canada doesn't need immigrants to survive, that's just the narrative many parrot. That you need more people to grow the economy... yet completely avoiding the fact that unsustainable immigration reduces the quality of life. 1st generation immigrants on average earns less than a non-immigrants, the inability to transfer skills/credentials depresses wages locally, higher population levels increases property demand/cost. Those aren't positives. Not to say I'm against immigration (being second generation and being married to an immigrant), but there needs to be a way to accelerate integration. More streamlined recognition of credentials, but more importantly to acclimatize all newcomers to Canadian values. When you have segments of the population bringing in barbaric values such as honour killings and segregation of genders, other national groups entering Canada and promoting totalitarianism, etc.... these ideals goes against Canadian value. As of now, we have lessen barriers to entry, but has put up barriers to those people thrive... then we allow ethnic enclaves to exist that is completely counter-intuitive to creating an open and engaged society. For refugees... nobody is really against them... just many tends to stretch the definition to fit whatever narrative they wish to present.

Wasn't there some stats that many of the individuals suing to get those settlements were also tied to criminal activities or something? Or maybe just those committing fraud, theft, etc... just happened to be the same ones suing.

The Canucks as a team needs to stop worrying about the 2 points and just go for those "moral" victories that sticks as part of team identity. The pre-2011 Canucks teams were more than willing to back up each other and start/finish things when needed.... Burrows, Kesler, Hordichuk, Rypien, O'Brien, etc... I miss that team more than the SCF squad that always "took the high road". I hate to lay this on Horvat's feet... but he's the leader on this team, he needs to set an example on protecting his teammates. He needs to go to war while dragging along Virtanen, Beagle, whoever to the brawl with him. Every championship team always had a few SOB willing to throw a punch and to take a punch when needed. Until the Canucks are willing to stand up for themselves, they will not any lasting success.

Bloomberg... with all this connections, media outlet and financial clout.... with zero, lol. I'm surprised that Gabbard didn't get anything.

Since Brock is a bit off his game... most likely due to family situation, it probably would be better for him to just take a leave of absence for a week or two. While points are always important, the Canucks are in a good enough position to miss BB for a few games. Hockey is important, but like any job... no one goes through life wishing they spent more time at work.

With the current run the Canucks have been on, if they had to take a loss, this is the best outcome. A competitive game even though it was the second of the back-to-back (morning starts too), with a single point earned and it was only against a team from a different conference.

Isn't winning the Calder one of the ELC bonuses?

When you watch those old games, you see players just skate across the blue line and do a slap shot and there's a good chance it goes in. Or just do a slow wrap-around and it beats the goalies. If that happened now, those goalies would be demoted so fast. Techniques, systems, talent levels has changed so much from Gretzky's days. Heck... an ECHL team from today would probably smoke the 80's Oilers if they played head to head now.

It would mean that Jordie Benn would not have been signed. Nothing against Jordie... just stating the dominoes.

Poor deal... Where's the "Raymond, Ballard, and a 1st" equivalent counter proposals?

Trying to go through 3-5 guys does look impressive, but does cause turnovers more often than not. Plus torquing and twisting his body will also leave him vulnerable for a bad hit and/or injuries. If anything, he is just playing more efficiently.... perhaps saving all this tricks for the post-season.

All that is missing are some "rock music" and violent TV shows.

I didn't say he's a lock-in NHLer, just maybe he's finally figuring out how to be a true professional player. When you put things into perspective... he's only 26. Kassian at age 26 was just a glorfied AHLer.

Jensen is lighting it up in the KHL. He could just be a case of a late bloomer. I mean... Kassian only finally arrived as a true NHLer last season... which is still a year older than Jensen now. As for Gaunce... I've always been a supporter of his. He plays the game right, he got size, he's a strong 2-way player, he seemed to be able to elevate his game in the post-season... the type of player most team would like to have. Just weird that his AHL play didn't translate to the NHL. Perhaps just the NHL is a tad too quick for him... the AHL is loaded with such players. Retroactively looking back... 2012 wasn't really a strong draft.

Lots of Canadian players who can't crack the NHL do go over to play in Europe, but people could care less. I mean... using Nigel Dawes as an example, when was the last time you hear disparaging remarks about him? Most folks just view him as a borderline NHLer who just went to Europe to play due to the experience of living overseas, European leagues being less of a meat grinder and maybe the pay is comparable or even more than if he played in the AHL. A European player moves back to Europe, he's labelled as "not good enough", "soft", etc.... when in actuality, it might just be a better fit for them overall. To use a job analogy... it's like starting off on a lower wage, but high opportunity job (NHL). You see many higher ups with the big bucks... but you gotta climb over tons of people and sacrifice a lot to just have a chance to reach that level. Or... you can just choose a more "safe" job that starts off at a very good living wage, but with limited growth in the future. You will live well, middle class life. Playing hockey is a career/job and your earning potential is very limited. I never blame any player for doing what's best for them financially. Victory, prestige, glory sounds great... but it's not going to put food on the table.