canuckleheads fan

That's funny, Dave Dryden was also at that hockey school I attended one year.

It's a shame he had bad knees, but he was a great complimentary center for the Flower and Shutt, like your comparison, the Clark Gillies on that line. He suffered from the career long comparison to his HOF brother Frank, but Pete was a guy who made whatever team he was on better.

I know this is off topic, but seeing these old names brings back some great memories. I used to go to a hockey school on Vancouver Island in my youth. One year Don Lever was one of the big name instructors. What a great guy! I recall being totally wowed meeting my hero Pete Mahovlich, and when Phil Russell commended my balance skating backwards, I moved from center to defense the next season.

I don't know why everybody's in such a hurry to trade Miller. I trust Bieksa when he said that guys like Miller don't come along very often, he's a great combination of size, skill, compete and leadership. He's like the team's Swiss Army knife, he plays PP1, PK, and C1 minutes. There is no real need to trade him, he's under a very team friendly contract next year too, so don't be in a hurry. Teams know that Jim's taking offers, but unless the offer is so one-sided from a team desperate to shore up the middle for a cup run that they'll give us EXACTLY what we want (I'd say a #1, a top prospect, and a current top 9 forward with upside potential, then no. He can be moved at the draft or he can be moved next year if we have to. The guys they have to move are Boeser while he still has some value before his qualifying offer, Halak and maybe Hamonic now that the last two seem to be superfluous.

Bruce likes Hogs just fine, he's trying to get through to him regarding his stick discipline and taking stupid penalties 200 feet from his own net. The Canucks PK is not great, and they're not scoring enough most games to give up free goals because of stupid, careless penalties. Bruce has been trying to send a message through ice time to both Hogs and Pods. For Hogs it's discipline and keeping his head in the game in his own end. For Pods, I'm sure he wants him to be more dynamic, use his size and strength, and be harder on the boards, which will make more room for guys like Petey. Both are young players, who NEED coaching. Neither of them came into the league as fully formed players. If you say something to a player and he disregards you and makes the same mistake, then all you have left is to give him a seat on the bench to think about what he did. Nobody learns a lesson if there are no repercussions for continued wrong behavior. That said, I thought that line was terrific last night, each player played their role, and they ended up with a beautiful goal.

All of this is true, but Bruce also wants him to be smart. That high sticking penalty 200 feet from his own net was unacceptable. Hogs needs to work on his stick discipline, because he's getting too many of those types of careless penalties to the point where it seems like referees are looking for it. You don't want to be the target of referees all around the league, ask Alex Burrows. That said, the three-way passing play between Petey, Pods and Hogs was a work of art.

OEL has excelled at being the shutdown guy too. Before the last wave of COVID, I was reading an article about how the underlying defensive numbers for the team and especially for OEL were some of the best in the league, and huge strides better than last year. I think much of that is thanks to Brad Shaw. He's found a way to energize OEL's game. Another part of the team's better defensive numbers has been QH and Myers' new commitment to being better defensively, which they certainly have been. On top of that, Poolman has improved steadily under Shaw's tutelage, Burroughs has been better than expected, and Schenn has been, well, Shenn. I thought the PP looked more dangerous with OEL working the point, that arial pass to Bo was a thing of beauty, and he seems to get the puck to Petey's wheelhouse more often. Bruce should flip flop him and QH for a few games to see if PP1 gets better.

I've been rooting for Burroughs from the start, I like that he gives it everything he has every shift, takes the body, plays a simple defensive game, maximizes his value. He's a gamer. Juulsen is something of a revelation. I think Shaw could turn him into a top 4. He's a decent skater, takes the body, and tonight we saw that he reads the play and can deliver the puck, that pass on the Garland goal was a beauty. I was disappointed when JB traded OJ, but with emergence of Juulsen and especially the play of Lammikko, there is no doubt he won that trade. Lammikko looks to be our solid 3-4C for sometime to come. What I love is that he's worked hard on his shortcomings, like faceoffs, and it's now a strength of his game. If Juulsen can continue his upward trend and earn a permanent spot, that trade will be a steal.

Bruce put Petey back with Hogs and Pods. Last time those three were together, they were MAGIC. I can't believe it's taken him so long to reunite that line! I'll call it here, that line scores 4, Petey with 2, Hogs and Pods with one each.

The 32 thoughts guys, who are very dialed in said that Brock's name isn't even coming up as a trade prospect other teams are asking about. Brock has to go because he's about to get too rich for the team's cap. I agree with Elliott that of course Rutherford and crew will listen to offers for Miller, but unless they blow their socks off, he'll be here until the summer. He's more likely to be traded around draft time than he is at the deadline, especially if the Canucks still have a shot at the playoffs. There's no rush to trade Miller since he's on a very team friendly contract through next season. It sounds like NJ is interested in Garland, but he too has term, so there's no rush to trade him. I think Halak goes for sure, I'm surprised they didn't find a team for him after his last game. There are some contenders looking for goalkeeping help right now. Halak has to go because his next game means a contract incentive kicks in that will count against the cap, plus Spencer Martin has earned that spot with his three outings while Halak and Demko were shut down. I don't see any of our top DMen going as long as the team has a shot at the playoffs, maybe they'll move Hunt or Schenn as a depth guy to a contender, which would open a spot for Rathbone to get a look. I could also see them moving Motte to give Lockwood a shot, but it all depends on where they are in the WC race.

Agreed, back to backs on the road are hard, especially against a physical, well-rested team. The Preds knew that, and started hitting our minute eaters hard and often early in the game and never relented. Every chance they got, they hit OEL and Quinn and really pressured our backend. I thought Quinn looked a little slow and shellshocked in the third, and OEL did not have a great game in spite of scoring the team's second goal. We need Poolman back to help with the minutes. I like Schenn, but I like him at about 12-15 minutes per game, and as I've said before, I think Burroughs is a far superior Dman to Hunt. It wasn't a great game for anybody, even Demko, but now the team has a week off to practice, rest and get ready for the post All-Star schedule.

When they acquired Highmore last year I said he would be Motte 2.0. Like Motte, his motor runs at 110% the entire time he's on the ice, he never takes a shift off, he's fast, and surprisingly skilled. That line has been a pleasant surprise, and I hope Bruce keeps it together.

You obviously don't watch many local US broadcasts, Boston, Philly, now those guys are homers. I think the major problem is that with Covid SportsNet is trying to limit travel as much as possible, so you get more hometown announcers. I would have preferred Rick Ball to Singh, Cambell was as expected, a homer. Having been a hometown announcer in my past career, I can tell you it's hard to set your feelings aside, especially if you travel with the ream, and normally do a homer broadcast, it's hard to stay neutral if your team is playing. It's why normally before Covid guys like Randorf, Ball, Cole, didn't broadcast for "their" teams in national coverage.

I disagree, places like TB, FLA and LV have a huge advantage because of they have no local income tax. It's why TB is always a competitor, players will play there for less because of the tax benefit. Seattle will also start out competing Vancouver for the same reason. The NHL needs to somehow equalize that in the next CBA, it's really unfair to the higher tax cities.

The difference between a Bruins specific homer call and a Sports Net call where both sets of fans will be watching is like night and day. I expect the hometown broadcast to be biased, but a national broadcast should be as unbiased as possible.

Beating the Flames and a Canuck knock Tkachuk even more senseless than usual.

At least the Canucks aren't playing the Coilers with this crew, Harnarayan is such an Deadmonton homer it makes me sick to listen to him.

Man, this looks the lineup for a preseason game. I hope Bruce can pull a rabbit out his hat, because I see the Canucks getting stomped!

I will make one other comment about defensemen, Brad Shaw is turning Tucker Poolman into a legit top-four D-man, he was a great pickup by JB at an excellent price. I thought Poolman was conspicuous for what he did right last night every time he was on the ice. He's not spectacular, but he's becoming very reliable. I'm happy that BB has banished Schenn to the third pairing, and put Poolman with Huggy, it's an excellent combination of offense and defense. It's hard to know which is the top pairing, OEL and Myers or Huggy and Poolman. All four are playing well above expectations at the start of the year.

I will make this observation, and not because he's a great player as much as when he's on the ice he generally makes positive things happen, Kyle Burroughs back in the lineup means two game win-streak. Burroughs in the pressbox and Hunt on the ice equalled a three-game skid. Do the math, Burroughs should NEVER again be subbed out for Hunt, period!

That's a little harsh, I thought Hogs was supposed to be one of our better 200 foot players, though in the last few games he's been exposed a little bit. I notice that Pods found his way into Bruce's doghouse against Washington, since he didn't play much, and he's been removed from PP2. I wonder if Bruce is sending a message to the younger guys. I hope that Eurocentric second line tears the Preds a new one! Canucks 5-3, Petey's line gets 3, Miller's line gets 1 and the Motte line chips in with one. That has been the best line for the Canucks on this road trip, as many anticipated, Highmore is Motte 2.0.

What I'm blown away by is Pearson's ability to fight. He's dropped the gloves three times in the last few weeks, has won two of those fights outright and the third wasn't long enough to name a winner. And he's not tilting with small guys, I think every guy he's fought has been bigger than Tanner. That's another factor in his game that makes him valuable, especially for a coach who doesn't seem to mind the rough stuff.

In order for the Canucks to beat a team like Florida, they need bubble Demko in net. Florida is too big, strong and talented for Demko to put in a below average performance and still win. He wasn't the only one who played below average, Petey's entire line stunk, except for Pearson's fight, Bo couldn't get it in gear and Brock whiffed on some nice feeds. I wish Bruce hadn't blendered the lines, I thought Petey, Garland and Podz had something going, and Miller on the third line worked harder, and was more successful.

I'm sorry Bruce broke up the Petey-Garland-Podz line, I thought they had a nice chemistry.

I love Lou, and nobody can blame him for making a great deal for himself while he was the best goalie in hockey. The league changed the rules on Canucks management and then penalized them for violating a rule that did not exist at the time they negotiated Lou's contract. It was a total BS move by the league, and has seriously hurt this team.