Captain Canuck #12

It's interesting that Teves seems to be getting scratched nearly every game for the past couple of weeks. He's not listed as injured, so I wonder what's up with that? He seemed to be playing pretty well most of this season.

And he should be able to get up to a playing weight of 210 as a fully grown adult, maybe even 215.

Good comparison.

Because, unfortunately, there just isn't a concussion Guru out there. If there was, Ferland and every other player with a concussion would be lining up to see him and all would be getting better.

But can they afford to resign him and not replace him with a younger, cheaper D? They're going to have to start making some decisions like this in the near future.

I'm thinking that Tanev may just be the first highly-regarded veteran heading into UFA who Benning trades for a prospect or picks. As much as I would like to keep all our UFAs, this is what successful teams eventually do with some of their better UFAs, and I'm hoping that Benning does with Tanev. Especially since we have a young RD in Rafferty who can hopefully step into Tanev's place.

Yes, but if that doctor could make everyone with a concussion better, all pro athletes with a concussion would go to him and all would return to playing. Every concussion and player is different, but hopefully Ferland can still become one of the lucky ones.

Not sure about the staging the fight to get out of the line-up part, but otherwise I've had all the same thoughts/suspicions as you.

In his rookie year, he just shot without thinking and scored often. Since the beginning of last season, he seems to be pausing an extra second or fraction of a second before releasing, and the goalies are more ready for his shots. It looks like he's lost some of his confidence in his shooting ability. I think once we see him shooting without overthinking, he's going to get back to scoring more routinely (not that he's any slouch at that now).

Sounds like a good idea to me! What could go wrong with that strategy??

I found the Canucks' recent defensive stats, posted by the Flames' blogger Todd Cordell on HockeyBuzz, to be pretty startling: Here are five things to watch when the Calgary Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks:1. An exploitable defenseThe Canucks have won six of their last 10 games, which is solid, but they are not playing well right now. Especially defensively. They rank 28th in attempts against, 30th in chances against, 31st in Grade A chances against, and 31st in expected goals against during that span. Alex Edler’s return to the lineup should help but these woes are much deeper than that. I think the Flames are a solid bet to take advantage, especially with the Canucks in the latter half of a back-to-back. What's up with the Canucks' defensive play? Going into the season, it looked like we were going to have a pretty solid D core. Certainly much improved over last year. Now it seems Markstrom is getting left to fend for himself most nights. What the heck's going on?

At least Utunen has the excuse of being a defensive defenceman.

He's become their scapegoat, based solely on being an ex-Canuck.

First he had a recurrence of his concussion symptoms after a fight with Clifford where he really didn't take any good shots to the head. Then he got the symptoms again from just throwing some good hits and not even getting hit/punched himself. His brain is obviously very fragile at this point and he needs to take a good long time to let it heal now...if it ever really does.

With Ferland unable to play the physical role we needed from him -- if he plays at all -- I predict that Benning grabs Andreoff to fill that need!

Well that doesn't sound good.

As much as I'm pulling for Juolevi, it concerns me a bit how often he's the biggest minus player in the game by the end of the night.

He might just have some trouble adjusting to the retribution that always follows throwing a big hit in today's NHL. He should be able to handle himself against most players, but it will be interesting to see what happens when Reaves, Wilson or even Chara comes after him to 'avenge' a hit thrown on one of their teammates. I'm not sure if his size advantage will be enough to overcome their fistic experience advantage. And if he does get beaten in a fight, how will he respond? Will he stop throwing hits?

Go Czechia, Go! Show those Germanians who's boss!

Now the Canucks just have to find a way to keep some other team from offering Brackett an Asst. GM position and luring him away.

I'm thinking more of the college UFAs. I'm pretty sure they put a high priority on signing with a team that looks to have few good prospects in their position, to maximize their chances of actually playing in the NHL. We used to be one of those teams, but less and less every year.

Also, the more good prospects we have, the less likely other free agents will foresee openings for themselves and want to sign with us.

With our record of injuries, I'd have to think this wouldn't be a problem.

This gif looks more like it should be accompanied by the caption: "Time to get off the pot, Jake". But oh well, I'll go along with it, keep it rollin' Jake!

Agreed. And it's interesting to compare Motte and Schaller. Motte plays the way that Schaller should play (but rarely does) if he wanted to guarantee himself a long NHL career.