Drive-By Body Pierce

So ownership can rush into making a bad decision out of desperation?

The practice tests were successful. Now time to pass a real one.

That's the good question! I am not sure either.

The Vancouver Canucks still have a general manager, but the speculation about who will be the next person in charge isn’t likely to go away soon. With Jim Benning reportedly in the last guaranteed year of his contract and the Canucks playing as they have been — despite two straight wins against a pair of teams below them in the standings — many people are wondering when ownership will finally make a change. The name generating the most buzz at the moment is Scott Mellanby, who resigned as assistant general manager of the Montreal Canadiens last weekend prior to Marc Bergevin getting fired as GM. Mellanby was also mentioned on Wednesday by Sportsnet 650’s Satiar Shah as the person that’s been “most closely linked” to the Canucks not-yet-vacant GM job. The 55-year-old Montreal native has never been a general manager before, but he ticks a lot of boxes. Mellanby played 1,431 games in the NHL during his playing career, with Philadelphia, Edmonton, Florida, St. Louis, and Atlanta. His first off-ice job was with the Canucks when he was hired as a pro scout by Mike Gillis in 2008. Mellanby spent another year with the Canucks as a senior advisor before leaving for St. Louis where he was an assistant coach alongside Davis Payne, and then Ken Hitchcock. Bergevin brought Mellanby to Montreal in 2012, where he served in the Canadiens front office for 10 years, first as the director of player personnel, and then as assistant general manager from 2014 to 2021. Mellanby also served as assistant general manager of the AHL’s Laval Rocket from 2018 to 2021. The Vancouver Canucks still have a general manager, but the speculation about who will be the next person in charge isn’t likely to go away soon. With Jim Benning reportedly in the last guaranteed year of his contract and the Canucks playing as they have been — despite two straight wins against a pair of teams below them in the standings — many people are wondering when ownership will finally make a change. The name generating the most buzz at the moment is Scott Mellanby, who resigned as assistant general manager of the Montreal Canadiens last weekend prior to Marc Bergevin getting fired as GM. “I’m hearing Mellanby’s name a lot more in the last 24 to 48 hours,” Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reported today. “Not saying they’re going to hire him, but it certainly seems like there’s interest there from the Vancouver Canucks.” Mellanby was also mentioned on Wednesday by Sportsnet 650’s Satiar Shah as the person that’s been “most closely linked” to the Canucks not-yet-vacant GM job. The 55-year-old Montreal native has never been a general manager before, but he ticks a lot of boxes. Mellanby played 1,431 games in the NHL during his playing career, with Philadelphia, Edmonton, Florida, St. Louis, and Atlanta. His first off-ice job was with the Canucks when he was hired as a pro scout by Mike Gillis in 2008. Mellanby spent another year with the Canucks as a senior advisor before leaving for St. Louis where he was an assistant coach alongside Davis Payne, and then Ken Hitchcock. Bergevin brought Mellanby to Montreal in 2012, where he served in the Canadiens front office for 10 years, first as the director of player personnel, and then as assistant general manager from 2014 to 2021. Mellanby also served as assistant general manager of the AHL’s Laval Rocket from 2018 to 2021. Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that Mellanby had his eyes set on the GM job with the Habs, and that Bergevin recommended him as his successor. But when it became clear the Canadiens were going in a different direction, Mellanby decided to leave. Mellanby has been linked to numerous GM jobs in the past. The Habs reportedly gave the Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild permission to speak to Mellanby in 2019, and did the same for the Florida Panthers in 2020. Mellanby was rumoured to be a candidate for the GM job in Pittsburgh earlier this year, but decided not to take any job interviews because he was happy in Montreal according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA. Is this finally the right fit? Perhaps Mellanby’s brief experience in the Canucks organization gives him a leg up, as there would be at least some familiarity with team owner Francesco Aquilini. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/scott-mellanby-potential-canucks-gm-candidate

Show some heart, gain some more confidence and hopefully steer away from having any core players wanting out.

That's the exact same dump and smash strategy that I use in NHL 22!

Loui 3riksson Loui Ëriksson Loui Ēriksson Loui Er1ksson Loui Erikss0n Loui Erikssön

Through all this turmoil the Canucks are going through, there is still a massive impact a player can make on the life of a young child... This is a from a friend who has lost one of his children to cancer, and now is trying to make a direct positive impact to another going through the struggle. Please watch out for it and help encourage it to happen if you can!

It was an 8 or so game losing streak, when Kesler was battling like a madman along the boards in the defensive zone to get the puck. He then banks it off the boards around his check, to Burrows on the move, who moves in on a breakaway with his patented forehand-to-backhand-to- roof move to get (what I believe was) the game winner against Carolina, snapping the losing streak.

They are a lit fuse...to be completely blown up. Probably starting with coaching staff, followed by a couple core players.

Charlie McAvoy?

Less than half a dozen games in and already planning parades...Leafs fan in disguise?

Because the NHL can't directly see how many games the Hurricanes or any other NHL team are playing?

I love Clutch! ...but I'm gonna have to go with Jack White. Easy choice, so much style and diversity.

It all starts with stopping ridiculous trade proposals getting rid of the Canucks' best young players!

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/former-canucks-jake-virtanen-contract-khl-russia Sport24 is reporting that the former Vancouver Canucks winger has been offered a contract with SKA St. Petersburg — Vasily Podkolzin’s former team in the KHL. The deal offered is reportedly worth 60 million rubles, which translates to about $816,000 USD. The KHL regular season schedule begins much earlier than the NHL, with SKA’s first game set for Thursday. Virtanen was due to make $3.4 million USD next season, but was bought out by the Canucks in late July at one-third of his $3 million base salary. He’ll receive $500,000 from the Canucks in each of the next two seasons. The 25-year-old from Abbotsford never played another game for the Canucks after he was placed on leave on May 1, when sexual misconduct allegations about him became public. “Our organization does not accept sexual misconduct of any kind, and the claims as reported are being treated very seriously by us,” the Canucks said in a media release at the time. An investigation by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has been launched, and a lawsuit was filed against Virtanen by a woman in civil court. Virtanen denies the allegations against him.

It's supposed to be a gif that sticks out its pierced tongue, but doesn't work here for some reason that I didn't bother to look into. I do appreciate the compliment, in any case.

The animated gifs make me happy.