Lancaster

Luc Bourdon got a severe leg injury once returned back to junior. Injuries could have happened at any level, but considering that he completely regressed in his development, perhaps in an alternate scenario, if he was up with the Canucks, having an elite pro-level medical/training staff, plus veteran mentors to guide him along (Linden, Naslund, Ohlund, Salo, etc.).... it might have led him down a different path.

FYI.... the Portland Timber are MLS champions

Wally coaching again? He certainly knows how to coach, so this might be good for the short-term... but what about the long-term? Who is the next successor for coaching? Waiting for Lulay to eventually hang them up?

Wasn't Camilo's new team having financial trouble a while back? The Whitecaps should lowball them for the transfer fee, lol. A "take it or leave it" type situation. As much as people hate Camilo for what he did... should he come back and win another Golden Boot (a Morales and Camilo combo would be magic) and help the Whitecaps to reach the championship round, watch out Lenarduzzi for being the most popular soccer guy in town.

I'm not sure. Didn't he have some visa issues or something that prohibited him from either playing for the farm team or in WHL? So far, he's in the 2nd tier of Swedish hockey, so nothing really to write home about in terms of stats. On a slightly unrelated note.... former prospect and one of another Swedish twin, Patrihk Vesterholm is starting to get his bearings.... putting up 14 points in 20 games in the SEL.

Hopefully this kid progresses correctly. Before we proclaim him the next eventual starter for Canucks.... lets just remember that Vancouver wasn't just a graveyard for near NHL-level goalies, but for goalie prospects too. Schneider was perhaps the only starter to be developed in-house in the last few decades. Prior to him..... Cloutier was acquired through trade. Alex Auld wasn't developed properly and ended up as a 1B to backup goalie. Corey Hirsch was good initially, but left for Europe. Then there's Brochu, Mike Fountain, Jonathan Iilahti seemed like a good prospect at one point, Joe Cannata was given the same praises as Demko is now. Just saying, we should temper all expectations until at least Thatcher can at least perform in the AHL level.

So, when can he make those mistakes then? Maybe once the Sedins are long gone and there no chance of tying the game up? Become like the next Oilers and have no "safety net" in place? And how would Jake going back to junior be helpful? Chances are he'll just out-muscle, out-skill any 16 year old who tries to check him, thus no learning opportunity will be available for him there. Players learn from mistakes and it's probably 100% that the coaching staffs will be showing the videos of his mistake back to him, thus breaking it down and lecturing him on what to do when a similar situation happens again. Had the Canucks just kept saying, "they're not ready" for the Sedins, they would have probably left back to the SEL long ago.

Rookies making mistakes? What a novel concept.... lol. Virtanen will be getting a good talking to by the coaching staffs. He knows he probably was one of the key reason the Canucks lost tonight. Sending him back to junior won't make anything better, as most likely he'll just be cutting corners even more. At least in the NHL, he'll learn that any mistake made can be turned into a goal against and potentially costing the team the game. Better for him to learn from his mistakes now, when the Canucks have the ability to clean up his mess rather than later on when he'll be thrusted into a position where he's more unprepared for. He'll learn and will be better for it.

"Fortunately" it's just a broken bone. It has nothing to do with whether a player can "tough it out", need to train more, or whether one is truculent enough or not. Bone is bone.... unless he's calcium deficient, lol.

Probably not "mishandled", but more that the Canucks choosing to have the Chicago Wolves as their AHL affiliate probably derailed a lot of players. The Canucks were developing players when they had the Moose. They are again grooming guys for the NHL in Utica.

Not saying he doesn't battle, but he seems to be trying equally as hard to draw a foul too. Perhaps it's just the way he plays back at home, but I don't see Earnshaw, Mattocks, Manneh just flopping when they're inside the penalty area. Although, Octavio really did have a legit beef yesterday. At times, he just doesn't chase the ball when it's nearing the edge. I get that you don't want to spend effort wastefully, but if he just tried to slip to pass/retain the ball, it would be a 50/50 scoring chance. I'm not saying the Caps should get rid of him, but man... he's just so frustrating to watch.

If only the Whitecaps have some legit scorer. Octavio.... so streaky and not a 100% effort player. Still don't understand how he gets to start ahead of Earnshaw.

I remember around 04/05.... the next generation of elite goaltenders were gonna be Price, Schneider, Rask and Pogge. Guess which one on that list doesn't belong, lol.

Glad that Gaunce actually got to play when he was up here, and even got himself a goal. Hopefully this experience will open his eyes more to see what more he needs to work on. Lots of positives so far in terms of strength/size and positioning. The only concern I noticed a few times was him not moving his feet as much, which has been well documented. Positioning is great, but this is the NHL, where transitional plays are very important. If you're not a great skater, having some forward momentum will be better than starting standing still.

Home crowd support vs the tiebreaker. I dunno..... I would prefer something more tangible.

Potential dark horse for the Calder? He's currently on pace for about 30+ points. Not really the sexy picks compared to the offensive dynamo forwards, but a rookie defenseman playing 18+ mins per game and with decent amount of points.

Very sloppy defending by the Caps near the end. Thank god for Ousted. I was hoping Vancouver wouldn't get a scoreless draw, since now they have to win outright at home.

Everyone needs to relax when it comes to the production of Virtanen. Horvat took a while before he even got a goal. Heck, not sure if anyone really remembers... but even Joe Thornton was held pointless or something for his first 20+ games in his rookie season (or something like that). Jake has 2 assists in 8 games. If he gets 20 points in the course of the season, while maintaining his physical presence, and giving his 100% each shift, I don't see anything wrong with that. Meanwhile, he'll be learning from some of the best offensive players in our generation (Daniel and Henrik), some of the ideal physical workhorses of the league (Dorsett and Prust) and also building chemistry with his age peers (McCann, Horvat, Baertschi, Hutton, etc).

For any rookie defenceman.... one of the best praise is that their play isn't noticeable. I don't notice Hutton as he's not making any mistakes or making risky plays unnecessarily.

Earnshaw has been incredible when he has been playing. Any reason that Octavio regularly starts instead of him? Earnshaw isn't as young as Rivero, but he's kinda like Rosales where he's pretty much going at 100% the entire time, whereas Rivero sometimes just gives up a chase and such. Seems like Robert is more willing to get into a position where the ball will be rather than just getting open and expecting the ball to come to him.

In Osaka, their line was created over a hundred years back and probably rebuilt after WW2.... but it's not like Vancouver will need to build a new skytrain line with 1950's technology / techniques. The whole "they rebuilt, thus it's easier for them!" argument doesn't really hold water considering their biggest expansion on their subway system occurred many decades after the War... and they're still constantly expanding, not just to outlying regions, but to areas already with service. I'm not expecting Translink to build new bullet trains, but just look at the subway lines in Japan, they don't even remotely look high-tech. It resembles the train tracks you find behind Grandview Highway. Perhaps Translink need to realize that they don't need to re-invent the wheel. I mean, how hard would it be to just simply procure the same trains used in Japan or Korea? Probably just buy some 2nd hand ones for discounts, or just be part of their bulk orders.

^ It depends on what the problem is. In Japan, the only problems I ever experienced were flooding (typhoon came by) and when there's "Human Accident".... rarely, if ever, it was due to some mechanical failure, technical issues, etc. What Translink should do is expand their capacity by putting in some parallel tracks or some competing lines. No point just adding extensions when all trains just funnels back to the Expo line.

So far his play has been decent. Nothing too flashy, but effective. The only gripes so far is that he does seem weak when competing along the boards. I guess he's just still a young guy. He also seems a bit slow at times in reacting to forecheckers, like today's game when he was trying to stick-handle his way out of trouble beside his own net, only for it to cause a turnover. Maybe it works in the NCAA, but few defenders can get away with it in the NHL. Just more conditioning and experience, and I think the Canucks will have a nice gem.

He did look a bit nervous in the defensive zone. Seems like a lot of watching the play rather than getting into better position. Probably just doing what he normally did back in junior, waiting at the blue line to get ready to transition to offense. It won't cut it in the NHL... unless you're Ovechkin or something. I wished he played with more physicality, similar to Lucic.... but then again, while he's a man among boys... he's a just a young, raw man-child among mature adults. Overall, it's his first game and probably with minimal practice with his linemates. Trying too hard to not make any mistakes rather than playing the game that has made him successful up to this point of his career.

Pedro Morales won't be suiting up for the remaining games.... possibly not even for the playoffs too.....