Lancaster

One thing I notice is that he's very strong. Just a couple of time when he was behind the Avs net, he was able to move the defenseman and/or his stick. Perhaps the defenseman is more focused on someone else, but it certainly is positive minor aspect.

If Camilo stayed and scores only 10 goals, that can easily be a few more wins... easily possible to have the Whitecaps vying for top 3 rankings in the West. Best to just ignore the "purist". They probably wish they still use leather balls, have 120 minute matches and 20 players aside like in the 1800's. The bright side for next season is that Manneh will be even more effective and having Waston for a whole season will be amazing too.

Nothing like having the refs to decide the game. This just makes MLS look bush league.

I would rather the Canucks move Miller instead of either Lack or Markstrom. Elite goaltending is definitely important, but I feel the Canucks should do a 1A 1B kinda situation, much like how the Wild had both Fernandez/Roloson or Backstrom/Harding.

With that same notion, might as well send down Kassian too.

I guess I should have changed that more. I was thinking more a top-6 winger, but team composition dependent. Like if the top line needs a bigger winger he can fill that role. A complementary player, not necessarily him carrying a line.

One thing that Gaunce has is the ability to raise his play when it's crunch time. In his junior career, his post-season stats are either equal, if not higher than his regular season totals. You may chalk that up to just smaller sample sizes, but considering that point totals usually decreases in the post-season, this "x-factor" is what separate regular players with clutch ones. While you can always teach a player defense, it's another to have one that is defense 1st with size. One of Gaunce's advantages over other prospects like Cassels, Mallet, or even Horvat is his size. While not a behemoth, at 6'2 207lbs as a 20 year old, that's pretty impressive. Assuming he tacks on another 10-15lbs as he matures, he'll be strong/big enough to check down top forwards, the like of Joe Thornton, Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, etc (those types of players, not necessarily them in 5 years time). To have a model of reference, Kesler is only 200lbs.... so a close comparison to potential role and body size would be Malhotra 6'2 220lb. Horvat is a bit quicker and just a tad smaller, but you're hoping to groom him to a top-6 role, not necessarily Gaunce. Brendan often plays on the wing as well, giving him more versatility. Much like when he was drafted, I still believe that Gaunce can be as good as Linden (strong #2 centre, 1st line winger) or at the very least a 3rd line shutdown centre (Malhotra, Linden in latter years).

But then good ol' Canadian jobs will be sent overseas! You don't want to be unpatriotic, do you? /sarcasm

Ehrhoff was pretty much like the 3rd Sedin when on the ice. It's a fact that Ehrhoff plays better with the twins and the Sedins played a lot better with Ehrhoff.

Are you seriously comparing WHL numbers to NCAA? The CHL is a teenage league with the odd few overagers. Most of those kids worry only about hockey and high school. The NCAA is a league with adults, and they also have to worry about their college academics too. FYI, Schroeder was initially supposed to be a top-5 pick. If there's a parallel dimension where both can exist in the same time frame, JS would still be ranked higher up. When he was draft, people were saying he'll be a "poor man's" version of Patrick Kane. Ungodly skills, shifty footwork and puck handling abilities, has one of the most upper-body strength in his draft class, great on-ice vision and very competitive attitude. If JS is supposed to be not a good fit for the Pacific division... how can you expect Shinkurak to be survive too? If the Canucks had the #2 pick, moving up would be pointless. 50/50 you'll get Reinhart and if not, you have a great "consolation" prize with Ekblad or the other top-4's. Prospect rankings aren't the be all, end all, but there's a reason there are rankings. Unproven doesn't mean worthless. I mean are you gonna say you'd rather have Nolan Baumgartner of 05 over Sidney Crosby just because he's "unproven"? Of course not. I'm saying that Reinhart has a greater probability of success than Shinkaruk. If Hunter was such a no-brainer to be a star, he would have went top-5 instead and not in the late 1st round.

The same praises were made when talking about Jordan Schroeder too..... (I still believe he'll make it into the NHL). Not saying Shinkaruk won't be an NHLer, but when you can package an unproven prospect coming off a serious injury to help get the #1 pick, you do it.

Most of the really high paying jobs usually aren't in Vancouver. Top governmental jobs are usually located in Victoria or back East. Top finance jobs are all in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. Not saying there aren't any good jobs here, but not enough to warrant the expensive cost of living here. When housing prices are rivaling those of Tokyo, London, New York, Hong Kong.... something is really wrong.

Was Lucic part of the brawl during the handshake between the Vancouver Giants and the Chilliwack Bruins back in 2007?

AV was still an issue. He was out-coached in 09, 10, and 12. Still nearly blew it against Chicago in 11 as well. Not saying coaching was the main issue in the finals, but why would you dress more plugs when your main problem is offense?

I'm ethnically Chinese and my wife is Japanese.

Assimilation > Mosiac FYI: I'm 2nd gen and my wife is a landed immigrant.

He was a fluke, even the GM of the Red Wings admitted it himself. Ken Holland even said that if they knew initially how good he was gonna turn out, they wouldn't have drafted him in the later rounds.

Kinda interesting how it seems to be Swedish players dominating the European side. Usually there's a few offensive dynamos from Russia every draft.

He was suppose to an upgrade over Salo in those departments...

Just because someone wins the lottery, it doesn't mean buying lotto tickets is a good investment.

It's only weak retroactively. Hodgson who was supposed to be the 2nd best forward in the draft after Stamkos, oozing with leadership abilities, strong 2-way play, etc. Schroeder was supposed to be similar to Patrick Kane in playing style. A wizard with the puck and stocky for a small guy. Would be better as a winger. Grabner was a speedy sniper who eventually developed a defensive game and just need the right opportunity to make the next jump into the NHL. White.... not completely off-the-wall as he was expected to go in the 2nd round. Scouted to have the best wrister in the draft, not afraid to go into the dirty areas and is a project player to be developed in the strong University of Minnesota hockey program. Rodin was supposed to be a Naslund-like player. He was the 2nd leading scorer in the J20, helping Brynas junior team to win the Championship, was eventually named to the 2010 Swedish junior team and with a strong showing ending up with the Bronze. His initial foray in the AHL was decent too with 27 points in 62 games on a Chicago Wolves team that prefers playing vets instead of rookies. I hope Rodin returns back to the Canucks organization. The poor experience with the Wolves probably stunt his development, so a year or two with the Utica Comets might be able to turn his game around.

An alternative storage of value is always a good thing. Gold, jewelry, real estate, equitable position in a stable company, etc.... those are great choices to not holding your money directly in fiat currency. Bitcoins on the other hand.... there's nothing tangible to back it up. While the USD is still flawed, in theory it's guaranteed by a legitimate government with actual assets, something bitcoin can't claim. Volatility should not be a reason to dive into bitcoins either. If you're just speculating (gambling), there are other better avenues to explore. Penny stocks, derivatives, leveraged etf's, angel investing... heck, even a casino/betting might give you better odds.

What ever happened to all that "moral victory" talk? lol

Actually, it was Brian Burke who lowballed him.... and Kesler publicly sided with Brian Burke. If there's one golden rule with hockey players, you never interfere with other player's contract negotiations.