Search the Community

VANCOUVER—The Canucks management brass made two deals right at the NHL trade deadline on Monday, Feb.28. The Canucks targeted two players who will come in and help their forward depth, two guys who are interchangeable in the bottom six role on the Canucks. With the opening on the fourth line center ice position all season, after former-West coast express member Brendan Morrison exiled to Calgary for a bigger role, the Canucks had no proper replacement to fit in the fourth line. Roles on the team: Maxim Lapierre: fourth line centre, and occasional shifts on Manny Malhotra's wing if the situation arises. He has the speed and defensive instincts to play a penalty killing duty, lessening pressure on Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows on the PKs. He can take faceoffs with his respectable 53.4% winning rate on the season. Chirs Higgins: fourth line winger with Tanner Glass and Lapierre. Higgins has been teammates with Lapierre before, and they're no strangers to each others play. Look for head coach Alain Vigneault to rekindle old chemistry between the two. Higgins has the hands to play some shifts on the third line with Raffi Torres and Malhotra. He may even get a shot at replacing Mason Raymond on Ryan Kesler's second line left-wing if Raymond struggles. A very versatile player is what the Canucks got with Higgins. Luckily, I've had the pleasure of staying two seasons in Montréal. Following the Canadiens under the spotlight was quite a special experience. They take hockey to a new level. Unlike the Leaf Nation who really has had nothing to cheer for over six decades, I went through the Canadiens Centennial Year celebrations. Royal Canadian Mint designed a Canadiens loonie in celebration of the club's 24 Stanley Cup wins and a big boost to the atmosphere in town. From what I know about Higgins and Lapierre, who both left La Belle Province not too long ago, the Canucks have now got some valuable, quality members at forward. At the end of training camp in September of 2008 the Canadiens were getting set for their 100th NHL season. I can still remember listening to the FAN990, Montreal Sports Radio. They were ecstatic about Higgins. They felt it was Higgins' breakout year offensively on the Habs. Tony Marinaro, who currently hosts an on-air show called "Montreal Forum" predicted that Higgins could reach 40 goals this season. Head coach Guy Carbonneau was also optimistic. Kostitsyns was one year older, Higgins would step up and D'Agostini and Pacioretty were coming up promisingly. We all know that it did not exactly materialize, but the Canadiens did get into the playoffs, only to lose in the first round to the Boston Bruins. As for Lapierre, the Messiah to save our fourth line that we have dreamed for so long has finally arrived. In Montréal, Lapierre was loved by his coaching staff as a "hard-nosed, gritty hockey player," who worked "extremely hard night after night." While Lapierre will not score very many goals for his hockey club, he is very much like a Jannik Hansen or Glass on the Canucks; he gives a consistent effort each game and can really skate well. Lapierre has the speed, and with a faceoff percentage of 53.4%, is very tough to play against. He finishes his checks, gets under the skin of opposing players (mainly due to his tenacity) and he can chirp at will. When asked about chirping he said, "If they want me to shut up, I'll do it." After the trades, I received some strong reactions from Vancouver fans: Voice of the Canucks Nation: "Loved em both. The 4th line is soooo much better!" "Higgins is a great team guy as well." "Yea. Lost a little depth on D in Oberg tho. Should be fine." ~Todd Cordell, former-B/R lead writer, current SportsHaze Canada content manager via text message "A good sign, he's buying in already!" (on Lapierre agreeing to shut his mouth if asked by coaches) ~EvoLu7ioN, member on Canucks.com forum "Great trades today by netting Higgins and Lapierre that should solidify Vancouver's bottom 6 lines" ~Drewbro77, on twitter "Luvin vancouver's acquisition....lapierre & burrows 2 big pests...and underachieving higgins can chip in wtv on 3rd or 4th lines" ~Drizzydre87, twitter "Many props to Gillis for bringing in just what our roster needed. Higgins n lap will be perfect. And for cheap. Love it." ~Robertus97, twitter Thanks for following your Vancouver Canucks. This is Joseph Trenton. Follow Joseph Trenton on Twitter for the latest Canucks, NHL news, as well as CFL news.

Alex Freisen will make this organization rhyme worth and mirth together down the road. The recent 6th rounder has won major awards at the Ontario Hcokey League level and this season was voted by popular decision (OHL coaches poll) as the league's Best Faceoff Man AND Hardest Working Player Kudos Alex. See my entire write-up on the kid entitled "The Frieght Unknown" Certainly NHL Central Scouting (he was not even on their listing) did not value him the way the Canucks did and it shows in GM Mike Gillis' comments. "He's a very hard-nosed player, really good on faceoffs," Gillis said."He scored in the top-three in our psychological and intelligence testing." He had a head-to-head meeting with 2008 1st round pick Cody Hodgson that went very well for the Canucks. Last year's Niagara IceDogs HUMANITARIAN AWARD and this year's HEART AND SOUL AWARD winner is set to make believers out of us. Heck, if he played in the Western Hockey League the Calgary Flames would have snapped him up in the second round of LAST year's draft Not included at all in the National Hockey League’s Central Scouting rankings, the Canucks went ahead and relied on their own scouting murmur to grab sparkplug centre Alex Friesen from the Niagara IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League in the 6th round (172nd overall). He remained as the Canucks’ only draft pick that was a forward in five total picks (one goaltender) and possesses a strong forechecking ability accented by his speed. ”Alex makes up for any perceived lack of size he might have with speed and work ethic,” Niagara head coach Mike McCourt stated in a Sudbury Star article in January 2010. Known as a streaky left-handed scorer in the OHL, he rang up 17 multiple point games this season and even tallied four points in a game against Missisauga on 1 October 2009. He wrapped up the 2009-2010 season with 60 points in his 60 games and added 94 penalty-minutes as well. Keep in mind that offense was not his calling card as much as his play against the opposition’s top players. He was the IceDogs leader during the regular season in +/- with a +18 mark and also set the team standard for assists with 37. Impressive when you factor in that the team barely qualified for the playoffs with a .441 winning percentage and a goals-for/against mark of 191/233 (-42). They were ousted by the Ottawa 67’s in five games despite his efforts; #8 led the IceDogs with seven points in those contests. The 5′9″, 189 pound pivot is a hybrid of Canucks’ nemisis Dave Bolland and fan favourite Alexandre Burrows. He was honoured by the league as the OHL’s “Hardest Working Player“ and “Best Face-off Man“. Read the OHL release, which includes ALL the OHL Awards including Canucks’ 2008 1st round pick Cody Hodgson, who contended for and won a number of categories. In a 18 February 2010 match (game report) that feature both Hodgson and Friesen, the IceDogs eventually came out on top with 4:31 left in the third period against Hodgson’s Brampton Battalion. It was the only goal in a 4-3 game that did not involve one of the two players; Hodgson finished with one goal and two assists while Friesen pulled in three assists. Named 3rd star, Friesen’s selection could absolutely pay dividends in the future. Speaking about star OHL players, I happened upon a Youtube video of him taking out Taylor Hall on 6 February 2010: Intangibles are a large part of what is already an attractive package. With the skills to challenge this coming season for a roster spot on Canada’s World Junior Team a definite possibility, one might overlook his off ice smarts. In 2007-2008, Alex was named the OHL’s Top Acadmic Player, “Ivan Tennant Award“, as a rookie. After his second season he was named the IceDogs’ ”Humanitarian Award“, and he followed that up this past campaign with the team’s “Heart of the Team Award“. The Canucks obviously see a lot of character despite the fact that the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario-born centre was not even ranked by NHL Central Scouting. “He’s a very hard-nosed player, really good on faceoffs,” GM Mike Gillis said. “He scored in the top-three in our psychological and intelligence testing. Vancouver’s forward prospects may not have much coming from the 2010 NHL Entry Draft in the way of numbers; quality and character seem to lining up in the middle. http://prosportsblog...rieght-unknown/ 28 June 2010 / Robin Keith Thompson http://www.chillerinstinct.com/