Search the Community

With just enough momentum swings to keep the fans at Rogers Arena guessing, they still went home with a renewed sense of optimism: The Canucks CAN beat the Blackhawks. Viktor Stalberg and Sami Salo jostle while Roberto Luongo makes a pad save (photo courtesy of Rich Lam/Getty Images) The shift after taking a holding penalty, Jannik Hansen opened the scoring for the Canucks, adding validity to the importance of "role players" in the playoffs. Hansen's hands, as CBC color commentator Jim Hughson was coined, might be catching up to his feet. His second in as many games was important on a number of levels. With 41 seconds remaining in the first period, Patrick Sharp took a tripping penalty, which the Canucks capitalized on 30 seconds into the 2nd period. Daniel Sedin set a screen in front of Corey Crawford, and tipped a Christian Ehrhoff point shot while jumping. Cody Hodgson and Alex Burrows gather to help Alex Edler celebrate his late 2nd period goal Chicago call-up Ben Smith (third star) had a gift-wrapped deflection off Luongo's trapper end up on his stick, with a half-open net to shoot at. Brian Bickell got around Kevin Bieksa on the left wing, shot a sharp angle shot, which Luongo only got a piece of with his glove. But the games' 2nd star, Alex Edler would put the Canucks back up by a deuce, with 14 seconds remaining in the frame. He slapped a seeing eye shot from the point, that Ben Smith's stick barely glanced, but it was enough to get up and over Crawford's shoulder. Roberto Luongo makes a save as ex-Canuck Ryan Johnson tries to redirect the puck (photo courtesy of AP Photo) But the Hawks were determined to insert some deja vu from the last two playoff series against the hard-luck Canucks. Within two minutes of the third period, Viktor Stalberg did Yeoman's work on the forecheck, and got off a quick wrister from the right wing boards. He surprised both Alex Edler and (subsequently screened) Roberto Luongo; it was the perfect height, just a foot off the ice below Lui's trapper. Daniel Sedin deftly took a breakout pass off his right skate, then took the puck deep into Chicago territory with line-mates Henrik and Burrows in support. The Chicago defense hesitated, long enough for Daniel to stop, tee it up, and bury it top shelf. The crowd had barely settled back into their seats, when Ben Smith pounced on a Michael Frolik rebound, renewing a nervous energy amongst the capacity crowd. "There was no panic," insisted Ryan Kesler. "We were calm the whole way. I'm confident in this group. We don't panic, just stick to our system and stay solid. It's a different team this year. We're growing together, and we've been through this before." They certainly are and have, and Canucks fans are elated that this year, everything seems different, highlighted by the fact they are heading to Chicago leading the series two games to none. What happens next in the Windy City? Stay tuned to The Canuck Way for more Playoff coverage...

With two games remaining in the 2010/11 regular season, it's time to show some love for individual achievements within the teams' structure. Disclaimer: These are NOT official releases; the selections are yet to be announced. They are just my personal opinion, and in turn, open for debate and discussion. Ryan Kesler often keeps you on the edge of your seat with anticipation for what he'll do next Cyrus McLean: Awarded to the highest scoring Canuck and pretty self-explanatory, Daniel Sedin has this all but locked away, currently with 100 points. Considering 95% of goals have both Henrik and Daniel in on the scoring, and Daniel has an 8 point lead over his brother, Daniel will receive the Cyrus McLean. Molson Cup Trophy: Most Molson Cup selections. Typically, the winner of this award was the winner of the Cyrus McLean, so there's strong indication Daniel Sedin will win this award as well. That being stated, the official count hasn't been released, and Ryan Kesler could be in the mix, but Daniel is favored. Fred J. Hume: "Unsung Hero" is the designation of this award. It's quite interesting to look at this award and past recipients, and compare the style of players. Past winners include Martin Gelinas (twice), Jarkko Ruutu, and Alex Auld. This season, the player that has exhibited the grit, perseverance and dedication to his role in my mind is Jannik Hansen. The industrious Dane has become an integral part of the Canucks checking system, and is perhaps the teams best fore-checker. I'd need extra hands were I to count the number of times fans at Rogers arena have cheered his efforts as he headed to the bench after a penalty kill. Most Exciting Player: There could be a real argument here for another award to Daniel Sedin, but much like past winner Alex Burrows, Ryan Kesler has truly brought fans to their feet this season. His end to end rushes, his diligent work on the penalty kill, his solid hitting on the fore-check give him the check-mark here. Although he could stand to pass a little more once inside the blue-line, it's just nitpicking. He is by far and away the most exciting second line player, not just for the Canucks, but in the NHL. Even Walter "Babe" Pratt would shake Christian Ehrhoff's hand for his excellent 2010/11 season. Apparently Luongo has been impressed too (photos courtesy of Rich Lam/Getty Images) Walter "Babe" Pratt: Awarded to the "Best Defencemen", it would be difficult not to give the nod to last years' recipient,Christian Ehrhoff. Of course, I'm a Dan Hamhuis supporter, and seeing what he's done for Kevin Bieksa's game this year, he deserves consideration. As far as pure defending goes, I'd award that to Hamhuis in a heartbeat. But Ehrhoff should finish the season with 50 points, and it is an "all-around" category, much like the Norris trophy itself. He's had some luck in the health category, something few Canuck defencemen can boast, which has helped his numbers. It would be a closer race if Bieksa and Edler hadn't missed significant time due to injuries. Cyclone Taylor: "Most Valuable Player" is quite an honor to bestow upon a team member, and speaks volumes to their worth within the organization. Several players come to mind, including last year's recipient, Henrik Sedin. Roberto Luongo has had a very understated year also, turning in what could be a career season in Vancouver. Fans have also thrown Ryan Kesler's name into the mix, especially after a red-hot first half of the season. But if you took Daniel Sedin off the team, I feel that would immediately change Vancouver's status as "Contender" to "Pretender". Not just for the 41 goals he's potted, nor the 100+ points he's contributed, but also for the class, the example and leadership qualities (yes, I'm referring to Daniel) he exudes. In my mind, the team would suffer most if they had to play without Daniel, and for that reason, he has my vote for Most Valuable Player.

<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2010/01/jan1710_skills17_rr.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed">Jersey change? It was brought to our attention by Icethetics.info in blog posts on both December 1, 2009 and December 3, 2009 that the Canucks may be switching to their modernized stick-in-rink jersey as their home jersey for the 2010-11 NHL campaign. It's interesting to note that on Sunday at the team's annual SuperSkills event, Team Blue wore the team's third jersey featuring the modernized stick-in-rink as the main crest and the Johnny V logo on the shoulders as opposed to their home jersey with the orca on the front and the modernized stick-in-rink on the shoulders. If something isn't up, it's a bit weird that the Canucks would choose to wear their thirds as opposed to their home jersey. Needless to say, we know which one the Canucks like better as an organization. However, the Canucks mascot Fin and the player's kids were wearing the home jersey. Maybe it's an attempt to throw the fans off and make the switch less obvious, but also ever so slightly hinting towards a possible switch. The colours of the Canucks are awesome, but the logo needs to change. The orca logo was designed with blue-silver-red in mind, not the blue-white-green of our current jersey. <img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/12/dec0709_nashville36_rr.jpg" class="imageFloatRightFramed">Vigneault gets it right in the third I don't like to question the coach's decision because he is the one getting paid the big bucks to do it, but it completely puzzled me as to why the plan Wednesday night was scratch Kyle Wellwood, move Steve Bernier to the second line, move Demitra to centre on the third line, and drop Samuelsson down to the third line. Glass has been a great story this year, coming to training camp this year, he was expected to be with the Manitoba Moose all season long and probably won't even get a sniff at the NHL with the Canucks. He defied the odds made the team and has set career highs in every statistical category. However, Glass is not a third line player; he has four goals and five assists all season. Glass is a banger and is not going to snipe any passes he gets from Demitra. News broke late that Rick Rypien had the stomach flu and they could not get Ryan Johnson of long-term injured reserve in time, Wellwood had his spot in the lineup salvaged. Vigneault puts the fourth line player in Glass on the third line and puts the third line player in Wellwood on the fourth line. Puzzling. The lines of Raymond-Kesler-Bernier and Glass-Demitra-Samuelsson all looked lost out there especially Glass. Thankfully, Vigneault saw that and reunited the Raymond-Kesler-Samuelsson unit and formed the dream third line of many Canucks fans of Demitra-Wellwood-Bernier. Wellwood's played with Steve Bernier for the most part in their times as Canucks and Wellwood has displayed the ability to put up points when put with skilled players. Raymond, Kesler, and Samuelsson are a line that have been together all season long. It ain't broken, why fix it? The second and third lines didn't generate the goal to tie the game, but they were a threat to score and put on pressure in the offensive zone. Tonight's going to be an easy decision on whose going to come out of the lineup for Ryan Johnson's expected return. Tanner Glass, Jannik Hansen, and Darcy Hordichuk then didn't see a single shift five on five in the third period, so it's easy to say one of them will come out. <img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canadiens/images/upload/2009/04/laraque_bruins.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed">Nylander treatment for Laraque News broke this morning that the Montreal Canadiens will part with veteran enforcer Georges Laraque because head coach Jacques Martin has lost confidence in Laraque and thinks the team will be better off without Laraque. At this moment, it doesn't appear Laraque will be placed on waivers or traded, but rather will be getting the "Michael Nylander treatment." Which is we will continue to pay your salary, but you are not welcomed to be near the team at all and you can just sit at home all day. I personally believe that you need an enforcer in the NHL despite the fact this is the post-lockout era. Just take a look at last night for the Canadiens, Carey Price gets run over by Cam Janssen (or you could say Janssen got run over by Price), but would that have happened had Laraque been in the lineup? I would like to lean towards no. Take the Washington Capitals for example, who are without an enforcer, star defenceman Mike Green gets hit from behind by David Koci and gets blindsided by Colton Orr, and their captain Alex Ovechkin almost had to fight Steve Downie of the Tampa Bay Lightning. From a previous blog post of mine: Having an enforcer is important and look no further than the last four Stanley Cup champions coming out of the lockout. Last year, Eric Godard was there to serve and protect for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2008, there was Aaron Downey on the Detroit Red Wings. In 2007, there was of course George Parros and Shawn Thornton on Brian Burke's Anaheim Ducks. In 2006, there was Jesse Boulerice for the Carolina Hurricanes, albeit for four months of the season before being traded as part of the Doug Weight deal. Questionable hits so far this year in the NHL this season have also been committed to mostly teams that have lacked a heavyweight enforcer. Both Jarkko Ruutu and Alexander Ovechkin's respective hits on Patrick Kaleta of the Buffalo Sabres, David Koci on Washington's Mike Green, Ovechkin on Tim Gleason of Carolina, Mike Richards on David Booth of Florida, Carcillo's cheapshot on Matt Bradley of Washington in a fight, or Georges Laraques knee on Niklas Kronwall of Detroit. Oh noes! This briefly appeared on the TSN.ca Ice Chips page: The whole Canucks team is injured and will be missing tonight's game!

<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2007/09/092907_oilers16_b.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed" width="320" height="240">I was disappointed when I found out that Darcy Hordichuk would be scratched in favour of Rick Rypien because in my eyes he's been invisible all year long. I made it my goal to watch Rypien carefully and critically Monday night. My assessment is in and Rypien should not be in the lineup over Hordichuk and Hansen. As a whole our fourth line was owned by Buffalo's. The line was benched for the entire third period and Ryan Johnson only got shifts on the penalty kill. Individually, Rypien was invisible all night. As the team's supposed energy player I expect him to be banging bodies when he's not fighting. On Monday night, he was credited with one hit. That is simply not enough for your energy forward. By my count, he got hit at by the opposition more than he made attempts to take runs at people. If he's not hitting, then Rypien just becomes the one-dimensional goon. If he's going to be a one-dimension goon, I would rather have a legit heavyweight in the lineup like Calgary's Brian McGrattan or Minnesota's Derek Boogaard who can intimidate the opposition. Let's face it; Rypien is not going to be intimidating anybody on the ice with his 5'11" and 170 pound frame other than the Darcy Tuckers of the world. Luongo's words after Rypien defeated the 6'7" Boris Valabik in a fight: "I've never been so pumped up after a fight in my whole life," said Luongo. "I was happy for him and he deserves it. He's a great guy. Obviously great fight, so it was pretty impressive." It's great that Rypien can bring energy through his fights, but when he's not in fights, he's invisible man out there. This season, Rypien's established himself as one of the best, if not the best middleweights in the league. As a result, it is going to be hard for him to find a dance partner unless he steps out of his weight class like St. Louis' Cam Janssen and start fighting the heavyweights. People like to bring up the fact that between Rypien and Hordichuk, Rypien has the better offensive game. But it's the fourth line, I don't expect them to score. I expect them to bring energy, emotion, and strong forecheck. If they can chip in the odd goal, great. But it's energy, emotion, and a strong forecheck first. Hordichuk is everything Rypien isn't. Hordichuk's constantly dumping the puck in and flying in on the forecheck to bang bodies. In my eyes, Hordichuk's the guy that makes the fourth line go. On Saturday night, the fourth line unit with Hordichuk and Glass on the wings and Ryan Johnson in the middle was as effective as I've seen the fourth line all year long. The line was fast; they got the puck in deep, and were on the forecheck banging bodies almost instantaneously. For the first time, we finally saw some vintage Ryan Johnson, something we haven't seen at all since he signed in Vancouver. On Monday, you replace Hordichuk with Rypien and the line seemed lost out there. There was absolutely no forecheck from the line and they were more often than not trapped in the Vancouver end of the ice by Buffalo's fourth line. Rypien had a bout with the stomach flu and lost weight from it, but why is he in the lineup if that's stopping him from playing his game? A guy like Alex Bolduc was willing to fight 6'8" John Scott to keephis spot in the lineup, but Rypien keeps on getting a spot handed to him even though he's been absolutely useless and invisible all year long five-on-five. Bolduc got the scouting report on Scott from both Darcy Hordichuk and defenceman Shane O'Brien, but still proceeded to fight Scott because he wanted to impress the coaches and keep his job in the NHL. Perhaps Rypien's body cannot hold up to the constant banging, but I rather have an oft-injured Rypien that makes a difference in the lineup once a year, than the useless Rypien we are seeing right now.

<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Rick_Rypien.png/225px-Rick_Rypien.png" class="imageFloatRightFramed">Ryan Johnson's anticipated return to the Canucks lineup on Wednesday night against the Edmonton Oilers will mean a decision will need to be made on who comes out of the lineup. Winger Steve Bernier and defenceman Aaron Rome could also return. After a 6-2 drubbing of the Pittsburgh Penguins, it's hard to pinpoint a particular player who had a bad game. As usual, the obvious candidates to take out of the lineup are Jannik Hansen and Darcy Hordichuk. You have to believe that Jannik Hansen's spot in the lineup is safe after helping to setup Henrik Sedin's bank-in goal at 14:42 of the first period and then scoring himself on a slap-pass from Henrik Sedin at 3:04 of the second. You can't take Darcy Hordichuk out of the lineup either. Since his return to the lineup on Boxing Day against the Edmonton Oilers, Hordichuk has been a physical and agitating force on the ice in his limited ice time. On Saturday night, Hordichuk drew three penalties and led the team with Brad Lukowich in hits with four. You noticed Hordichuk every time he was on the ice for the right reasons and on one occasion, he had a huge one in the corner on Sidney Crosby. And Rypien, nothing. With the exception of a shot off the post, Rypien was invisible out there and for pretty much most of the season five-on-five. I expect more of a contribution from Rypien in the hitting department as one of the fourth line energy players. Rypien has dressed in 41 games and has 62 hits. Hordichuk's played in 33 games, eight less than Rypien, and has 77 hits for third on the team. Rypien has played in more games and averages more ice-time a game than Hordichuk. On the official scoresheet for Saturday night's game, he had two hits in the game, anybody see any of those? Rypien's made a name for himself for the league already as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the NHL, if not the best. So it's not going to be easy for him to find a dance partner each game to provide energy for the team. He has to hit and he hasn't been doing that. Between him and Hordichuk, he's the better player in every aspect and the far better skater. Hordichuk always seems to have troubles staying on his feet both while playing hockey and in fights. Rypien should be able to fly into the forecheck a lot quicker and adjust accordingly to make the hit. But it's not happening. Defenceman Aaron Rome could make his return to the lineup after missing more than a week with a concussion. In the four games this season, Brad Lukowich has been steady on defence for the Canucks while Aaron Rome during the time Kevin Bieksa's been out has been guilty of trying to do much on a few occasions. Don't expect a change until Lukowich really screws up in a game. In addition, winger Steve Bernier could return as well after missing the past three games with a groin injury meaning another forward may need to come out of the lineup. Needless to say, my candidate to come out of the lineup for Ryan Johnson on Wednesday is Rick Rypien. If Steve Bernier is fit to play, the other forward for me would be Tanner Glass, not because he's played bad this season or Saturday night, but him and Rypien were the worst of the best and two players in particular that I did not notice much of on the ice. How about we see that hit on Matt Cooke by Shane O'Brien again? <object width="640" height="383" id="embed" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/embed.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="flashVars" value="hlg=20092010,2,718&event=VAN449&server=http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/&pageurl=http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/&nlwa=http://app2.neulion.com/videocenter/nhl/" /><embed name="embed" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" src="http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/embed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="383" quality="high" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashVars="hlg=20092010,2,718&event=VAN449&server=http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/&pageurl=http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/&nlwa=http://app2.neulion.com/videocenter/nhl/"></embed></object>

<img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/11/oct2309_demitra_rr.jpg" class="imageFloatLeftFramed">It is interesting that at the beginning of the NHL campaign, the Vancouver Canucks were over the salary cap and over the roster limit and we are halfway through the season and the Canucks have yet to have to really address any of the problems. Coming out of training camp, Tanner Glass and Sergei Shirokov made it, Pavol Demitra was suppose to be back by mid- or late-October, Brad Lukowich had a good camp, Mathieu Schneider was out until late October, and Jannik Hansen broke his finger in a fight with the Edmonton Oilers' Gilbert Brule. The Canucks started off by sending Cody Hodgson back to the Ontario Hockey League's Brampton Battalion, sending Brad Lukowich to the Texas Stars, placed both Mathieu Schneider and Pavol Demitra on long-term injured reserved to free up the required cap space to get the Canucks under the $56.8 million salary cap. By the latest, the Canucks would be forced to make some moves in late October. But what do you know, Daniel Sedin breaks his foot four games into the season and is out until early November, effectively freeing up the necessary cap space for Mathieu Schneider to make his Canucks debut. We learn that Pavol Demitra had suffered a setback in his rehab from offseason shoulder surgery and had to undergo a second procedure, pushing his return date to December. Michael Grabner who was called up to replace the injured Daniel Sedin, injures his ankle warming up playing soccer freeing up the roster space for Jannik Hansen to make his season debut. In December, we learn that Demitra's return has been pushed back to January. But great news, January is almost here and we would have a 100% healthy Canucks lineup and some decisions would have to be made. Who goes on waivers to make room for Demitra? Is it Glass? Hordichuk? Hansen? Rome? Fear not. We learned today that Kevin Bieksa will be out for up to three months which will peg him for a post-season return. This frees up the extra roster space needed for Demitra's return. In the post-season, there is no roster limit and salary cap which would give the Canucks a $60 million team.