Battle of Western Canada

Aaron Rome for Norris

2011-11-13T23:50:00.002-08:00

I know its early to be calling it, but before Leaf fans jumped on the Kessel for Richard bandwagon I thought I would get on this. Rome has been back 4 games and he's scored 3 goals, 5 points even having missed half of one game for an illegal hit that ejected him from the game. If can stay healthy all seson he is on pace to have 76 points by the end of the season. I getting them to take Jeff Cowan off the last Canucks Jersey off and put on Aaron Rome cause this guy is for real!

Sameulsson in an Elevator

2011-09-20T17:55:00.001-07:00

Canucks Lineup to start 2011 reg season predictions

2011-09-18T17:04:00.002-07:00

\

We know kes and raymond wont be starting. Im gonna go out on a limb and say Malhotra is not going to be starting the season either, his eye still looks too swollen shut.

Forwards:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows
Samuelsson-Hodgson-Sturm/Higgins
Jensen-Lapierre-Hansen
Duco-Mancari-Oreskovich

Defense

Hamhuis-Bieksa
Ballard-Edler
Tanev-Salo
Rome

Goalie

Luongo/Labarbera

Eklund is such an idiot

2011-09-08T15:39:00.003-07:00

But we already knew that. What did he do this time you ask? Two things:

1: He annoucnes that the Doughty deal is done just hours after the Russian Plane Crash. This is one of the biggest RFA's in the offseason that people have been waiting for all year. Even if the Doughty deal was done would LA announce it after that terrible news in the nhl? unlikely! So he knew he could get away with faking the Doughty announcement because of the tragedy in Russia.

2. Now Eklund is claiming that Semin is rumored to be going to Buffalo. The team that is already 4 million dollars over the salary cap is going to take on a 6 million dollar salary. Thats idiotic! If Semin actually ends up in Buffalo I will eat my own fesces. Its that unlikely.

Eklund you suck!

-Hark

Sad News

2011-09-07T17:10:00.003-07:00

I just heard that nearly the entire roster of the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv was killed in a tragic plane crash. This is terrible news in a bizzare summer filled with tragedies in the world of hockey. A couple years back I covered the Lokomotiv's playoff run and it was a lot of fun, and I am truly saddened by what has happened. For any who remember, much of the coverage focused on Marcus Nilson, but he was no longer on the team at the time of the accident, and was not on the plane. I am deeply sorry for those like Pavol Demitra who were on the plane, and those who were close to them.

Turris to Van and Crosby update

2011-09-06T22:48:00.003-07:00

Working on two rumours here this hour. I got one source (Hal) telling me that Turris is coming to Van with Labarbera for Schneider and Oreo. Turris was practicing at UBC today so Mike Gillis and company would have had a chance to see him first-hand to decide if he could make an impact on this Canucks roster. There is another bogus rumour going around that Turris is trying to extract $4 million a season from the Coytotes. If this is true this is good news because any hesitation could mean Turris ends up in Van City. I'll pay the little bugger 3 million a season though because he's gonna take a hometown discount to play in BC.

I got my other source (Hosh saying) that Crosby is planning on announcing his retirement tomorow at 1230am EST and 1030am Mountain time.

I'm not sure if Hosh is legit. Firstly, Crosby has been significantly derailed by his concussion and it seems likely he will not be available to start the season. It seems unlikely he would hold a press conferene to announce that he won't start the season because its just too early. There are still steps for him to follow like attaining on ice workouts with hitting. This definitely should be on the radar by now.

I guess I could see Crosby retiring so the NHL actually has to do something about concussions. I hope not though. I need him in my hockey pool this year... he's my keeper.

There are bums and then there are super bums, and then there is Matt Stajan

2011-08-31T20:56:00.001-07:00

How many more years do we have of him? Three?

FUCK

8 canucks back on ice

2011-08-30T01:12:00.001-07:00

Of the eight only samuelsson, sturm and edler will crack the roster at the start of the season. However there are standouts in the deeper 5:

Darren Archibald was on the Nigara Ice Dogs team that went all the way to the Memorial Cup Final. Archibald has always been a point per game player including ten goals in 14 games last playoffs.

Kevin Connauton is another impressive player that played alongside Franson, Blum and Mezsaros with the Vancouver Giants. He put up impressive numbers in the WHL but lagged a little this season in the AHL. Expect him to do big things in the NHL but it's going to take him at least another 2 years to get there.

Sturm and Samuelsson- Both are trying to contend for a spot on the second line with Kesler when he comes back. It's even possible Vigneault could put Burrows on the second line which he's done at times before like the 2010 playoffs when Samuelsson got a chance on the 1st line and had 8 goals and 15 points in 12 games. Canucks are hoping Sturm can regain his 2010 form when he scored 22 goals. It wouldn't be farfetched for Sturm to score 20 goals while playing on the third lime getting solid chances to move up and down the lineup in times of injury.

An Early Look at the New-Look Northwest Division | The Province Blogs

2011-08-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

An Early Look at the New-Look Northwest Division | The Province Blogs

In response to the Province's article about how the NW will look this year, I will offer my two cents. If you look at the standings of teams that missed the playoffs last year they go like this:

9th-Dallas with 95 pts
10th-calgary with 94 points
11th- st louis with 87 points
12th-minny with 86 points
13th-columbus with 81 points
14th-colorado with 68 points
15th-edmonton with 62 points

Of those teams the only two you can argue that made significant improvements would be Minnesota (heatley, settoguchi) and Columbus (Jeff Carter).

Lets do a team by team breakdow of the NW:

Calgary Flames- Their defense has gotten a lot younger over the past few years. Trading away Regher opens an enormous leadership void to be filled and it will be interesting to see who fills in; most likely J-bow or Gio. The Flames still have some of the worst prospects in the league and it doesn't seem like anyone will be making the jump to the big club on forward. Brett Carson and Brendan Mickelsson will get the opportunity to play with the big club when there are injuries and could leave a lasting impact. But it is tough to see them taking a roster spot away from any of the big six: gio, bow, sarich, Hannan, Babchuk, Butler. Butler will definitely get the nod otherwise the Flames traded away Regher for essentially nothing; except getting Kotalik off their hands. Butler looks like a solid pickup because the Sabres are excellent at graduating their prospects. See Marc Andre Gragnani for proof.

My Prediction- Calgary just barely squeaks into the playoffs

Minnesota-It still has to be a rebuilding year for Minnesota. Hopefullly they get some better goaltending from Backstrom as Brent Burns will be missed very much on defense. Heatley and Set-o-Hands are a big imprvement on offense, but you still can't expect the Wild to be able to compete with the big-wigs in the Western Conference

My Prediction: Minnesota finishes 7th-10th

Edmonton Oilers-This team still has a long way to go when it comes to developing their players. The next few years will be clutch in determining if Edmonton will be a juggernaut in a few years or have some of the biggest young busts in NHL history. The youngstars are in good hands with Smitty and Horcoff, even though both players are extremely overpaid for the hockey skill they bring to the team. Still they are smart players and great in the locker room and it will be exciting to watch edmonton again this year. The fourth line will be really awesome with Ben Eager who is a physical force to be reckoned with. Not to mention Kartikainen who will likely get time on Edmontons third line this season after he has shown an ability to score points and make big hits. This guy is a Finn that is 6 foot 1, 215 pounds from the 1990 draft class. With all the talk about Hall, Nugz, Eberle, Pjarvi, and Omark a lot of people will forget the man with a Heart of Kinen. Don't!!! this guy is a stud. video of him killin an Av:

My Prediction: Oilers Finish 10th to 15th this year.

Colorado-Talk about a team of bums. I think Paul Statnsy has gotten too comfortable in his role with Colorado. He was such a stud a few years ago when he was with Sakic but his point production has never been able to take it to the next level. With new goaltenders Giguere and Varlamov expect the same level of suckage and chokeage that Craig Anderson brought to the team last year. Landeskog might crack the team but the Avs got a long way to go before they can be a powerhouse in the West again. A lot of pressure will be on Erik Johnson this season to play strong. The Avs gave up their best point producer last year in Chris Stewart to acquire the former first overall draft pick.

My Prediction- Avs finish 10th to 15th.

-Hark

Canucks So Far this summer

2011-07-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

Obviously bieksa was huge! Lap Dog at low cap hit of 1 million per for two years is a smart move. Whether he plays third line or fourth line center, having his hits and his annoyingness will be worth the money... and if hes not we trade him.

Mark Mancari is a very big signing that probably offsets the loss of shirokov. He had 8 points in 20 games for the Sabres last season, but more impressively in the AHL he put up 32 goals in 56 games.

Gillis has about 4 million left in cap space once signing hansen and putting MayRay on the IR. who does he target as a ufa and try to sign?

Obviously Teemu Salami is at the top of that list, because the canucks are looking for a winger that can move up and down between the first and the second line, and hopefully become a stable linemate to Ryan Kesler on what could very soon become the Canucks top line. However after Selanee there is nobody talentwise in the pool which leads me to believe a trade could be sought.

Now forget Stamkos, ovechkin or parize. Nothing that drastic is going to happen. But two potential trade targets could be New York Rangers or the Edmonton Oilers.

On NY rangers the canucks will target Callahan and Dubinsky. If they fall short on that goal they can try and go for Brian Boyle who is a very tough player that can also score goals. If not then Gaborik could easily be pried away from Sather at the right price. Sather would be idiotic to trade Callahan or Doobie, but I have seen stupider things happen like the Canucks trading away Grabner.

-hark

Guy Boucher, Nail Yakupov and the Andrew Ladd Signing

2011-07-07T00:26:00.001-07:00

Interesting fact about Guy Boucher coach of the Tampa Bay Lighting. He used to be the assistant coach of the Rimouski QMJHL team when Crosby was on it. This guy has an amazing playoff record. In that 05 year with Crosby he won the Finals in the QMJHL. The next season he didn't coach, but the year after that he became a head coach in the Q and took Drummondville to the second round. The year after that he missed the playoffs, but the year after that he won the championships as Drummondville's Head coach. Last year he moved to the AHL with the Hamilton Bulldogs and took them to the third round of the Calder Cup Finals. And then of course this year with the Tampa bay Lighting. Who could forget when he took a bunch of overpaid bums, with an underperforming Stamkos and took them to round 4 game 7 against Boston. If only TB beat Boston then maybe the Canucks would have won the cup.

Nail (me please!) Yakupov is a stud. His numbers are not quite at the Crosby level in the CHL however he is hovering around Stamkos and that is only after his first season. If he has an amazing next season this guy could put up some legendary stats. Flames would be stupid not to throw in the towel this year and try and get this guy. Pierre McGuire has already stated that it is a no-brainer that Nail me Please goes first overall next draft.

Good on Andrew Ladd. Ended up taking a bit of discount to play in winnipeg. He was making 2.35 million and now he is making around 4.4 million for the next few seasons. I like the signing but if things don't work out in Winnipeg this season expect Ladd to take a lot of heat as well as Antropov. Antropov has to be the biggest European bum in the league. You though Kotalik and hagman were bad? Antropov is making 4 million a season and he only scored 16 goals last season. Two years left on the contract too. No wonder the thrashers owners wanted to sell so badly.

-hark

How the Flames avoided Free Agent Bumageddon

2011-07-05T18:11:00.002-07:00

At first glance it seems that the Calgary Flames did nothing to improve their team during the Canada Day long weekend. They were in the final four for Brad Richards, but that's about it. However, they did manage to sign Tanguay to a 3.5million/year -5 year deal and Babchuck to a 2.5 million/year - 2 year deal.

This years Free Agent Frenzy will forever be looked back as the Free Agent Bum Frenzy. All the players except Chuck Kobasew are shit and GMs with Free Agent Bum Frenzy Goggles on went on a spending spree. How else did Tim Connolly (a known injury case) get signed for 4+million a year, and Eric Cole got 4 million a year even though a)he can only play decently in Carolina b)He is injury prone. From Ehrhoff and Wizard of Noozki and Ville Leino and Joel Ward, everyone got overpaid.

Looking back, Tanguays deal is a steal.

Sometimes staying put isn't the worst thing you can do.

Biggest Losers so Far

2011-07-04T23:05:00.000-07:00

Definitely the Montreal Canadiens. First they lose the Wizard of Nooski to Columbus who is a young and promising defenseman because they instead decided to pay 5.75 million per season for 3 years to Markov who played 8 games last season. What a stupid signing, the guy is an old washed up bum.

Then they sign Eric Cole to a 4 year 4.5 million dollar deal. Is the GM on crack? Doesn't he realize Cole is an old wash up bum as well with his best days behind him. Maybe he thought he was getting Eric Staal instead.

Again the Canadiens were unable to address their lack of size.

The only smart signing they had was Budaj as a backup for 1 million over the next two seasons and their resigning of Paccioretti to 1.6 million per season over the next two seasons.

Overall, the Canadiens are screwed and will probably miss the playoffs this season unless Price stands on his head again and Cammalerri has another 40 goal campaign, along with Subban having a Norris-worthy season. Its probably just too much to ask, but there will be a lot of pressure on the few remaining good pieces that the Canadiens have.

-Hark

Third Tier UFAs

2011-06-29T08:48:00.003-07:00

Brad Richards - This guy had a real good season for the Dallas Stars until he got injured. Unfortuantly, we all know the history of Mr. Richards. I've even dedicated an entire post about his scam. Some team with cap space is going to sign him to an idiotic contract and he's gonna get 70 pts next year. Seriously if he makes more than 8 million a year whatever GM that signed him should be fired immediately.

Simon Gagne - Gagne is a bum, the last time he had a home was in Philly 05-06 with a All-Human Forsberg and they ripped it up. But then Forsberg got a bionic leg and Gagne started getting a slew of injuries and concussions. I could see him going to Montreal; They seem to love overpaying for injury prone, small players.

Tim Conolly - I think he's played maybe 82 games combined in the last four seasons. Seriously, who is stupid to sign him, Montreal?

Jussi Jokinen - Juicy Fruit proved that he is more than a shootout specialist and is possibly even better than the original Jokinen. I would think that he is gonna get a huge payraise and probably stay in Carolina - where he has had his most success. Plus, Caroline has so much cap space they can afford to splooge/splurge a little

Thomas Kaberle - Kaberle played 9 minutes in Game 7 of the finals. NINE MINUTES. Toronto totally bent over Boston and raped the shit outta them in this trade. Kaberle is a offensive, puck moving defensemen, too bad he doesn't have what it takes in the playoffs. He's not getting much blame because the Bruins won the cup, but I hope a GM isn't dumb enough to offer him 5 million a year

Thomas Vokoun - Where is this mahf heading? On a decent team, he could really be a diference maker and will probably command 6-6.5 a year. If I was Philly I would've traded Jeff Carter for what they did, kept M.Richards and not sign Breezyfosheezy to that contract cause he's a bum and is only good because Phoenix plays a defensive minded system. Instead, I would've gone after Vokoun who shows that he can stop pucks on a terrible, terrible team.

Joel Ward - Will Winnipeg sign Joel Ward to add to their 2.5 black people on their team? I guess not since they are out of Atlanta and no longer have to get players based on race. AHL here he comes!

Radim Vbrata - This guy never gets picked up in any hockey pools. That's because he kind of sucks. He doesn't get a lot of points, but if you want someone to take quite a bit of shots and still not score, pick up Vbrata in the pool. Seriously in the last 3 seasons he's Top 5 in the Waiver wire in shots. Too bad he can't do anything else. I'm betting he resigns with Phoenix; they need to keep somebody. I guess the Jets got pretty lucky in getting a young Thrashers team instead of the Coyotes which lost Breezy and definitely won't make the playoffs this year.

Chuck Kobasew - This guys is a 1st, 2nd, 3rd tier UFA. He's my boy and even though he's scored 18 goals in the last two seasons, I want to see him back in Calgary again. He could play on our second line and relive the season where he broke his first 20 goal plateau.

-Hal

the second class of UFA's

2011-06-28T22:24:00.005-07:00

Steve Montador- The one time Flames prospect, now has been lighting it up with the Buffalo Sabres. 26 points last season to go along with 138 blocked shots; holy macro! 86 hits isn't too shabby either. His hometown is Vancouver and because the Canucks let Ehrhoff walk they are looking for a new defenseman. Sure Ballard could go immediately into the top 4, but we need to let Ballard earn it and Vigneault and company will try and do this by having a solid top 5 for some healthy competition, not to mention injury relief. Montador may be willing to take a paycut to play in Vancouver, unlike Ehrhoff. Currently Montador is making 1.5 million, and is due for a payraise. A hometown discount for the Canucks could be anywhere around 3 million dollars. It is pretty clear he is not going to stay in buffalo, given they have a solid top 4 now with Regher, Myers, Gragani, Leopold with Mike Weber and Shaone Morrisson rounding out the top 6.

SOB (Shane O'brien) - another defenseman making 1.5 million. He likely will be re-upped by Nashville because he likes the organization. At the same time, if there is another team out there willing to offer him consistent top 4 minutes he might think about moving. It would be fun to see SOB play for the Flames, just because SOB hates the Canucks so much, and Nux fans would get to see him 6 times a season on HNIC. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go to a party city like New York, especially after the death of Boogard and their need for an enforcer.

Bryan McCabe- talk about the washed up bums of washed up bums. Signed multi-year with the leafs for nearly 6 million per in what will go down as one of John ferguson Junior's worst moves. Traded for Mike (Diddly Squat) Van Ryn who has amassed 27 games in three seasons of hockey. Somebody will be stupid enough to take a run at McCabe. Maybe he could still get 4 million per on a 2 year contract. Anyone that needs a big booming shot of a defenseman and a first power play anchor on a weak squad could go for McCabe.

Ed Jovanoski- highly prized offensive defenseman Jovanoski is likely on the move this season as the Yotes have to resign Keith Yandle. Jovocop will not go the Canucks even though the green men actually tried to convince him when they saw him in Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals. Canucks are not really looking for veteran presence on the blue line. I think they are looking for a younger, smart defensively but offensively capable late 20's player that has some leadership qualities but is not immediately looking for the "A". Not really sure where Jovocop will end up it is kind of a crap shoot. Possibly Detroit if they are unable to sign Ehrhoff.

Sean Bergenheim- Easily the most coveted of all the second tier forwards. Bergenheim should take a long hard look at what organization he wants to play for over the next few days. The cash strapped Lightning will end up resigning Stamkos and Bergenheim could be the odd man out this summer. He should expect a significant pay increase from the current $700,000 he is making. Much Like Joel Ward mentioned in the first post, Sean Bergenheim is a playoff warrior. He only had 14 goals in the regular season but managed to score 9 in 16 games in the playoffs. A former first round pick is Bergenheim, and he'll likely command a 4 year deal with an annual cap hit of 3 million dollars. Canucks could take a serious run at Bergenheim to possibly play with Kesler or on the third line with Hansen. But I think they will end up going with someone with a little more powerplay experience to play on the second unit.

Rick Rypien- tough as nails but will anyone want to take a run at him now that the canucks have let him walk? Could end up being a perenial AHLer after this season and that might be a perfect situation for him, more out of the media spot light.

Ville Leino- 19 goals and 34 assists with the Flyers last season. Nothing special about his hits or blocked shots however he does have 5 PPG and 6 Power play assists and could be that dependable second line power play player the canucks have been looking for. To go along with Burrows and maybe Hodgson, Malhotra or Lapierre (Lap Dog).

James Wisnewiski- The wizard of Nooski is a UFA. Instead of paying money to a young, reliable defenseman in Wiz-Noose, they decided to throw a multi-year nearly 6 million dollar contract at Andre Markov, after Markov only played 7 games last season. What are you thinking Montreal? You are so dumb, you don't throw big money at an injury prone defenseman when you have PK Subban. In contrast Bieksa took 4.6 million. That would have been a much more important figure for Markov. Either way, in a few years when the Wizard of Nooski is lighting it up somewhere else, the Habs will regret being stuck with Markov's fat contract. The Wizard of Nooski is probably looking at a multi-year 4.5 million dollar deal.

Honorable Mention

Chuck Kobasew- Cant say enough good things about this guy. Signed a picture for Hal and took the time to mail it back. He was never really a Sutter guy and got traded less than 2 seasons after Sutter arrived. Maybe Feaster will think about bringing him back, especially if the big guy Jarome asks for it.

-Hark

Cream of the Crop UFA's

2011-06-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

Chuck Kobasew- the guy is 29 but it feels just like yesterday he was lighting it up for the Penticton Panthers in the BCHL; and do i ever mean lighting it up cause the guy had over 100 points in 58 games and was playing at nearly a goal-a-game pace. Nowadays the guy can't buy a goal. He was making 2.3 million last year with Minnesota. Expect him to take a serious pay-cut to play somewhere else this season. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up playing in the AHL this season.

Scottie Upshall- back in the day my boy Scotty here got traded for a cat named Peter Forsberg. Upshall never really lived up to the hype until the past two seasons where he averaged 20 goals per season. Scottie is still a young player with a lot of juice left in the bottle. Somebody should take a run at this guy. He's from Fort McMurray, Alberta so it is possible that the Flames would sign him. they have the cap space to lock a player like this up that would be looking for around the 2-3 million dollar mark.

Brooks Laich- The Saskatchewan native had 16 goals this past season but 25 the year before. Washington doesn't want him back. Rumours have him coming to the Vancouver Canucks, however I'm not sure he'd be willing to take the paycut that is required to play in Vancouver. Given that Gillis signed Samuellsson to 3 years at 2.5 per, Laich would probably recieve a contract of 3 years at 3 million per by Gillis and company. Wherever Laich ends up he is one tough cookie! On his personal website there's a picture Brooksie doing bicep curls with a bar that I would not even be able to deadlift. Apparently Laich is working out 6 days a week for 5 hours a day. The guys a beast and whoever locks him up will be happy to be stuck with him.

Joel Ward- After scoring ten goals and 30 points for the Nashville Predators this season and securing a spot on the teams third line, many players would be satisfied. Joel Ward wasnt! In the playoffs Ward went out and scored seven goals and 13 points in 12 games of the playoffs. He did this as the third line of the Predators whose roll is to shutdown the best lines in the league. Not only was he able to shutdown the Sedin's but he was capable of making them minus players. Ward is making 1.5 million a season. Expect him to take a pay raise as he is capable of making any third line in the league much better. He'll probably end up staying in Nashville, as david Poille would be crazy to let him walk after his spectacular playoofs.

Max Talbot- this guy scored the game winner of game 7 of the stanley cup finals in 09. Nuff said! Somebody sign this guy. Maybe Detroit would take a run at this guy to play on their fourth line.

Matt D'agostini and Tyler Kennedy- These boys have done everything together. Both grew up in the small town of Sault Saint Marie, Ontario and both were drafted in the 2006 draft. These boys love chilling it up old school in the summer when tyler Kennedy isn't too busy winning Stanley Cups. And I have a feeling that D'agostini and Tyler Kennedy will sign as a pair this off season so they can play together. Don't be surprised if they take their talents to South Beach and play for the Panthers, because that's what all old-school homeboys do. Either way, expect the tandem to recieve 5 year 30 million dollar deal. These players might fit into NY nicely with the opportunity to play with Calahan and Dubinsky. But everyone knows Glen Sather only signs overpriced washed up bums and not young, affordable and valuable assets with potential.

-Hark

New Best Case Scenario for the Calgary Flames

2011-06-25T14:39:00.003-07:00

Right now the Flames have 7.5 million in Cap Space. You add Rastis Ivanins contract to that and you have 8 million. You add Langkows contract to that and you have a possible extra 4.5 million. Langkow will be allowed to go on IR whenever he wants to heal his ailing back. That leaves flames with somewhere between 8-12.5 million to spend. Lets go to the higher end of that because there are always injuries and many players get placed on the IR even after training camp and pre-season.

Right now they pretty much have a full lineup of forwards. I can see them resigning Brendan Morrison at 1.5 million. That leaves 11 million to deal with defense. Flames are very thin on defense because they don't have a solid top four anymore with the departure of Regher. Signing Babchuk will not necesarilly fill that void so the Flames will likely sign another player as a free agent.

Babchuk will likely get 3.5 million while the newbie Chris Butler could get 2 million. That uses up half of the flames remaining 11 million.

I could see the Flames sit on the remaining 5.5 million. Sit on the cap space and see if any trade opportunities open up through the course of the year that doesn't sacrifice their future or give up a roster player that is seriously contributing. They could try and sign Ed Jovanoski, Bryan McCabe or Chris Phillips with this money. But again this is still assuming that Langkow is on the IR or playing in Abbotsford or Langkow or someone like Hagman or Stajan are somehow moved to another organization.

-Hark

-Hark

2011 Canucks Draft

2011-06-25T14:26:00.001-07:00

Canucks selected Nicklas Jensen in the first round of the 2011 draft. He grew up in Denmark but came to Canada to play in the CHL, and best of all his father is a true blooded pure bred Canadian. Nicklas Jensen has the hardwork and determination of a Dane, with the Hockey Sense of a Canadian.

Two of the best players in the modern era of hockey to be drafted 29th overall are Steve Downie in the 05 draft, Mike Green in 2004

Best Flames 2012 Roster

2011-06-20T00:52:00.005-07:00

Given that the new salary cap has been set today, this is the best possible way for the flames to make use of that cap space.

Flames got 7 million dedicate to goalies in 2012. They have five defenceman making 19 million. They have 31 million tied up to 11 forwards. The flames need a couple more defenseman and a forward or two, and they have 57 million tied up doing this. This gives them 7 million in cap space. It is safe to give teams an extra 2 million in cap space, so we can give the flames 9 million to play with for the 2011-2012 season.

I say they likely spend the 3 million and call up kotalik from the farm. another three million to resign babchuk. let tanguay walk and fill out the final 3 million with young stud players. Nemisz and Lance Bouma are two players that could be called on and could be put on a steady rotation with other prospects from the farm, and even defenders such as keith seabrook. Hopefully Kotalik will go back to Europe and free up the cap space to resign tanguay.

-hark

In defence of Vancouver Anarchists

2011-06-18T15:37:00.004-07:00

There has been a lot made over the past few days that it was Anarchists that caused the riots in Vancouver. This is only partially true. While the Anarchists would have been involved in a street rally for the sake of being involved in a street rally, they did not cause the more extreme acts at the rally.

Drunken Vancouver Canucks fans (and a lot of them bandwagoners) were the ones that resorted to violent actions; as well as the thugs and gangsters that were drunken and in downtown Vancouver for the Game 7 loss. Vancouver with thanks to CBC and Rogers Arena were able to create a situation downtown where a hundred thousand people from across the Greater Vancouver area and even around the world had come to watch the game on the big screen tv's set up in the spectator fan plazas. It was at these plaza's where the most extreme actions were carried out in the riots, such as window breaking and cars being flipped and then lit on fire.

While Vancouver does have a strong presence of anarchists that have made themselves known in the APEC Summit and the 2010 Olympic Protests, these people have always resorted to non-violent action. The Anarchists goals are to appropriate media attention on their goals by having enormous street rallies to get their points across to citizens. Even at the Vancouver street rallies that anarchists held to protests the olympics taking place on aboriginal land, violent people always showed up. These people were always not supported by the majority of the anarchists there, however the mainstream media was only able to focus on the violence.

In the case of the Vancouver hockey riots, there was no important message to be conveyed to the people via the media. Only that Canucks fans were disapointed that their team was unable to show up in the Stanley Cup Finals when they were needed to the most.

All in all, I think it is unfair that the Vancouver police has targeted anarchists as having caused the extreme violence. The anarchists would be the last to steal from the Bay and other giant merchandisers, because they do not support the capitalist system and would not be interested in acquiring material possessions for any reason, especially to sell them and make money.

It just seems to be the result of drunken Vancouverites and gangster thugs that made their way to Vancouver to watch game 7 of the playoffs because they couldn't miss an event like this. The police are blaming anarchists just because the last major protests that happened were by the anarchists at the olympics. But the extreme level of violence and the lack of meaning behind the protests, does not convince me that anarchists were the ones that caused the riot.

-hark

Statistical Analysis of the Best and Worst Playoff Teams Since 1990

2011-06-16T18:13:00.004-07:00

The Reason that I chose 1990 as a starting point is because it is a fair way to look across the standings over the past two decades. I have chosen three categories that are a fair assessment of long term playoff success. 1) Playoff Round Wins Since 1990. 2) Years Making the PLayoffs Since 1990. 3) Years Making it past the first round of the playoffs since 1990.

Amount of Playoff Round Wins (Since 1990)

detroit red wings 30
Pittsburgh Penguins 24
NJ Devils 20
Colorado Avalanche 19
dallas stars 17
boston Bruins 15
chicago blackhawks 14
Philadelphia Flyers 13
montreal Canadiens 13
edmonton oilers 13
vancouver canucks 13
NY Rangers 12
Buffalo Sabres 12
toronto maples leafs 10
Washington Capitals 9
Carolina Hurricanes 9
st louis blues 9
LA kings 6
calgary flames 3
New York Islanders 2

Years Making the Playoffs (Since 1990)

detroit red wings 20
NJ Devils 19
Pittsburgh Penguins 16
boston Bruins 16
st louis blues 16
Washington Capitals 15
montreal Canadiens 15
dallas stars 15
Buffalo Sabres 14
Colorado Avalanche 14
vancouver canucks 14
Philadelphia Flyers 13
NY Rangers 12
chicago blackhawks 12
LA kings 11
toronto maples leafs 11
calgary flames 11
edmonton oilers 10
Hartford Whalers 8
New York Islanders 7

Years Making it past the First Round of the Playoffs (Since 1990)

detroit red wings 14
Pittsburgh Penguins 11
Washington Capitals 9
montreal Canadiens 9
Colorado Avalanche 9
vancouver canucks 9
NY Rangers 8
NJ Devils 8
boston Bruins 8
st louis blues 8
dallas stars 8
Philadelphia Flyers 7
Buffalo Sabres 7
toronto maples leafs 7
edmonton oilers 6
chicago blackhawks 6
LA kings 4
Carolina Hurricanes 3
New York Islanders 1
calgary flames 1

So What do these statistics mean? Well how many teams are consistently in the top 5 or the bottom 5?

Detroit and Pittsburgh both fall into the top 5 in all categories. This makes them playoff dynasties.

Calgary and New York Islanders both fall into the bottom 5 in all three categories. This makes them SO Nasty!

Calgary Flames Playoff Record Since 1990

2011-06-15T21:07:00.003-07:00

Since the Flames won the cup in 1989, they have only had one year where they have won a playoff series. That was in 2004 when they went to the cup finals. this includes a streak from 1997 to 2003 where they didn't make the playoffs once. Does this make them the worst team in hockey history in the past two decades? quite possibly

Pump up video in the Bruins Locker Room for Game 6

2011-06-13T13:11:00.001-07:00

Conn Smythe

2011-06-11T13:27:00.001-07:00

Who will take it? We have to go by the 2009 Pens finals, and remember that it goes to who plays best in round 4 and not the entire playoffs. That year crosby was the best playoff player, but they gave it to Malkin for his amazing performance in round 4.

So who has been the best in Round 4? Obviously Tim Thomas. But if the Bruins lose in 6 you can't give it to Tim Tom. Burrows and Lapierre have been the best Canucks in this final round. If either of them come up big iin Game 6 you could potentially give the Conn Smythe. If the Sedin's or Kesler come up huge in the next two potential games, Henrik or Kesler could potentially win. But just one game in the series won't be enough, and Boston has done a pretty good job to eliminate them this far.

Bieksa could take it too. He has been a strong player and was instrumental in the Lapierre goal last night. Luongo is pretty much out of contention for giving up 12 goals in 2 games.

All in all it's going to be a really interesting race to see who can take the Conn Smythe. My money is on Burrows

-Hark

Canucks could win in 6

2011-06-11T13:19:00.001-07:00

Canucks have to play pretty good to win the series in game 6. Because so far they have not been the better team. If they really want to prove themselves as stanley cup champions, they have to come out and dominate this next game on Monday. It doesn't have to be a blowout, but they will have to make it even harder on Thomas.

Key to Van Winning

2011-06-10T22:09:00.003-07:00

Biggest factor in Vancouver winning is Bobby Poo. He has been outplayed by Corey Crawford, severely outplayed by Pikke Renne, played on par with San Jose, and is being hugely outplayed by Tim Thomas.

But that doesn't matter. All shitting the bed aside, Bobby Poo just needs to be ok -good and Canucks will win. They just have the better team. Like Team Canada in the gold, as long as Bobby Poo doesn't left in softies, they have it locked down.

I will now go cry in a pool of my own blood and tears.

-Hal

Aaron Rome suspension and Game 4 Lines

2011-06-07T22:51:00.004-07:00

We all know that Alain Vigneault has a man-boner for Aaron Rome. Afterall, he has continued to play the $750,000 defenseman while making the $4.2 million dollar Keith Ballard sit. I just hope that Vigneault had somebody with him to comfort him when he found out Tuesday morning that Rome would be suspended for the remainder of the playoffs.

On paper the trade is awesome. Canucks lose their 8th seed defenseman and Boston loses a top line forward. Rome shouldnt have even been playing in game 3. I called for him to sit for Keith Ballard, but i have been calling that all season long yet inexplicably Rome has become a staple of the Vancouver defense. His untimely penalties have late have cost him, and his penalties usually come from being beat and then overcompensating. This penalty in game three on the other hand was just a late hit. It definitely was a 5 minute major and Rome was lucky the Bruins didn't score on that powerplay otherwise there might be a lot of canucks fans blaming him for the loss.

I like that Rome got suspended for the hit and I hope going forward that the league suspends all similar hits. But we know this is the NHL and they are very inconsistent and wish-washy on suspending head hits. IF this is a change of culture for the NHL I am happy, although it is a little curious that it is taking place in the SCF. The only reason i am not outraged is because I am very happy that Vigneault will not be able to throw Rome into the mix anymore when there are perfectly healthy other (better) options for him to put in.

Looking at the defense pairings for tomorow night, one wonders how the canucks will lineup. This is how i think it will lineup:

bieksa-ballard
salo-edler
ehrhoff-alberts

You keep salo and edler together because they are a solid pair. Bieksa and Ballard are a tough gritty combo, hopefully one of them remembers to stay home. And ehrhoff Alberts is a good combo with Ehrhoff providing the shot and Alberts providing the toughness

Lets see how it pays off in game 4.

-Hark

Game 3 Defense Pairings

2011-06-06T06:31:00.001-07:00

Ok! So I predicted the game 2 defense parings when all the highly paid TSN analysts were wrong. Everyone assumed Keith (Balls of Lard) Ballard was going to get the call. Which makes sense when you look at cap hit and see his staggering 4.2 million. However Vigneault went with Andrew (AHL) Alberts just like I predicted. Here's my prediction for game 3:

For tonights game, Vigneault is tight lipped again. Alberts did nothing special, and he was partially to blame for the Lucic goal in game 2. He had bad positioning and switched off his man Lucic at the last second leaving him for Ehrhoff, and Ehrhoff couldn't do anything after an unfortunate rebound off Bobby Lou.

Aaron Rome took two costly double minors, one of which resulted in the Chara powerplay goal which hopefully doesn't give confidence to the Bruins powerplay. Rome is likely to sit and I don't see Vigneault trying to replace him with one of Ballard or Tanev.

Instead, Vigneault will probably sit Alberts too, and play Ballard and Tanev together in the third pairing. If this does happen, it will be interesting to see how the shakeup effects the other pairings.

One thing is for sure, Rome has to sit!

-Hark

Funniest Mike Modano Concussion Stretcher Moment

2011-06-03T01:45:00.002-07:00

fast forward to second 70 to see the hilarity

Canucks Defense Pairings Game 2 SCF

2011-06-02T23:45:00.005-07:00

We have to face the music that Hamhuis will likely be out for a few games. It looked like at least a broken rib. So who do you call up? Alberts, Ballard or Tanev?

Alberts is tough as nails and used to play for Boston so he knows the system. But he hasn't played since the Nashville series, would he be ready? Ballard (Balls of Lard)is also very physical. He has more experience playing Boston than most Canucks because he has been playing them 4 times a season in his days with the Florida Panthers. Ballards career stats against Boston:

Chris Tanev is the last option for the Canucks. He's a right handed shooter which is very useful because they are tough to come by.

My Predictions for Lines for Game 2:

Prediction 1
edler-ehrhoff
bieksa-rome
salo-alberts

If canucks lose this game the shakeup will be as follows

edler-ehrhoff
bieksa-salo
tanev-ballard

-Hark

Best name for the Winnipeg Jets

2011-06-02T14:13:00.004-07:00

Winnipeg Voyageurs! For the logo you put a sideways headshhot of some lumberjack looking dude with a red touque on, the same way the Blackhawks jersey is a sideways look of an aboriginal. You could also do a Washington Capitals style where you just have nice lettering and font, and write the text "voyageurs" across the jersey. I like Voyageurs because it appeals to a minority culture within the city in the sense that its a french Canadian word, however the voyageurs are an item of great historical lore amongst Western Canadians. It's very geographically specific as something that used to occur on Manitoba land. Voyageurs were the people involved in the fur trade that were responsible for transporting the skins from the red river area back to the Atlantic Coast to get shipped back to the Mother Country. They were big burly bear men of the back country, that could grow beards that made king Leonidis from 300 look like a 12 year old school girl. The Winnipeg crew has to make the name the Voyagers.

If at first you don't
succeed,then don't try the mother eff'ing jets ever again. if we're going to name it the jets, why not go out there and get Ken Dryden out of retirement to lace them up again. then we can really relive the glory days of the jets. oh wait! the jets always sucked and don't have a rich history of memories. its time to forge a new identity within hockey, and a clean slate is needed as far as a symbol for the franchise.

Into to Game 1

2011-06-02T14:09:00.003-07:00

Before the players came out onto the ice, kyprios of the legendrary sweatshop union crew gave a performance of his rap song "how the west was won". it looked to be a pretty rocking atmosphere in rogers arena yesterday, even early on before most of the fans showed up.

Two Sweet Dustin Byfuglien Videos

2011-05-26T22:22:00.004-07:00

This first one should be nominated for goal of the year on TSN. He goes end to end and breaks through three Buffalo players before beating Ryan Miller. The Sabres saw the oaf coming up the ice and probably thought they could easily takethe puck from him, little did they now Bifugly has speed and is impossible to move. The other reason why his goal deserves to be goal of the year is timing... this goal happened in OT:

This video is just funny because Bifugly is giving Kaner a hard time about the whole cabfare situation:

This last video is a mock of kaner beating up a cab driver:

-hark

Vancouver Canucks are bitches

2011-05-21T17:37:00.002-07:00

Found this on a Sharks Forum: Really awesome.

Please vote on your favorite!!!!

-Hal

Winnipeg Jets

2011-05-21T17:26:00.004-07:00

The Jets be back bitches. Although it's only verified by a Globe and Mail editor, we at BoWC are going full throttle in naming the JETS

From Best to Worst

Winnipeg Jets - Classic. There is no doubt in my mind and every Canadian out there that the soon-to-be Winnipeg Jets should be called the Winnipeg Jets.

Winnipeg Falcons - This name has been tossed around, and if the legal issues prevent the Jets name, I say go with Falcons

Winnipeg Thrashers - Atlanta-Calgary Flames. Atlanta-Winnipeg Thrashers?

All the three above are decent .... now the brutal ones:

Anything with Manitoba in it - It just doesn't sound right. If the owners had any common sense they would not use anything with Manitoba and especially not ...

Manitoba Moose - Currently, the AHL team and Vancouver Canuck affiliate. There have been talks that they would just adopt the name, in which case we will riot and burn Winnipeg to the ground. Better to not have a city at all than be named after a fucking moose. Can't get lamer than that, unless they named it the Manitoba Does

That's what happens to dumbass moose

-Hal

Ben Eager is the Tits

2011-05-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Who needs the green men in their skin tight suits? Not me. I much prefer the woman who flashed her titties at Eager when he got his penalty. Clearly eager is gay, because he had a perfectly good luck at some titties and he didn't even take it.

The following image is from cbc:
http://yfrog.com/gzyn7ikj

Finland Assistant Coach Falls on Worldn Juniors Trophy

2011-05-17T12:25:00.001-07:00

Breakdown of the 4 Games this year between SJ and Nux

2011-05-15T02:26:00.004-07:00

November 26- Blowout in favour of the canucks. Tambo had a goal back when Tambo still looked like he was capable of playing in the top 6. Nowadays, Tambo has been a healthy scratch 95 percent of these playoffs. Ballard had a goal too this game, unfortunately he has found himself out of the lineup this playoffs too. Hopefully the good play of these two players in the regular season against the sharks helps them draw into the canucks lineup this playoffs.

January 3. Cory Schneider played and helped backstop the canucks to a 4-3 win. The Canucks had an early lead but blew it in the second. sharks held the lead for 3:14 before hansen tied it up.

January 20. sharks win 2-1 in a shootout Canucks opened the scoring but couldn't do anything else. Joe Pavelski scored in the shootout. Luongo played but his performance was overshadowed by an even stronger game by Niemi. The Sharks never held lead once in the only game they won against the canucks all season.

March 11. Canucks win 5-4 in a SO and Schneider was in net. Cory made 44 saves and played strong but you have to assume that Luongo would have been even stronger. Niemi played for san jose. At no point in the game did san jose have a lead, but canucks blew three separate leads to keep San Jose hanging around.

In a total 250 minutes played against the canucks this season, the San Jose Sharks were only capable of holding the lead for a combined 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

-hark

Best Joe Thorton highlight of the year against canucks

2011-05-15T02:16:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Canucks Flags Fun, But Affect Fuel Consumption

2011-05-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

People in vancouver are so dumb.

YouTube - Canucks Flags Fun, But Affect Fuel Consumptionr

Guest Writer - Bobby Poo

2011-05-07T10:30:00.003-07:00

Hi all,

I'm taking a portion of my busy day sleep-playing through the Nashville Predators to write a special blog post for my good friends at BoWC.

I know there have been some thing said around the internet and rumor mills, and I thought I would clear it up once and for all.

1) I am worth every penny that Vancouver is paying me.
A lot of Vancouver fans, bless their hearts, have defended me to the grave. 10 years with a cap hit of under 7 millions is such a great deal! I mean, I'm almost half as good as Pekke Rinne, Tim Thomas and a 43 year old Dwayne Roloson. At least I'm better than Howard and Scheidner ... but don't tell anyone they are making 1/10000th the amount that I do.

2) I don't like pasta
Um ... helllo, my name is Roberto Luongo.

3) I helped Canada win a gold in 2010
I've got to be honest here. I didn't help Canada win the gold. I pretty much did everything I could to fail them - giving off huge rebounds, looking shaky as all hell - thank goodness that Brodeur was on acid and somehow was even worse than me. I mean, I was so bad that the shakiest part of our team was the goaltending (normally a Canadian strongsuit).

So to be fair to our Canadian Team and to give credit where credit is due, I did not help Canada win the gold. No, I just didn't lose it for them. You see, playing behind the best players in the world is hard to mess up, even for me. When you got J.Toews, Rick Nash, and M.Richards as your 4th line checkers ... I think you have a pretty deep forward group. When your worst defenseman was a grey-beard future hall of famer Scott Neidameyer ... I think you have pretty good depth on your blueline.

Thank Goodness Crosby scored when he did because I was pissing myself and shaking the entire overtime. They were almost scoring at me from little wristers at the top of the face off circle.

4) I don't choke
A lot of nicknames have been floating around like LuoChoke and Bobby Poo - but most have been defended by my great worshipers - I mean fans.

But let's face it, I've been outplayed by some rookie from Chicago and vastly outplayed by Pekke Rinne which we would've swept 8-0 in a 4 game series if not for me. I just have to stand there and hope that the Preds are too stupid and incompetent enough not to just throw anything on net at me ... cause everyone knows I love giving up goals with 5 minutes left in the 3rd.
At least my teammates have so little confidence in me it has raised their games (minus the Twins) so I have to do as little as possible.

Last game, NHL.com credited the shots as 7 shots in the second period! It's a good thing they call dump ins that hit me shots, or else my save % would be low low low!!!!

5) Bobby Poo
People are confused at my nickname - Bobby Poo. What's it mean?

It mean's I'm a piece of shit, duh.

-Roberto Luongo

Todd Bertuzzi Goal of the Year

2011-05-06T22:08:00.002-07:00

What a beautiful playoff goal. if the red wings end up coming back in this series, this goal will be the turning point.

-hark

Sedin's don't show up again, Canucks win.

2011-05-06T00:52:00.002-07:00

This time the defense decided to show up. canucks got goals from ehrhoff and edler early in the game to help establish themselves. kesler got the gamewinner on the powerplay after a sick pass from Henrik. the most amazing thing is kesler deking through Shea Weber and Shayne O'brien before finding a way to get a shot off and put one past peka rinne. the nicest goal of the playoffs so far. not as clutch as burrows game 7 goal but far more beautful as an all around goal.

-hark

Kesler Outbattles Smithson

2011-05-06T00:22:00.002-07:00

The elow that Kesler delivers to Smithson's nose was not intentional. It was purely kesler aggressively outplaying kesler and breaking smithson's nose in the process. if smithson put in the extra effort to win this puck battle then maybe he would have been in a position to break keslers nose. but kesler would never lose that position battle.

Sami Salo in for Game 6

2011-05-05T13:17:00.005-07:00

With the news that Sami Salo is going to play Game 6, many are saying that this is a sign that the Canucks are ready to put a stangle-hold on the series tonight. Lets not get too excited! Salo will still be in the third defensive pairing, paired with Aaron Rome. It's not like Rome is going to be able to log any significant ice time, so why would Salo be able to as well. The first defensive pairing on the PP will stay Erhoff and Samuelsson after the goal Samuelsson had in OT last game. The second pairing is likely to be Edler and Bieksa, so Salo won't be getting any powerplay time.

In the regular season, Salo averaged 20 minutes and 20 seconds of time on ice per game. Tonight the only hope he has in reaching that will be if the game goes to overtime again. Don't get me wrong, Salo is a great player. However when you are talking about a third defensive pairing being the reason the Canucks will come to life tonight, you are so wrong. If the Canucks want to come to life tonight, it will be because the Sedin's finally realize its playoff time, the Canucks second line keeps up the solid work, and the canucks defense starts to hit the net with some point shots that are being screened (maybe Salo can play a role in this).

Otherwise this could be a long series for the Canucks, while the rest of the teams in the playoffs have the chance to rest up and await us to finish.

-Hark

YouTube - Todd Bertuzzi's Trick Shot Video - NHL

2011-05-05T12:46:00.001-07:00

YouTube - Todd Bertuzzi's Trick Shot Video - NHL: "

The bertuzzi of old or the bertuzzi of new? this is one of the sickest moves i have ever seen. too bad in a real game bertuzzi would be too busy floating like a mahf to try and pull off one of these.

Manitoba Moose and canucks update

2011-05-04T22:32:00.005-07:00

Moose News

The Manitoba Moose won 2-1 in Double Ot last night. Bliznak scored the late ot goal and Desbiens tied it up with 2 minutes left. Someone named Gabriel Dumont scored for Hamiltion, who is know tied 2-2 with Manitoba, and the next game being played in Winnipeg.

Looks like Phoenix will be staying in Phoenix. Gary Bettman must really want hockey there. Maybe he plans on retiring in Phoenix one day. I think Gary Bettman really likes going to Phoenix.

The good news is that Atlanta sounds like it will be moving. This is good news for everyone except Vancouver fans, who will now have to see Dustin Byfyglien six times a season because it is rumoured Winnipeg will be in the NW Division. Some possible movements would be:

vancouver into the pacific division (this would only happen if phoenix moved, because there would be a hole in the pacific division.

Colorado goes to the Pacific Division, Dallas moves to SE Division, which would be the hole left by the thrashers. Dallas is just as close to Florida and Tampa Bay as it is to LA and Phoenix.

The AHL is also helping out the chances of Winnipeg landing an AHL team, by not putting any pressure on the Moose to declare if they will be playing in Winnipeg this year. The owner of the AHL is such a selfless guy and so awesome! I really wish he was commisioner of the NHL, however Gary BEttman approved his own multi-year extension back in December.

What the AHL comissioner is doing, is allowing the second most profitable franchise in the AHL (Winnipeg, second to only the Hershey Bears) to try an expand themselves into a more profitable organization. He is giving every opportunity for the owners of the Moose and the Investors of that team, to leave the AHL if they wish and make more money off the pursuits of an NHL team.

Canucks News

Canuck's have dominated this series. Nashville is lucky not to be down 3-0. At the same time Vancouver has shown an inability to finish. Peka Rinne has played spectacular, at the same time some of the canucks have to take responsibility for not capitalizing on their scoring chances. Case in point, Kevin Bieksa. The defensive pinch is supposed to be one of the Canucks key assets. However Bieksa has to play a little more aggressively on this play, it's in OT for Christs sake. I know he's timid of peka Rinne, but it seems like he's bowing in the footsteps of Rinne, when he flubs a shot at a wide open net, right into Rinne. There's a possibility that Bieksa is trying to shoot the puck under Rinne but it got off of him. But still Bieksa, you have so much open net and you decide to shoot it there! what were u thinking? Maybe you are not the clutch playoff player that you began to seem to be in the third round.

There's a lot of talk about how the Sedin's are being shut down. What's not being talked about is how the Canucks are shutting down Weber. Zero points so far in three games and Lou is seeing a lot of his shots from the point. First one to breakthrough out of the combo of Sedin and Weber will win game 4.

-Hark

How the Jets will survive

2011-04-30T09:49:00.003-07:00

Canadian fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Winnipeg Jets. Edmonton fans especially. To be honest, although we all want to see them back, nobody will want to play there. Oiler management can now say to their players "oh you want a trade? how about to Winnipeg" as leverage.

That's the truth. I'm sure Winnipeg is a nice city and still better than a few American cities, i.e Detroit, Buffalo, but they will have trouble attracting free agents.

However, as the Jets build through the draft like Edmonton, and eventually turn themselves into a contender (hopefully), then people who WANT to win will want to play there. It's like Detroit. That place is the shithole of the States, yet they can still get FA based on their reputation and perennial eliteness. What makes it better are that the people who want to play are the players that are intrinsically built with heart.

Players like Mike Richards, Jonathan Toews, Crosby, Iggy, even fag Kesler, would not care where they were at if they had a chance to win the cup and THOSE are the type of players you want on your team. You don't want a little bitch Bryzgalov or Semin that would rather wear shorts to the rink and care about the nightlife, than some beast who trains all offseason to get better. The guys who are motivated to win are the ones you want on yoru team.

It's like a positive feedback - if you start contending, then the players you will attract will have more drive and more heart to win , which produces more winning.

The only problem is getting to that point.

-Hal

Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators

2011-04-27T01:11:00.003-07:00

This will be a good series. Everyone will make a big deal about Rinne vs. Luongo, although I think this series will be about offense. The Sedin's, after being shut down by the Blackhawks, will be looking to up their game against the Predators. It's likely they will see a lot of Shea Weber, however this could leave more room for Kesler to step up. Plus kesler will be shutting down the likes of Mike Fisher and Sergei Kositsyn rather than Toews, Kane and Sharp. This offers much more room for offence on kesler's end.Also, the Canucks defense need to start hitting the net more. I can't count the number of times Edler and Erhoff missed the net this series or had their shots blocked. It is s about time defense started taking quality shots at the opposing teams net. I think the Canucks might be able to finish this one off early.

-Hark

Burrows 4 Conn Smythe

2011-04-27T00:48:00.005-07:00

It was an ironic title. Lets not get ahead of ourselves, we could barely get by the first round.

That being said, the Canucks did win game seven with a roller coaster of a story for burrows. First he scores 2 minutes into the game. Then he misses a penalty shot early in the third.... thats when his tide started to turn. Then late in the game, shorthanded, he coughs the puck up to toews who eventually inserts it into the back of the net, to tie it up for the Hawks. Then in overtime he puts the canucks shorthanded, forcing luongo to make the most important save of his career. Following that, he shoots it top corner over crawford. It's still unclear whether Campoli tipped the shot, or if it went straight in off of burrows stick. Either way, Alex Burrows is starting to look a whole lot like Pavel Bure.

-hark

Burrows post game:

best phil shephard qoute

2011-04-24T23:43:00.005-07:00

There's stubborn, there's fucking idiotic, and then there's Gary Bettman

2011-04-22T11:18:00.002-07:00

BoWC Business Lesson.

Let's pretend there is a lemonade business. This lemonade business wants to expand and make a name for itself, so it sets up shop with a high population density city. Somehow, it's the only lemonade shop in town. However, this city, let's call them DaleGlen doesn't like Lemonade. Even though the lemonade made it into the World Championship deliciousness competition, only 0.05% of the population went to the store.

Now the this business is bleeding tons of money in DaleGlen, but there is a perspective opening in Pegwinn where the smaller population absolutely loves lemonade. 98% of the population would get a hernia at the news that the lemonade business was coming there. Sure, the business may not turn a huge profit since it's so small, but it won't be losing money.

Bettman the Brilliant is still trying to keep the Coyotoes in Phoenix. There's all this legal crap behind it, but he's too stupid/dumb/prideful/egotistical to not just fold up his arms and move it to Winnipeg.

The Coyotes are losing 40 million a season. 40 MILLION DOLLARS A SEASON. Even if the Jets break even because of the smaller market, you at least aren't incurring a loss. BUSINESS 101. Bettman can stop the bleeding but he wants to see hockey thrive in the states, but he's a fucking idiot.

-Hal

Prediction for Game 5

2011-04-21T12:45:00.001-07:00

2-1 Vancouver

Was the Torres Hit suspendable?

2011-04-18T00:26:00.003-07:00

I'm going to take an impartial stance on this one. Im gonna sit on the fence and say i am not sure. but what i hope, is that the nhl does suspend him. that way hodgson can come back and play game 4. hodge-shit-son.

in this video make sure to watch both hits. the first hit that it is dirty, is followed by another one a few minutes later where torres reconcusses seabrook ever so slightly. the second hit was definitely clean.

-hark

why the canucks can win game 3

2011-04-16T22:48:00.004-07:00

Torres is back and that adds to the physicality of the team. we have already almost outhit chicago by 40 hits this series.

plus luongo knows he didn't play great in game 2, and will want to answer the bell in chicago. there will be less distractions in chicago as well, and less expectations by fans about a deep playoff run. canucks will be able to focus on their game, and worry about playing the type of hockey they need to play to win.

plus chicago is injured as fuck. bolland wont be back, keopecky went down in game 1, bickell went down in game 2, hossa went down but kept on playing. bad news for the canucks is sameulsson ran into another canuck in practice on thursday. he did not play a lot of hockey down the stretch. obviously fighting some kind of abdominal or other upper body injury. we don't miss samuelsson if he plays the type of hockey he played for most of this season. but if he can play the way he did last playoffs where he got 8 goals in twelve games, then i would like sameulsson back.

i really think we should have sent hodgson back to manitoba. its too late now, obviously hodgson will play game 3. it was proved the moose needed him yesterday in their loss to lake eerie. plus hodgson is going to become a defensive liability back in chicago, when the blackhawks get first change.

maybe not, maybe hodgson can play awesome hockey and limit the scoring chances of chicago. surely he can play better than the 4th line we put against the hawks two years ago: rypien-johnson-hordichuk.

oh how times have changed for the better! and mike gillis will probably pull off some more great free agent signings.

-hark

Why the Canucks Can't Win The Cup

2011-04-16T09:37:00.002-07:00

Vancouver is currently steam rolling the Blackwhores. But what if Vancouver wins the cup? The whole world will implode. Here are 10 reasons why we can't let Vancouver win

1) Burrows would have a Cup ring before Iggy.
2) Maxim Lappiere would have a Cup ring before Iggy
3) There are more Euros on Vancouver than any playoff NHL team other than Detroit - how is this cheering for Canada?
4) Vancouver has the 3rd most obnoxious fans in Canada - behind Montreal and Toronto followed by Vancouver*
5) If they win, we can't laugh at the Bobby Poo contract anymore
6) If they win this year, they could very well do it again next year.
7) They have a hair puller and an Olympic diver on their roster
8) Calgary can no longer say, at least we have a cup
9) FUCK I HATE THE CANUCKS
10) The only good thing if the Canucks won is that the city won't be rioted and looted like the hooligans they are

-Hal

*and tied with Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa

Hodgson's Done Sone

2011-04-16T00:09:00.001-07:00

See you later hodge (shit) son. you were on the ice for one goal scored but you were also on the ice for two goals scored against. raffi torres is back next game and hes going to take your spot. plus with the way you played tonight, tambellini deserves a spot on the roster before you.

don't get me wrong hodgson. you are an awesome player. and you will continue to be an awesome player.... on the manitoba moose.

Canucks Taking Smart Outlook for Game 2

2011-04-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

You just know that the Chicago Blackhawks are going to be even hungrier for a win in game 2. Canucks fans shouldn't get too excited because in the last two series against the Hawks the canucks won game 1, yet went on to lose both series. Canucks will need to keep their intensity high, and force. Crawford to come up with even more big saves.

The Canucks do have a lot going for them in this goal. Kesler looked great, with his line up against toews, sharp and Hossa for most of the night. Kesler created both Canucks goals, and also played solid defensively to prevent the Hawk top line from getting on the scoresheet. The other thing that the Canucks have going for them is that the Sedin's haven't stepped up yet. You know it is only a matter of time before Hank and Dank connect for one.

Also, Luongo played what the Calgary Herald called his greatest game as a Canuck. If Bobby Lou can keep this kind of play up, Canucks will have a lights out goaltender to go with their offensive prowess and defensive depth.

Check out this video! I have it synced to an awesome defensive zone faceoff win by Kesler, with a great lead up the ice by Bieksa, and then a goal by Higgins. So beautiful and with the Hawk's top line on the ice to boot:

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GvmitVp2rG0?fs=1&start=35amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GvmitVp2rG0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

-Hark

Blackhawks Line Combos

2011-04-12T19:09:00.006-07:00

HOSSA-JONATHAN TOEWS-SHARP
KANE-SMITH-FROLIK
BiCKELL-DOWELL-PISANi
STALBERG-JOHNSON-KOPECKY

DUNCAN KEITH-BRENT SEABROOK
NIKLAS HJALMARSSON-BRIAN CAMPBELL
NICK LEDDY-CHRIS CAMPOLI

These are the lines from the final game of the season. Interesting that the Blackhawks had Kane on the ice with Ben Smith and Michael Frolik. Not a lot of skill playing with Patrick Kane on that line and I'm sure thats part of the reason the Canucks feel comfortable calling up Cody Hodgson. Even if Cody might be out of his depths with the Canucks third line, it won't be as bad as the blackhawks third line. This year the Blackhawks third line will be Bickell, Dowell Pisani. Thats a huge change from last year when they had Bolland, Versteeg and Ladd; and that line was the most deadly out of anyone on chicago.

Brouwer and Bolland are supposed to be back soon. But Bolland is about the same stage of Crosby in his concussion. He still hasn't been cleared to take hits. Yet Bolland will probably come back early and not worry about the effects on his brain. He'll just have to hope he doesn't take a big hit from Beiksa, Hamhuis, Ballard or Oreskovich. Injury riddled Chicago is in a lot of trouble against a canucks team that is mostly healthy. Troy Brouwer is also injured.

Seabrook and Keith are definitely a deadly defensive duo, more deadly than any duo the canucks have. the question is will that pair be able to shut down the Sedin's; probably not. There is no such thing as shutting the Sedin's down, only containing them partially.

-Hark

Oh defence my Defence

2011-04-11T21:27:00.004-07:00

The Vancouver Canucks are shaping to be contenders this playoffs. We have to take it one game at a time, but this team has more depth then ever before. The playoffs will be the first time that all 6 defenseman on the Canucks have played together all year. Salo missed all of 2010 until after xmas, and bieksa edler, ballard and alberts all went down early in 2011; edler missing the rest of the season until the 81st game. This will be great to see how far the potential for the canucks defense can reach. The pairings will likely be:

Erhoff-Edler
Bieksa-Hamhuis
Salo-Ballard

When someone gets injured (namely salo), we will have Andrew Alberts to fill in. Andrew Alberts is one of the most improved Canucks this season. Fans got to see very little from him because of his many injuries, but when he did play he was solid defensively and chipped in the occasional offense. I really hope Gillis signs him in the offseason, because we should be able to get him for cheap and he is the perfect player to have in your third pairing.

As for the third line offense, there is a lot of talk that Hodgson will center it. I agree with this notion however I see there being a possibility of Cody going back down to Manitoba once Raffi Torres returns. With Raffi Torres back in the lineup we will likely see a line of

Torres-Raymond-Hansen

There is a possibility too that Raymond will get to play on the second line, bumping Higgins down to the third line or even out of the lineup if Hodgson stays.

Another thing that has to be factored in is that Mikael Samuelsson has missed a lot of games lately. Not to mention missing practice today for the Canucks. Sameulsson could very likely miss a game or two in the first round.

The fourth line will be Lapierre-Glass-Oreskovich. Thats a very tough and physical line that should be able to intimidate even the Blackwhores.

Brouwer and Bolland are both out for the Blackhawks. Not to mention the loss of Versteeg, Byfuglien, Niemi and Ladd who all played enormous roles in helping chicago beating Vancouver last year. I don't want to be too cocky, but i really do think Canucks will have an easy time with this series. It could go to 6 or 7 games, but Canucks should clearly come out of the series being the better team. There is no way Luongo is going to play as bad as he did against Chicago the past two seasons, and even if he does it should be enough to outplay Cory Crawford.

-Hark

Marc and Al's Playoff Picks

2011-04-11T21:05:00.003-07:00

1st Round:

San Jose vs. LA. Marc Picks SJ

2nd Round:

Boston vs. Montreal. Al Picks Boston

3rd Round

Vancouver vs. Chicago. Marc takes Vancouver.

4th round

Washington vs. NY Rangers. Al Picks Washington

5th Round

Philadelphia vs. Buffalo. Marc picks Philadelphia.

6th round

Detroit vs, Phoenix. Al picks detroit.

7th round

Anaheim vs. Nashville. Marc picks anaheim

8th round

pittsburgh vs. Tampa. Al picks penguins.

Hodgson and Oreskovich Called Up

2011-04-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

So strange! There was no place for cody hodgson on the canucks in the regular season except for 5 games. Yet he will be called up for the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

And it's not like the Manitoba Moose don't need their 1st/2nd line center. They are embarking on a playoff run themselves.

No guarantee that Hodgson will play Game 1. One of the Canuck players will have to sit. My ideal lines:

Sedin-sedin-burrows
Higgins-kesler-samuelsson
Hodgson-raymond-hansen
Oreskovich-lapierre-glass

Odd man out: the tambourine man.

-hark

Other Noteable Mentions for the Darryl Sutter Award

2011-04-09T23:52:00.003-07:00

Don Waddell of the atlanta thrashers/ future winnipeg jet. now the winnipeg jets are going to have to keep paying byfuglien 5 million for the next 5 years. when all hes gonna do is turn into the worst power forward bum in the league. we'll see what he ends up doing with ladd, this will be his dealbreaker.

rating 4

garth snow in nyi. hes just very cheap and he has to start spending more money. he made up for it with a good steal on grabner who made only a million dollars this season but score almost 30 times. he still has to deal with the aftermath of rick dipietro.

rating 6

Brian Burke. Komisarek at 4.5 multi year was a pretty bad signing. but finding a way to get rid of koivu and has 4 million was a good move. reimer and kadri look like very good caliber prospects that will emerge out of the brian burke era. kessel was a bad signing because it cost them seguin and another good first rounder, and two second rounders, and they could use all of those things in the long run because they are still developing. a big determining factor for burke this offseason will be to see if he can get clarke macarthur to take a paycut to stay in TO and avoide arbitration.

The Glen Sathers Award Part I

2011-04-07T17:46:00.003-07:00

I thought it'd be a good time to analyze the team's in the NHL that is run by the worst management when it comes to contracts and signings. Hopefully by the end of it, we can determine the most poorly run organization.

Some factors to consider:
1) Amount of money given to players
2) Length of contract
3) How generally negative this is.

1 - Piss poor holy hell what have we done with our franchise
10 - Wow

Let's start off with the NW Division

Vancouver Canucks
Luongo - 100 years @ 6 million : I would say that this is their worst contract since they are strapped with Bobby Poo for so long. However, you could argue that after this season, this is a perfectly fine contract.

Also, the Sedin and Kesler contracts are starting to look brilliant. Fuck off Vancouver

Rating - 9

Colorado Avalanche
Paul Statsny - 5 years @ 6.6 million: This was a pretty bad signing. They overpaid him by like 1.6 million. However, he's not too much of a problem because the rest of the roster is making pocket change so it doesn't affect the situation much. We'll see what they do with Douchene

Rating - 6

Minnesota Wild
Mikko Koivu - 7 year @ 47.25 million: This guy is a point a game player but still, almost 7 million a year seems high. BIt overpaid, but he's the top scorer on their team.

Nick Shultz - 3 years left @ 3.6 million / year: A guy that I don't even know existed should not be making 3.6 million a year.

Rating - 5

Edmonton Oilers
Whorecoff - really long at way too much. If you ever have to feel bad about a contract, just compare it to Whorecoffs and you will probably feel better about yourself. This guy was making 6 million a year!!!!!!!!!! Bad signing.

Drunk Driving Bulin - 3.75 for 3 years. Ouch.

At least Oil have lots of cap room to play with, most of the other players don't make much. Ryan Whitney is at 5mil but he's been a workhorse for the team

Rating - 4

Calgary Flames
Niklas Fagman -1 more year @ 3 million - ugh
Matt Stajan - 4 years @ 3.5 million cap hit - ugh^2
Ales Kotalreke- 1 more year @ million - ugh^3
Jay Blowmemister - 5 more years @ 6.6 million - ugh ^4 - shoots self in face

Rating - 1

Maybe we should rename this to the Darryl Sutter award

-Hal

Editors Note:You will notice i did not use a common method when describing contract length and price/caphit. It's cause I'm too damn lazy to do it that precisely.

The Goal That Ended It All

2011-04-07T17:33:00.002-07:00

I was never much into conspiracy theories until last night. Always thought that people were moral and just and that those theories were just fun to think about.
That was before Whoressa's soccer goal last night. A blurb from Elliot Freidman

"Here’s what I do believe:

1. No referee wants to make the wrong call. Dan O’Halloran ruled it a goal because he honestly thought it was a goal. The best referees die inside when they

err, especially in a critical situation. Brad Watson blew one in the Anaheim-Detroit playoff series two years ago and it took him a year to get over it.

2. Replay is important. It should be about getting the call right. That’s it. And after watching that last night, the system doesn’t work. There’s no other way to put it.

Let’s just look at it this way: How much was on the line with that call?

What’s a home playoff date worth in Chicago, Calgary and Dallas? How much money does Chicago make or Dallas-Calgary lose in playoff revenue?"
Even Ty Conklin says that there was a conspiracy. “(The Blackhawks are) probably going to make it into the playoffs anyways, but do we really have to make it that obvious that the league wants them in? They’re going to get in anyways,” Conklin told reporters after the game. “It was a close play, but the puck never crossed the line. I was sitting there watching it, and I knew it wasn’t over.”
THat goal was complete bullshit. Absolutely horseshit and cow shit and every other shit you can think of. Seriously, Whoressa tried to kick it in, it went off the post, he tried to swipe it with the stick and missed and it went horizontally across the goalline and there is no evidence that it crossed. INCONFUCKINGCLUSIVE YOU HEAR THAT TORONTO FUCK OFF

They are saying that Hossa got a piece of it with his stick. Really? If you had literally blown really hard the puck would've crossed the line. If you had gotten a piece of wood on it, it'd be buried in the mesh, not floating along the line. Seriously.

It's clear Bettman told the people in Toronto that he wanted Chicago in and not Dallas or Calgary and they obeyed. Seriously - these dumbasses can't even get suspension right and they can't even get video reviews right even with fucking HD video. FUCK OFF

-Hal

A Little Too Late

2011-04-07T17:32:00.002-07:00

I believe this song summarizes the Flames season

-Hal

Everything you need to know about hockey Today

2011-04-04T09:04:00.001-07:00

Vincent Lecavlier may have got his eyeball scratched yesterday against the Blackwhores. The little blackwhore that did it pretended like nothing happened at all. You gotta have a little more respect then that when you high stick Vinny Lecavlier. Any player with half an ounce of dignity would have gone straight to the box. With eye injuries, you never know when a player could return. Canucks shut Malhotra down immediately for the rest of the season, but Lecavlier could be back soon as it wasn't as bad and didn't draw nearly as much blood. Although the Lightning coach did say that he had blood in his eyeball just like Malhotra.

It's not like the Bolts need Lecavlier anyway. He has been a sub-par player for two consecutive seasons and he will be one of those overpaid looming bums that got fortunate enough to get a ridiculous contract. Not even the Montreal Canadiens want him at this point.

In other news, Flames fans everywhere are trying to find the bandwagon again after hopping off a week ago. Unfortunately Iginla is currently using the bandwagon to shop around for new teams to play on next season.

If the flames win the remainder of their games they will have 95 points. Blackwhores have two more games left against detroit, which I am guessing will both go in the loss column because it's about time Detroit starts picking it up.

Also whatever team finishes seventh will upset Detroit this year. Detroit is playing too poorly down the stretch, and they have too many uncertainties with injuries. Plus they have been outplayed every step of the way by Anaheim, Nashville, Chicago which is starting to prove that the West is a very deep conference this year.

-Hark

NHL: "N"umbskulls write "H"eadlines while "L"icking their balls and they also wrote this headline isn't it so clever

2011-04-03T21:50:00.021-07:00

A few headlines from http://www.nhl.com/ over the last few days: "Kippin' the faith" (insert Carlos Mencia style retard sounds- always classy), "Feel the Roth" - haha get it cause the Sabers have this guy on their team named EnROTH, and he apparently had a good game, so it's like the other team felt his wrath. See cause wrath and roth are kind of similar. They almost ryhme and stuff. And if that didn't already blow your fucking brains out with the brilliance of its masterful wordsmithing, yesterday they had "Permanent Mark-er". Again, kinda similar but no less clever, they had this guy whose name is Mark and he played pretty well and scored a goal so I guess that leaves a permanent mark on the stats sheet or something? Hahaha holy fuck I just saw an even better one "Up in the Rib-eir-o" CAUSE THE FUCKING WORD "AIR" IS IN HIS NAME DON'T YOU FUCKING GET IT?!!! FUCKING CHRIST

Life Support

2011-04-03T20:36:00.004-07:00

The Flames beat the Avalanche 2-1 tonight and I had the pleasure to watch this game. Flames had a pretty solid third period, but they didn't show much desperation throughout the night as if they have already given up hope. If it wasn't for Kipper holding the fort in the 2nd period, the Flames surely would have lost. He probably made half a dozen great saves and scrambles and kept them in the game. On another note, Erik Johnson is a bum. He had three MAJOR turnovers in his own end trying to clear the puck. If I was Joe Sacco I'd sac him right in the nads. Chicago also lost so the Flames still have the life support, although their heart rate is dropping fast and are in comatose and their IV drip is running out and the nurses and doctors are understaffed and overworked and they got struck with antibiotic resistance bacteria. GO FLAMES GO -Hal

Oilers

2011-04-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

Tonights game against the Oilers has virtually nothing on the line for the Canucks, considering they have already clinched the Presidents Trophy.

However Vigneault claims that tonight is about playing the type of hockey you need to play in order to do well in the Playoffs. We'll see if the Canucks are able to bring their "A" game, or if they will take a page out of the Habs book and shutdown until playoffs.

Tonight will be a good night for the Canucks to gauge Yann Sauve. He has played really well in Manitoba and has a lot more offensive upside than Tanev. He will be paired with Keith Ballard so hopefully the two of them won't have too many defensive blunders. While Ballard hasn't done too much to earn his 4.25 million, he has been extremely influential in helping out the rookie players that the Canucks have called up from the minors this season. Ballard has often been paired with the newbies and so many of them have come up this season and shown confidence. So far Lee Sweatt, Tanev and Sauve have shown a lot of promise for next season with the help of Ballard.

Ballard still has a lot of time to turn it around and start showing some offensive upside. Whether it happens this season or next, Canucks fans will soon find out.

-Hark

Iggy joins the 1000 point club

2011-04-02T09:42:00.003-07:00

Congrats Iggy on getting 1000 points last night on April 1, 2011!

He is now only 1 goal away from hitting the 40 goal mark after an absolutely dreadful start to the season. As great as Iggy has been playing, I think that playing with Alex Tanguay all year long as really helped him. Hopefully he can continue pushing on if Tangs decides to leave in the offseason.

On a purely selfish note, I wanted him to get his 1000th point in Denver when I am there on Sunday so I could have seen it live and chanted IGGY IGGY IGGY. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

The Flames have increased their playoff chances to 0.8% according to NHLclubstats

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Western/Northwest/Flames.html

What a roller coaster ride of a season.

So with the Flames pretty much out, I call upon FLAMES NATION to jointly take all your anger, sorrow, despair, hatred, and all negative emotions you feel after this season and direct it upon the Vancouver Canucks. Those little bitches can't win a Cup. If they do, the Vancouverites who have infested our great city will never let us hear the end of it.

"Oh, but I want Canada to get the cup" you say. Well I say "50% of all players are Canadian so it doesn't even matter, and we just won the most important Gold Medal Olympic game in the history of the entire universe. Vancouver probably has the LEAST amount of Canadians on their active roster anyways, so if you are truly patriotic, you will cheer AGAINST them.

Seriously, they can't. They got to lose. I don't care what round, I don't care against who, but I will be cheering like a mahf on Barry Bonds' steroids for the opposing team.

I'm not disrespecting Canucks are a team, since they are clearly very good. #1 goals scored, goals against, PP, top goaltender, already locked down presidents trophy when nobody in the west has even locked down a playoff spot; they have had a superb season.

Which makes it all the more fun if they get bounced in the first round.

Maybe I'm on crack like Theo though.

-Hal

Clifford and Doughty Hits

2011-04-01T11:42:00.005-07:00

In retrospect, I have seen a better angle on the Doughty hit and it is clear that it is not a hit to the head. It was still a blindside hit, however Doughty will definitely not be suspended.

The Clifford hit is most definitely dirty. Out of respect for Tanev I do not want to post a video of it on this blog. Clifford should get a couple game suspension out of this. He checked Tanev headfirst into the boards. It is clear now that by the NHL trying to reduce concussions, they have placed too much emphasis on blindside hits to the head, and not enough to other dirty plays that cause concussions, like checks from behind. Matt Cooke's hit was not very much dirtier than Kyle Clifford's, but Cooke is gone for a very long time. NHL will have to readjust this in the offseason.

-Hark

An Apology to Flames Fans

2011-04-01T09:55:00.005-07:00

Ken King issued a statement today appologising to flames fans for the past two seasons. In particular, he appologised for the ineffective offseason evaluation last summer, which produced more of the same result this season. Ken King acknowledged that the Flames still mathematically could make the playoffs, but stated that it was time to be honest. "It isn't fair to our fans that this team continues to play to such a consistently mediocre level each year. This city deserves a contender."

It's about fucking time. Ken King also said that over the summer a commitee would be formed specifically to evaluate the performance of everyone on the team, from players to scouts to coaches. This committee will be headed by fan favourite Craig Conroy, but would include other hockey experts close to the team but not paid by the team. As well, fan input would be considered carefully in the form of questionaries sent out to season ticket holders and online polls.

Ken King finished his statement by stating, very eloquently,

FIRE EVERYONE!!!!!

April fools...

Canucks Win Presidents Trophy

2011-03-31T22:53:00.005-07:00

No surprise Here. The Canucks had this thing on lockdown. Lets Celebrate it for the night and then move on from it. Canucks have to make sure that they keep their focus on going far in the playoffs, and got get caught up with the small celebrations on the way to Lord Stanley.

The Canucks/Kings Game got really out of hand tonight. The refs were letting a lot of things go early on and throughout the game, and it culminated in Kyle Clifford hitting Chris Tanev into the boards from behind. Clifford was frustrated because his team was down a goal and they couldn't muster a single shot in the entire third period. Clifford fucked over his team by taking a 5 minute major late in the game ensuring his team stood no chance of coming back. It was a really bad play on his part, especially because how dirty it was. Tanev was definitely concussed on the play and did not return to the game.

The other bad hit of the night was on Danel Sedin's second goal. At the same time as getting a shot to the head, Daniel Sedin scores a goal. Talk about taking the hit to make the play. Doughty was out of line and you don't make that kind of hit against a superstar in the league. He also should go for the puck and try and stop Daneil from shooting (Doughty played terrible tonight singlehandedly causing the Canucks first two goals). Doughty has to alter that hit so he takes Daneil's body and not his head. This is what the NHL is trying to get rid of. Of course the NHL won't make an example out of Doughty because they don't care about the safety of their players. That has become clear from the Bertuzzi hit the other day. Watch the video of the Sedin goal and the subsequent headshot on Daniel. Vote on our suspension poll.

-Hark

Oil News

2011-03-31T17:44:00.002-07:00

We don't talk about the Edmonton Oilers much. What I can tell you that they will not make playoffs next year.

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS ANOTHER BOLD PREDICTION FROM BOWC.

Sure they will get another Top 2 pick, but honestly, they won't be able to fill out the gaps in their defense along with their terrible goaltending to make a run for the playoffs.

You can't expect Hall, Eberle, Top 2 Draft Pick, Hemsky to carry the entire load. We all know that Gags, Cogs, and Paajarvi are bums.

Looks like it'll be another tough year in Oilerville

-Hal

Kotalik? More like, Kotareek

2011-03-31T17:24:00.003-07:00

Ales Kotalik is a pretty terrible player. When he is on his game, he is known by the media and peers as Kotadeke. This occurs less than a blue moon. When he is his usual self, he is known as Kotareek.

So how bad is he?

1)He got sent down to the minors again after six games even though we have Morrison, Moss, and Hagman on IR

2) He's so bad that Daymond Langkow, who has been out for over a year and just got back from a broken spine, may be inserted in the lineup over him

3) He is almost 50% on the Shootout but Coach Sutter is still too unconfident to use him as a shootout specialist

4) We wish he could score more so we could hear the song "Call on Me" played in the Dome

5) He's so bad he makes Moss look like a real NHLer

6) Remember when he knocked Vinny Lecalvier on his ass in his 2nd game then got ejected? How come he doesn't do that anymore. He also never uses his boomer of a slap shot

7) You would have to trade someone with value just to get rid of him

8) WE STILL HAVE HIM ON THE BOOKS FOR ANOTHER YEAR FOR 3 MILLION DOLLARS.

9) He has one of the highest dollar per point ratio in the league. A whopping 500,000 per point.

10) He has 7 goals in 1.5 seasons with the Flames

-Hal

Sidney Crosby's Morning Skate

2011-03-31T11:53:00.001-07:00

Sidney Crosby is back baby! Poolies get ready to throw him into your mix.

March 30th: Canucks vs. Kings plus Manitoba Moose Update

2011-03-30T22:42:00.003-07:00

It's going to be an awesome game tonight. Luongo starting for the Canucks and Quick starting for the Kings. Quick has a .919 save percentage this season and they have Bernier as a backup putting up decent numbers. Kings are in the same situation as the Canucks, two good goalies on the roster gives both of them the option to trade their backup for prospects in the offseason. If the Canucks do move Schneider, I hope they would try and get a second/third liner for him, and not draft picks. We've spent so much time developing Schneider it would be a shame to trade him for draft picks, which means more hardwork developing another player. If we move Schneider we have to fetch an asset that will be able to help us immediately in the 2011-2012 season. There's the possibility of keeping Schneider and having an excellent backup to Luongo, however we all know that Schneider will walk as a UFA at the end of the 2012 season, because god knows Gillis won't be able to afford him.

With Kopitar out, the Kings will be running a top line of Smitty-Lewis Brown. Interesting to note that in the Kings last game, Doughty was on the second PP unit. Not sure if Coach Murray was trying to tell Doughty something. If Doughty is in a power-play slump, there's no better team to come out against than the canucks, who he demolished on the power play last playoffs. It got to the point last year where every time the canucks took a penalty you knew it was going to end up in the back of the net. Thats part of the reason how everyone came to hate Alberts so much, because of the stupid penalties he took against the Kings that led to bad goals.

In other news the Moose beat the lowly Rochester Amerk's in a shootout. Hodgson was a -2 but only because the majority of the Moose goals were scored on the PP. Hodgson also had an assist and a shootout goal. Hodgson is still not dominating the AHL like Vigneault expects him to do before he gets the call up to the Canucks. Schroeder played for the Moose and coughed up the puck while on the PP to Bill Thomas again. It was the second time in two nights that Bill Thomas got a shorthanded goal on the exact same breakaway play. Two nights ago it was Hodgson who coughed the puck up to Bill Thomas while the Moose were on the PP. The Moose are now atop the North Division, but its a close race with a few games left so a lot could change. Yann Sauve scored tonight, coming up big for the moose again tonight. The way Sauve is playing he should be able to make the Canucks next season. If he hadn't got injured at the start of the season its possible that Sauve would be on the Canucks right now instead of Tanev. The other Moose defenseman that has been standing out is Mark Flood. He's outscoring Shirokov and Hodgson over the past couple weeks, all the while doing it as a defenseman! Not sure if the Canucks have the rights to Flood, but they should definitely lock him up because Hodgson has a knack for finding Flood, and Flood has a knack for shooting the puck into the net.

Enjoy the game tonight. And oh yah! Flames are done son!

-HArk

Manitoba Moose Update

2011-03-30T15:04:00.005-07:00

The Manitoba Moose have been playing mediocre hockey for most of march. Sure they have won 9 of 14 games this month, however there was a stretch where they only won 1 game out of 5. Tonight they play the Rochester Amerk's in the second game of a double header. The Moose really have to take it to the Amerk's. The Amerk's have been hit by the casualty of having many of their players called up to the Florida Panthers late in the season. The Amerk's were competing for a playoff spot at the NHL trade deadline however have since lost 10 of 11 games. Dave Tallon (GM of the Florida Panthers is to blame) for trading away all his players at the deadline and then being forced to call players up from his AHL affiliate. Dave Tallon is an idiot that caused the Blackhawks to not be able to compete for the top spot in the league, by signing players to ridiculous contracts( Cambpell 7 mil a season, Huet 5 mil a season, Boland 3.75 million a season). It resulted in the blackhawks firing him, and having to trade away Versteeg, Ladd and Bifugly for virtually no return.

Tonight the Moose must take advantage of the Amerk's. It could be a great opportunity for players on the Moose to make a bid to play on the Canucks third line for the remainder of the season. The Vancouver Canucks are looking for a third line/fourth line player and a good night by Sweatt, Shirokov or Hodgson could go a long way in giving them an opportunity to take part in a long NHL playoff run. It's not something the Moose fans want to consider, losing one of their best players to the Canucks, but its something the Moose can afford to do because they have been scoring by committee all season. Shirokov, their leading goal scorer would be the biggest loss, but it is unlikely the Canucks would call him up because he is not a natural center which the Canucks are looking for. Eddy Lack will not be getting the start tonight, he will be rested as the Moose are on a stretch of hockey that see them play 6 games in eight nights.

I am expecting another great night from Rick Rypien. He has been playing with a lot of hockey smarts, always making smart first passes with the puck and getting involved any chance he can after the whistle, mixing it up with the other team. Cody Hodgson will have to have a better night tonight. With the Moose up 2-1 in the third period of last nights game, Cody Hodgson coughed the puck up while he was on the PP, allowing Thomas of the Amerk's to go in alone shorthanded on Lack and tie up the game late. Fortunately the combination of Yann Sauve and Bill Sweatt were able to combine for each of their second points of the night, and regain late in the game the win that Hodgson nearly threw away.

-Hark

Third Line Center Options for Canucks

2011-03-30T10:52:00.002-07:00

The main one being talked about today is Cody Hodgson. He has been playing injury free with the moose for a couple months now and has been playing decent hockey. His numbers do not reflect it but he has been working hard at creating scoring chances, and every once in a while Rosa or Sweatt will put the puck in the net.

One thing is clear for the Canucks, and it's that neither Bolduc or Lapierre should be relied on for third line center. Bolduc looked terrible last night and Lapierre will need to go back to the fourth line to fill in for the Duker.

Raymond played fourth line center earlier in the year and he looked great. When Samuelsson comes back May Ray could be bumped to the third line. It would be tough for him to win faceoffs against some of the good third line centers out there in the league.

Hansen is another option that has been tested recently. Hansen has proven to be reliable at both ends of the ice. His penalty killing prowess has proven he can be thrown on the ice and the canucks don't have to be worried about being scored on the way they were against LA in the playoffs last year.

Malhotra will be missed. Nobody kills penalties and is as reliable defensively as Malhotra. But it is possible we can find a fit for the third line center position that provides more offense than Malhotra did. This would ease up some of the pressure off the Sedin's and Kesler.

-Hark

Head Hitting Controversy

2011-03-29T17:02:00.005-07:00

Headshots have been talked about to death, but the question is whether a head shot is suspension worthy.

A lot of media outlets are out raged that Bertuzzi was not suspended for his hit yesterday. Being a big Tuzzi fan, I still agreed, until I thought of it some more. THe new blind side rule basically says that “a lateral, back-pressure or blind-side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact." aka. don't fuckin' clock the guy in the head. However, it doesn't say if you should be suspended or not for it.

To my recollection there is another rule which prohibits a player to hit another player in the face with his stick, but that's a 2 minute minor.

Until the NHL straightens things out - this topic is gonna be beat around the bush more times then Ke$ha.

In my opinion, you should just make a baseline game suspension for hits to the head and tack on more games depending on the severity of the injury, Even if the hit to the head was accidental. You still get a penalty for high sticking, so you should still get a suspension for head hitting

Sidney Crosby's Practice Skate from March 29

2011-03-29T13:40:00.002-07:00

Sidney Crosby skates again. he looked great working on some really high-skill drills. after the practice bylsma was ask if he envisioned crosby coming back for the tampa game and bylsma said he has not envisioned that yet

-hark

Oh Poor Theo Fleury

2011-03-29T13:06:00.003-07:00

Cam Cole of the Vanouver Sun recently wrote an article about how Theo Fleury is an innocent bystander of all the slime being thrown at him on Twitter. Well Theo Fleury, when you make a controversial statement that the Canucks will choke in the first round, you're going to get a lot of dirt being thrown your way. Obviously the sexual abuse, drug abuse and alchohol abuse will be brought into play when you make an extremely left field comment that Fleury did. It's just the nature of the fact that he has shared and opened up to these realities while at the same time making ridiculous comments through social media. Nobody has the balls to say this to Fleuries face, but if you wanted to you could find him in the washroom at the Cecil bar in calgary, promoting the opening of a new washroom stall this saturday evening.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators

2011-03-29T10:06:00.002-07:00

Dan Hamhuis will have to enjoy the view from the press box for tonights game. The Star Defenceman is sitting out with his second concussion in 48 games. Samuellson and Glass will also be sitting out with Edler and Alberts.

I am most looking forward to getting Andrew Alberts back from injury. He was playing some really intimidating hockey before he went down with his first injury. He didn't get much time to show off after he got back before getting injured again. Alberts plays a unique style of defence that sees him get in the right lanes to prevent shots from going towards the net. He also plays very physical and is able of laying out some of the best hits on the Canucks on opposing players. He has been playing really smart hockey for the Canucks this season and you couldn't ask for a better defenseman to have in your third pairing. Obviously Edler will bring a lot more to the team offensively and defensively, but Alberts contribution could go a long way especially if he can stay healthy while other Canucks D-men continue to drop like flies (knock on wood).

It will be a good game against the Predators tonight. David Legwand is playing really hot right now so the top pairing will have a tough time shutting him down. Mike Fisher is coming off of a 2 goal night and he also scored his first goal as a Predator against the Canucks. Hopefully his wife is in the stands so we can get some good Carrie Underwood shots

The battle between Luongo and Rinne tonight will involve two goalies who in my opinion will definitely be nominated for the Vezina. The third goalie would be Tim thomas who at this point in the season is probably most likely to win because of his GAA and Save percentage.

Also Shea Weber is bound to have a good game against his home province team. We have to be careful not to take too many stupid penalties because the last thing i want to happen is for Burrows or Kesler to have to block a Shea Weber shot from the point. It's too bad we can't put Torres on the 1st line PK to stand in front of those shots.

All in all it will be a very good game. The Canucks definitely need to win this game so they can have confidence facing Nashville in the playoffs. Currently the Preds lead the season series 2-1. The last thing the Canucks want is for O'brien to have more fuel to jokingly criticize the Canucks about

-Hark

Time to Draft a Russian?

2011-03-28T19:00:00.005-07:00

Trivia time. Who was the last Russian to play on the Calgary Flames?

Did you guys Kristian Huselius? Maybe if his last name was Huselikov. No, it was non other than Oleg Saprykin, an integral part on the 2004 Stanley Cup run. That was 7 years ago. There hasn't been a single Russian on the Flames since.

Now, nobody cares about 2011 draft because all the prospects are supposed to suck. However, check out Nail Yakupov. Not only does he have a first name just begging to be clicheified "Tough as Nails" "Nailed him good" "I wish he'd Nail me"

Check out his scouting report :

http://www.russianprospect.com/nail-yakupov

Doesn't play D? Meh.

He finished 4th in OHL scoring with 101 points as a rookie (although he is 17). Let's put this into perspective

Yakupov: 65 GP/ 49 G/ 52 A/ 101 Pts (1st year, 17 years old)
Johnny T: 56 GP / 58 G/ 46 A / 104 pts (4th year, 18 years old)
Steve Stamkos: 61 GP/ 58 G / 47 A / 105 pts (2nd year, 17 years old)
Faylor Hall: 57 GP / 40 G / 66 A / 106 points (3rd year, 17 years old)

Since Nail's has a late birthday, he is not eligible to be drafted this year (kind of like the Johnny T situation a while back - although Johnny T had that prodigy year where he scored 65 goals and 134 points when he was 16)

As you can see, his rookie year (when he was the same age as all the other 1st overalls) was tremendous and he will definitely be going in the top of the 2012 entry draft. The only question is ... will the Flames be bad enough to get him?

-Hal

Bertuzzi delivers the death blow

2011-03-28T17:57:00.003-07:00

watch as bertuzzi nails johnson so hard that johnsons helmet disappears. bertuzzi will definitely be suspended on this play. it almost looks dirtier than the hit matt cooke delivered recently. Johnson stayed in the game which is good, not sure if he had to follow concussion protocol and go to the dressing room.

-hark

Everything you need to know about the Daymond Langkow Cap Situation

2011-03-28T11:07:00.005-07:00

There's a rumour that was started this morning by the Calgary Herald that Langkow is healthy enough to return to the Flames lineup, however there are cap problems with the Flames that prevent the organization from bringing his 4.5 million dollar contract off the LTIR.

It is true that as it stands now, the Flames do not have the cap space to bring Langkow on board, in fact they don't have enough room to bring anybody on board right now; they are pushing cap! (they have the least cap space in the league).

There are a combination of players that Jay Feaster would have to send down to Abbotsford in order to make room for Langkow's 4.5 million dollar contract. But Feaster has to be careful because when he sends players down to the AHL every team in the league gets the opportunity to pick those players up off of waivers for their full salary for the duration of their contract. This is a list of healthy combinations of players that I would send down if i were Feaster:

Hagman + Stajan would do it. But it would be tough to part with two players that have been playing mediocre hockey all season, for the uncertainty of Langkow.

Nemisz + Ivanins + Modin + Kotalik- This is possible. I don't know why Ivanins is still counting against the cap but he is. Modin hasn't done anything since he came here so he's expendable. Kotalik played his best hockey in Abbotsford so it wouldn't be too hard to send him back. It's just tough to say goodbye to four players and bring aboard one when you already have injuries to Morrison and Moss.

The ideal situation would be to pick two of the following three players: Kotalik, Stajan, Hagman. I guess I would do Kotalik and Hagman. It would be great if some other team took one of them through the waiver-wire so the Flames don't have to deal with their fat salaries next year. However anyone that has followed the play of Kotalik and Hagman this year would know that they are not even worth half the salary they are making.

So it's starting to look as if the Flames won't see Langkow until next season, unless some major injuries happen to players on the Flames that are making big money.

-HArk

I want my brother

2011-03-27T22:26:00.002-07:00

Update on Hamhuis

2011-03-27T21:41:00.001-07:00

Apparently after Hamhuis's last concussion he said that he would consider retiring.

Also Kevin Bieksa has come out and says he is sorry and feels "partially responsible" for what happend to Hamhuis.

-Hark

Video of HAmhuis Concussion

2011-03-27T16:42:00.003-07:00

I would be concussed too if i got hit by a dual collission of Bieksa and Rick NAsh. There's a lot of people suggesting that it's HAmhuis's shoulder. To which I reply, "have you been smoking crack?" Hamhuis has had three concussions in his career and he definitely rushed back after the one he was given by Getzlaf. He was barely gone a month which probably wasn't long enough to get rid of all the symptons.

The good news is that we finally have a use for Chris Tanev again. The bad news is that this could be a lingering problem for Hamhuis. Hopefully he will be ready to return by the first round of the playoffs, because the combination of him and Bieksa really was working great.

-Hark

Sidney crosby return confirmed

2011-03-26T23:30:00.001-07:00

Scott morrison of HNIC has confirmed the return of Crosby. Sidney Crosby's return is imminent. Maybe within the end of the week Morrison suggested in the second intermission of the Flames vs. Oilers game on HNIC.

Hopefully the reporters stop asking Crosby how his head is feeling, that could really speed up the recovery process.

-Hark
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Flames Offseason Moves

2011-03-26T09:55:00.003-07:00

If the Flames fail to make the 2011 playoffs, there will probably be a major overhaul in the organization. For one thing, two of our key members : Tanguay and Glencross, are UFAs and one can expect them to a) Ask for a pay increase and b) Decent contract extension 3-4 years. I'm not sure we have the money to do that.

Assuming we don't re-sign these two players;
In the 2011/2012 Season our top Forwards will be

1) Iginla
2) Jokinen
3) Bourque
4) Langkow
5) Giordano

Giordano isn't even a forward but our team would be so pathetic that he would still be the 5th best forward.

At least we will have Steve "Pylon" Staois off the books. However, I don't think Flames should go out for any A-list free agents this summer. Keep it simple, stupid and grab some decent cheap plugs for the time being.

The 2012/2013 season is when Langkow, Sarich, Jokinen, Kotareek, Fagman all come off the books. We will have so much room that summer to go and splurge/splooge on free agents and help build a contender.

Wow actually have you seen the 2011 UFA List? As predicted by BoWC two years ago - the free agent crop has withered because of long contracts and is actually the most depressing thing I have ever seen. The only major star is Brad Richards, but we all know he will suck next year anyways.

I say the Flames sign David Backes. He'd be a good fit on our team : 3 years at 3 million. Do it.
Chuck Kobasew is a UFA. I will be routing for him to resign to become the superstar he was projected to be in NHL 2005.

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2010/06/01/2011-unrestricted-nhl-free-agents/

-Hal

theoren Fleury

2011-03-26T00:58:00.002-07:00

yesterday fleury said that regardless of who the canucks play they will lose in the first round of the playoffs. what a fucking idiot this guy is! hes going to look so stupid when the canucks win the cup. after he said this canucks nation got together and raided his twitter. some of the best comments were:

TKs_tweets @TheoFleury14 go do a line of blow ya fuckin flamer, hows your asshole. canucks hockey bitch

cmseahawks86 @TheoFleury14 maybe you should have kept your mouth shut you little crackhead twerp. You sounded 10 beers deep on team1040

@TheoFleury14 It takes no class to spew what you just said. What kind of pathetic person are you?

@TheoFleury14 please don't paint us all with the same brush. I respect your opinion and am a big fan of yours.

Just wondering what is with all the @theofleury14 bashing on here. People are fucking gutless. Give the man a break. #

Which team is Worse? The Montreal Canadiens or the Calgary Flames

2011-03-25T14:10:00.003-07:00

Sure the Canadiens are in a playoff spot. But I am still a little bit unsure about them. Last year they surprised a lot of people in the league when they upset Pittsburgh and Washington. And even though there goaltending is much better in this years regular season than lasts, I still have a feeling that Habs fans are going to be thoroughly disappointed this off season. In arguable two of the biggest games for the Habs all season they have shown up flat. Once at the Winter Classic, and then again last night in an attempt to avenge Pacciorretti. Cammalerri is starting to become another washed up overpaid bum on the Bleu and Rouge Roster. He is making terrible first passes and causing terrible turnovers in the offensive zone. Last night he was a -4 not including the 5 on 3 shorthanded goal that got scored against the Habs while he was on the ice.

On the otherhand we have the Calgary Flames. Calgary is only two points behind the Montreal Canadieans, only Calgary is out of a playoff spot. The Flames have had good goaltending from Kipper for most of the season and Iginla is on pace to score 35 goals yet again. The Flames have lost 6 of their past 7 games, mostly against teams that are also fighting for a playoff spot in the West. They are unable to out-battle their opposition and for that reason they will be missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

It goes to show the disparity in the two conferences. Habs Fans in the East are saying what a wonderful season they are having after already having locked down a playoff spot. On the other hand Flames fans are angry yet again over the inconsistent play the Flames have shown all year round.

My vote goes for the Habs being the worse of the two teams. The Flames have a consistent goal scorer in Iginla which the Habs lack. The Habs have the edge in goaltending but only slightly considering Kiprusoff is having a slightly off season. and on defence you have to give it to the Flames because the Habs defense was pieced together from Pick-a-Part. All in all, maybe the Winnipeg Jets should try and get into the Eastern Conference when they join the NHL because it is clear the East is a much weaker conference.

-Hark

Sidney Crosby takes the next Step on his Road Back to Hockey

2011-03-25T13:55:00.003-07:00

You heard it from the Battle of Western Canada. Sidney Crosby will return before the 2011 playoffs. The Penguins do not want to say anything specific yet, but Sidney practiced today and looked more than great (check out the video below). In a recent interview with the Fan 960, Willie Mitchell stated that Sidney's next step will be to take a hit and see how he feels. If he can do this we should be able to expect him back in the lineup in 2 weeks.

-hark

Bifugly vs. Bobby Poo

2011-03-24T13:37:00.002-07:00

In one of the most anticipated matchups on the canucks calendar for 2011 (not as a benchmark but as a chance for revenge) the canucks will get to play Bifuglien. Since Bifugly has become a defender, the canucks will not see him in the crease challenging Luongo. Instead they will see him from the point taking big shots.

Byfuglien is an interesting character. since signing his contract in mid february he has scored 7 points. Before that he had 43 points and was talked about as a Norris candidate. Big Buff is so streaky and the Thrashers really should be given their heads a shake for signing Fugs to such a ridiculous contract. Its done now and now they will have to move on. whats likely to happen is that Quebec city or Winnipeg will have to deal with the contract in a few years.

for now, Bifugly is gonna put on his best face and try and score some goals, and maybe be half the man he was at the start of the season. It will be a good game against the Canucks. Prediction: Its going to be a blowout. the canucks will shit kick the thrash.

Crazy drunken Hicktown Farmboy Interview

2011-03-19T13:16:00.004-07:00

This was such a funny interview after the Flames third loss in a row, 2nd loss in three games to Phoenix. It really goes to how there is a disconnect between Iginla and Sutter. Sutter tells it like it is and isnt afraid to say his team stinks whereas Iginla is Mr. Positive and trying to find a silver lining. Pretty soon one of the two of them is going to have to leave. My favorite part of the video is when Sutter says, "darn rights".

-hark

henrik sedin march 4 interview

2011-03-17T15:19:00.002-07:00

before the canucks current 7 game winning streak, they lost a home contest to nashville. after that game henrik sedin said the canucks played a good game, and if they kept playing that way they were going to start another winning streak. was he ever right!!

-hark

Canucks Clinch NW Division and Playoff Spot

2011-03-15T23:14:00.002-07:00

With the Flames Loss in Regulation it will be impossible for anyone in the NW division to Catch the Canucks. With still ten games left in the season it is one of the earliest clinches to memory. By the end of the season the Canucks will have played every team in the NW 6 times. So far they have only one regulation loss against the NW this year. last game of the regular season will be against the calgary flames. This final game of the season could determine whether the flames make the playoffs or not. cant wait to see the nucks anhilihate the flames!!!

-Hark

Cody Hodgson Becomes a Right Winger

2011-03-13T15:26:00.003-07:00

The Winnipeg Free Press have reported that Cody Hodgson will continue to play on the Right wing of Joel Perrault for the unforseen future. Hodgson has been a center for much of his career, however relished the shift last night against the Houston Aeros with a goal.

Alain Vigneault might have played into the decision to put Hodgson on the right wing in Manitoba. The former Moose Coach has stated many times that if Hodgson is going to make the Canucks team, he is not going to do it as a fourth liner but a second line player. With the Canucks all but locked up long term with the first three center positions (Henrik, Kesler, MAlhotra) it is likely that Hodgson will have to play the Wing when he plays his first Full Rookie Season for the Vancouver Canucks. Potential Lines:

Raymond-Kesler-Hodgson
SAmuelson-Malhotra_Hodgson

-Hark