the second class of UFA's

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

why the canucks can win game 3

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

Manitoba Moose Update

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

Game 4 Recap

So the Canucks had a lead with three minutes left in the game, and they blew it again and lost the game to the blackwhores. the havlat line got both the game tying goal and the ot winner. it was the first time havlat has shown up to the series.

the canucks looked bad. they couldn't genereate enough offense. they only mustered something like 15 shots on goal while chicago had over 30. the sedins were virtually non-existent, getting shut down in the offensive zone. the only line on the canucks that scored was the 4th line, when rick rypien took a move out of the todd bertuzzi school of spinoramas, and made an excellent pass to hordichuk for the 1-0 goal in the first period.

the b'whores tied it up late in the game. mitchell made a bad play to get the puck out of the zone, it hit two canucks forwards that were out of position on the boards. ladd outfought both of them for the puck, and then fed havlat who was not being covered by mitchell. i think the nickname 'the mule' should be given to ladd. he was credited for the ot winner as well.



all in all, our best defenseman mitchell was having an offnight and was -2. mitchell really screwed up on the ot winner:



bright side: we go back home to vancouver where we will be better at generating offense with the support of the home crowd. salo could be back next game as well which will help a little. there is no way our top three lines could play worse next game than they did last night.

down side: bieksa seems to have a knee injury, but he should be able to play through it.

fuck canucks. u guys can never make anything easy on yourself. two minutes left in the game and it seems like the series is on lockdown. now its looking like a fo-sho 7 gamer.

i think canucks fans need a laugh. heres some lost tpb footage of jroc



-hark

When will Mats Sundin come out of his coma?

Mats sundin hasn't scored in his past 11 games. in the 20 or something games before that he had 9 goals. "Mats, don't you want your chunky soup?"

The great thing about the canucks, is we have been playing well lately, even without mats sundin having stepped up. rick rypien has been injured all season, and he is looking great. he can add a little bit to the team. if you look at anaheim mighty ducks of 06 as a lesson, you need to have a decent fourth line in order to win. rick the ripper is a physical asset with the ability to score on the 4th line: 3 goals in all 3 of his games against the flames this year. he just has to stop fighting players that give him debilitating head blows to the face. your a light-weight rypien, don't kid yourself. leave fighting stortini up to o'brien or hordichuk.

The flames last night looked good. they outplayed vancouver. but you have to be concerned that the flames went 0 for 6 on the powerplay and they have had a bad powerplay for their last 4 games. the flames right now have a lot of players injured, and when they come back you can excpect the team to play even better.

both vancouver and canucks have something to look forward to.

Mats Sundin is on the IR for 2-3 weeks with a coma. he will continue to play hockey games, however he will float around the ice aimlessly, and occasionally get the second assist on a kesler goal.

-hark

Rick the Ripper and a Peak into Kipper's Role as Mentor for Dion Phaneuf

Rick (the Ripper) Rypien is probably the most injured person in professional sports... even worse than Erik Johnson. For the past three years he has missed the majority of the season. last year he had a bad groin injury. this year he had a hernia and an undisclosed viral infection (I'm thinking its the same infection that gaborik gave demitra... the gift that keeps on giving).

But Rick the Rippper is having a spectacular season so far. In his 6 shots on goal this season, Rick the Ripper has 2 goals, both goals coming against the flames during the back to back matchup at the start of the season. Ripper has a lot of heart. His dad is a boxer and despite the Ripper's small size he is willing to fight some tough opponents... which explains why he gets injured so often.

This is a fight he had last night with sheldon brookbank. hockey fights dot com has 90% of people saying rypien won and 2% of people saying brookbank won. take that ducks fans.



In other more startling news, it seems that kipper's obsession with strippers and cigarettes is slowly starting to rub off on phaneuf. this photo was taken at the calgary strip club 'the french maid'. If you consider that phaneuf and kipper have been the two biggest underperformers of the season for the flames, maybe their battle with a nicotene addiction can explain their recent faltering.



hopefully keenan buckles down and gets these guys back on the right track. For all the children readers of the BOWC, we would just like to say that we endorse strippers, strip clubs and strip poker, as long as there is no cigarettes involved. Going to the strip club is a much better way to look cool than smoking.

-hark