Shirokov

Talk about a sheer goal scorer! The Manitoba Moose will really be missing their leading goal scorer now that sergie shirokov has been recalled by the canucks. no word yet where he's going to play. With Burrows being bumped from the top line with the Sedin's the other night against Minny there is a slim chance we could see Shirokov on the top line with the SEdin's at some point against Colorado, especially if things start going to shit.

The best thing that ever happened to Shirokov was Cody Hodgson fracturing his orbital bone. Shirokov has been on a 12 game point streak and has had the opportunity to double shift sometimes with the Moose.

This will be a great opportunity for Shirokov to get a taste of what its like to play in the NHL which will hopefully prevent him from going back to the KHL after the end of this year after his contract expires. I still don't foresee him being on the Canucks roster for very long this year. There might be room for him to play on the second line with kesler and raymond however as soon as he has a couple no shows in a row it will be back down to the Moose for him and we'll either call up hodgson, or get bolduc back by that time. no point in having Shirokov on the fourth line because hes not physical enough. Is he top nine in our depth charts?

1)daniel
2) henrik
3)kes
4) burrows
5) mayray
6) malholtra
7)tambellini
8) hansen
9) torres

I would say that he has the opportunity to fit in at around the seventh or the eight spot on the roster. This would force Gillis to either trade/waive tambellini (remember we cant send him down to the moose anymore without him being snatched up on waivers) or torres could be moved to the fourth/traded as well.

-hark

Canucks Farm Update

After a slow start for Cody Hodgson on the Manitoba Mooose, he now has 6 goals in 13 games, and 4 goals in his last three games. The kid is really starting to light the lamp. Once he has proven that he can dominate at the AHL level, the canucks will call him up. Vigneault is not interested in calling Hodgson up to play on the Canucks third line. There are other players on the moose that would fit that role better. Vigneault only wants to see hodgson on the top two lines. when he's good enough to play that role is when he will be called up. Given that he's a center, and canucks already have about 15 million tied up in there top three center positions (kesler, h. sedin and malholtra) it is likely that when hodgson is ready to play for the canucks he will play on the wing. A line of Kesler, Raymond and Hodgson would be ideal in my mind.

Other noteable farmhands for the Canucks are Jeff Teambellini who has 2 goals in three games. Watch this kid light it up. He will likely be on the canucks roster next year in place of Torres or Hansen. This kid was around the same place in the 04 draft as kesler (20 seomthing overall).

The other good farmhand is Sergei Shirokov. This Russian Sniper is tied with hodgson for the team lead in goals, however shirokov has a better plus/minus. Shirokov played 6 awful games for the canucks last year, however he is looking to have a better stint his second time around. If any of the Canucks top 9 forwards go down I say that it will be Shirokov that gets the call up, just because its the last year of his contract and the Nucks want to give him a chance before he heads back to the KHL.

Also noteable is that the Leafs have called up Nazim Kadri. This is a textbook example of how you don't want to use your young players. the Leafs have lost ten of their past eleven games. They are looking for something... anything hat can right the course of their ship. Nobody is badly injured on forward position on the leafs, burke is just hoping that Kadri can turn this season around. That is way too much pressure on a guy that hasnt played a regular season game yet. Shame on Brian Burke for putting kadri in this position. He hasn't even played twenty games at the AHL level and now he's being called on to be a superstar at the NHL level. Failure guaranteed!

_Hark

What the long rest does for canucks?

Another defenseman got injured for the Canucks. Andrew NHlbert, injured his knee this week. The canucks next game is on monday. If Alberts does sit it out the canucks will not have to call up another defenseman because Hamhuis is supposed to be back in the lineup. If Alberts can play that means Parent might be sent down to the Moose (or it might be better to hold onto him for when the next canucks defenseman goes down momentarily). If Parent did go down to the Moose he would compliment an already amazing defense which has seen Kevin Connaughton and Lee Sweatt leading the Moose so far in goals this season, each scoring more than Schroeder, Hodgson and Shirokov combined.

Burrows is also supposed to be back next week after all this rest. Not on the Monday game however it is more likely that he will be back against the oilers on november 2nd.

with ballard's concussion we have to expect he will be out longer. At least this gives him more time to rest his knee which had surgery in the off season. When Ballard comes back he will be ready to go for a long haul for the rest of the season.