Cream of the Crop UFA's

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

Aaron Rome suspension and Game 4 Lines

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

Breakdown of the 4 Games this year between SJ and Nux

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

Kesler Outbattles Smithson

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

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

Burrows 4 Conn Smythe

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:

Hodgson's Done Sone

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.

Oh defence my Defence

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

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

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

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

Hodgson called back up to play with Canucks... This time maybe for the rest of the Season.

After going back to Manitoba for a short window, Hodgson is ready to come back up and center the fourth line. The canucks have tried many players in that role since the start of training camp but nobody has stuck (rick rypien, brendan morrison, peter schaefer, tanner glass.) Hodgson adds a different dimension than most fourth lines. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks team that won the 2007 stanley cup had Slob Neidermyer centering their fourth line. he was a faceoff expert, grinder par excellence and good penalty killer. Cody Hodgson is a skilled player that likes to play in the offensive zone. he can play pk, but he wont with the canucks, but it is likely to see him on the second powerplay unit. we can't expect hodgson to add any physicality, however his linemate of Tanner Glass can do that job for him. It's just a matter of how vigneault wants to fill out this line with possibilities of oreskovich, tambellini and maybe Rypien if he ever returns (very unlikely).

In other news, one of our most avid readers really took what Hal had to say to heart. rene Bourque, who is a good friend of 'the battle of western canada' had the game of his career yesterday after Hal called him out for poor play.

Good job Rene Bourque and next time the beers are on us !

-hark

Cody Hodge-(shit)-Son

Hodge Podge finally popped one into the net nearly 2 and a half years after being drafted... only it was his second game. The goal was so popular that the server on our website broke down for ten minutes after he scored it, because people were coming to my site to see my response. well here it is:

what a beautiful goal by such a hardworking forward. so patient with the puck as he crossed through the slot and sniped it over Breeze-gayloves gay-love/glove. he makes nick kypreos look like the biggest fucking idiot in the world


Kyprios said that Hodgson at best has the potential to develop into somewhere between a second and a third liner. Hodgson is the guy that at the end of the 2008 OHL season the OHL coaches announce him "as the smartest player (for the second consecutive season), the hardest worker, the best on faceoffs and the best penalty killer." Ahead of steven stamkos (2007),Matt Duchene, jordan eberle, john tavares and matt duchene... and no i didn't mention matt duchene twice, cody hodgson is just so awesome he's giving you flashes of matt duchene. Hodgson has potential! He could definitely develop into a major force for the canucks, maybe not a key goal scorer but a smart player who moves the puck well... maybe kinda like ryan kesler of 09-10.

-hark

Thursday Ramblings

Vancouver Canucks Defenceman Alex Edler is out for a few months with a slipped disk in his back. This is a big blow to the Canucks who are losing their leading defenseman for playing time, goals, assists and hits. At the same time it frees up the salary cap space for Sami Salo to return. Edler should be back in time for the playoffs, where salary cap is never an issue.

Also, Alexander Semin has signed a one year contract extension with the Washington Capitals for nearly seven million. This is just one more sign of the poor management on part of the Washington Capitals. You don't resign someone, let alone give them a raise, when they havent scored a goal in two months. semins a bum and the Caps should have let some other GM overpay for him. I don't understand why they are making a team of inconsisten Europeans. They need to get more tough dependable Canadians that show up on a regular basis.

-hark

Malholtra, Torres, Raymond and Samuelson will pick it up in Dallas

Dallas goalie kari lehtonen is 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. This is the perfect opponent for the Canucks who remember the bitter pain of having their undefeated streak ended. It will be the first game since that loss that the Canucks have played against a top caliber opponent. Dallas is leader of the pacific Division in the NW and will likely be competing with Vancouver for leaders in the Western Conference for the rest of the season.

The droughts go on for all the Canucks forwards besides the sedins and kesler. Remember that game that mason Raymond came back from injury and on the fourth line he scored a goal? Why has he gotten comfortable on the first line and thinks he doesn't need to score on a consistent basis. And Raffi Torres who has been traded the past few trade deadlines, is playing the same streaky hockey that he has become known for. Malholtra you can cut a little bit of slack because he does such a great job on the pk; but at the same time he has been taking some stupid penalties lately. The same goes with burrows whose stupid penalties havent cost the canucks too badly this season but its just a ticking time bomb. samuelson is by far the worst for stupid penalties. he cost us dearly against st. louis back in december.

all in all its shaping up to be a good game. with luongo vs. lehtonen it could be a low scoring affair. even if just one of torres, sameullson, raymond, malholtra or tambellini can find the net juswt once, it might be enough to let the sedins and kesler do the rest.

-hark

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

Forget Trading Bieksa, lets trade Samuelson

Shit son, lets trade Samuelson. Its so simple. I hope theres a gm stupid enough to take his 2.5 million contract for the next year and a half.

From here forward we will refer to him as "samuel (shit) son". i think we might be able to get a second rounder for him. he did have 15 points in 12 games in the playoffs last year. he also dropped from the first line to the third line throughout this season finding his spot in alain vigneaults doghouse.

Dec 1

This date will be the turning point of the Flames season.
The reason why the suck is cause we haven't played the Canucks yet. This will turn the tide on both teams and they wil both make playoffs

Just When I thought the West Couldn't Get Any Better, It totally Redeems Itself!

For one brief second on Friday vs. Chicago the Calgary Flames looked like they might be able to salvage their season. then th played detroit and blew a two goal lead in the third and then could only muster one goal against NY (with a backup in net) in another loss. Edmonton sure will have some competition for that first overall Pick.

But look? In the tail lights. Theres the Vancouver canucks catching up. In their last 6 games they have gone 1-4-1. They have surrendered the first goal in 6 of their past 7 games. The canucks defense can not play a full sixty minutes. And neither the first, second or third line can get anything done.

watch out calgary and edmonton, the canucks might be the cinderella story that steals the pick from you.

-Hark

Canucks and Flames

So far the Canucks have not had a great start going 2-3-2. But I am not worried. It is still very early in the season and the canucks have lots of time to turn it around. the canucks home record is decent sitting at 2-1-1. Plus daniel is averaging a goal a game so far, while henrik is on target to get 115 points this season. Luongo is inconsistent but at least he is playing excellent and terrible rather than purely mediocre like last season.

The flames have started going 3-2. yet they have recieved so much criticism from even their own media. Its funny that nobody has jumped on the flames are going to win the cup bandwagon yet with their good start. maybe if they can beat detroit tonight. But there is no doubt in my mind the flames will still choke this season. they are going to be too hardpressed for goals when it comes down to it. Iginlas production will drop off again. Jokinen will continue to do nothing. Morrison wont be able to score more than 20. The only person that can step up is bourque and right now sutter has him playing on the third line. Twice already this season the flames have been shutout. Eventually at some point this season i predict the trade iginla rumours will start. At around the trade deadline the flames should trade him to boston for their first round pick (which will be the first overall pick because the leafs will choke too and bostons first pick is the leafs pick), plus johnny boychuk, and blake wheeler. then they should also trade ian white and a third round pick for a first round pick to san jose. plus they should try and move langkow for a second round pick to some borderline playoff team out east like atlanta or florida. then they can fan tank in 2011-2012. and then they can win the stanley cup in 2016. so its a 5-6 year plan but i think it will work.

-hark

how the canucks will stay under the cap.

ok so. the canucks are 1.8 million over the salary cap. plus sami salo and alex burrows who make a combined 3.5 million can not go on injured reserved until after the first game of the season. so the canucks have to do something tricky to bring their roster down by 1.8 million in the meantime before the first game of the season. this is what they will do:

They will waive goalie cory schneider and forward mason raymond. reason being is that both are rfa's and can not be claimed off waivers by other teams. this will free up 3.4 million in cap space. then they will be replaced by cody hodgson and goalie eddie lack who combined make 1 million dollars.

boom!!!!we just saved 2.4 million in caps space. we will play one game without mason raymond which will suck, but at least cody hodgson will have a chance to play in the nhl for one game before the gets sent down to manitoba. And we have to prey to god that roberto luongo's sore groin doesnt act up and we have to put in eddie lack because he is not ready for play yet. then after the first game we will send eddie lack and hodgson down to the ahl and call up raymond and schneider who never really left but were watching the game from the pressbox all along.

Mike Gillis you are a genius! and so are u hark for figuring out his plan.