"All-Star" Game - January, 30th, 2012

Oh, the days when the All-Star game had any sort of meaning.  Remember when it used to be East vs. West?  Or North American born players vs. the world?  At least you had something to root for then, now, it's pretty well only for the host city.  It was great of Ottawa to be able to cheer on an entire line of Senators, especially for Alfredsson and what he has done for that city.

I guess every team has their players they can cheer for, but it doesn't really prove anything on the competitive side of it.  I understand it's for the fans, and it targets a younger demographic, but the All-Star break is pretty well a week of no hockey in the middle of the season...unacceptable.

I use the word "all-star" loosely as well, I mean, come on, Joffrey Lupul?  Pominville? Dennis Wideman?  I'd love to have Scott Hartnell on my team, he is one of my favorite players just because he is exactly what an all around hockey player should be, but I wouldn't think he is one of the best in the NHL.  Now, he's having a great season so far, but he was probably brought in more for his commentating abilities rather than his on-ice skills.

The All-Star Game is not exactly a place for defensemen to be at all.  The only talent they get to display is how good they are at giving away 3-on-1's and how they don't know how to take the man.  D-men shouldn't be there at all, but since they are, I'm sure there are better candidates than Dan Girardi.  Again, he's a great player, but All-Star? Nay nay.

The good ol' days - Campbell Conference vs Wales Conference

My vote is to go back to East vs. West or North America vs the world, just beacause it involves more people.  More people can cheer for a team, more cities might show more interest.  Otherwise, this whole 'players drafting players' schtick is going to get old in a hurry, then all you have left is a single city cheering on teams that nobody cares about in a game that even less people bother waking up for.

One great thing to see come out of that All-Star game was the demand for the Sedin's.  Everybody wanted to play with them, everybody talked about how it's not fair that they are on the same team.  When you hear players say stuff like that, to think that they would be the most desirable tandem to play with in the league, it makes you proud to a Canuck fan.

Tanev Gets Called Up || January, 20. 2012

With Chris Tanev being called up to replace Sami Salo, he's being paired with Edler (for now).  That either means that Coach AV has a ton of faith in this kid, or he is putting him with Edler so he can cover for Tanev IF he screws up.  From what we saw last year - especially in the playoffs - I think it's got more to do with the first one.

In the past, Tanev was paired with Ballard, and that's usually when Ballard played his best hockey.  Tanev is more of a calm, stay at home defencemen, which helps when you have Ballard run-and-gunning up the ice.  Now that Tanev is with Edler though, what's that mean for Ballard?  I think it's pretty apparent that Ballard and Alain Vigneault don't really get along, for whatever reason.  Now, instead of pairing the one player with Ballard that really boosts each persons skill set, he kind of leaves Ballard in the dust.

I think Ballard will be traded before the dead line, depending on how Tanev looks.  If Tanev plays decent, not even outstanding, but as long as he doesn't give the puck away and makes simple and smart plays, then I think Ballard will be gone sooner rather than later.  That's a lot of cap space to have only play 14-15 minutes per game.  I think Ballard is a great defencemen and will put up some impressive numbers, but not on Vancouver.  Wrong coach, wrong style of play.  A good fit for him might even be Chicago (as much as that hurts to say) but then we'd have to play him and I don't think that would be wise.

Tanev will play just fine, which is great for the future because he will essentially take Salo's spot when he retires.  If Ballard does end up getting traded, who should we get in return? A replacement D-man, or a forward? Or do we just put him on waivers and just shed the salary?  Now it's your turn to talk, let me know what you think.

Hopefully it was the perfect storm || January, 16, 2012

Well that was a disaster.  Coming off a pretty successful road trip, starting with the huge win over Boston, then back to back in the sunshine state, then another big win over the surprising St. Louis Blues, the team that showed up against Anaheim was a shadow of it's former self.  For true Canuck fans, you probably aren't worried, you could just write it off as one of those things that usually happen in sports, where the first game back after a long road trip is usually a stinker.  However, the Canucks are starting to set a very disheartening trend.  They seem to show up against the top teams in the league - like Detroit, Chicago, Boston, San Jose - but when it comes to the basement dwellers, they suck.

Think back a month, when Vancouver played Columbus, or when they played Carolina without Jeff Skinner.  Those are teams they should be beating, and Vancouver has gotten the reputation around these parts, of not showing up against teams that should be an easy win.  Some people say that there are no easy wins in the NHL, especially now with the salary cap kind of leveling the teams off a bit, but when you're an elite team like the Canucks...it's a different story.

There are easy wins in the NHL, maybe not physically easy, but talent wise you can't say that Columbus is even close to the talent level of the Vancouver Canucks.  Now, Anaheim, they are a different story.  Granted, they have been playing better lately under the new head coach, but so far this season they are a terrible team.  I don't know how they have been so bad, considering they have one of the scariest first lines in the NHL.  Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry could be one of the biggest and skilled lines in the league, but this year has not been treating them well.  Especially since Ryan Getzlaf has pretty well just coasted through every game this season, but they are a very talented team.

So, the question is, did the Canucks lose the game?  Or did the Ducks just beat them?  Well, considering Vancouver only had a handful of shots in the first half of the game, it's a safe bet that they just didn't really give a shit.  They're probably tired, the star players (Kesler, Sedins) could be a little frustrated about not producing like they're used to, but I think that it was just one of those things.  Look for Vancouver to turn it up a notch against the Kings this Tuesday.  If they lay another steamy pile of a game against L.A., then you can start to question the ethic of a team this talented.  Right now though, I don't think there is anything to worry about.

There are rats, then there's Brad Marchand... || January, 9th, 2012

We've seen him before and he is going to be one hell of a player.  A key part of him becoming that great player though, is surviving that long.  He is making too many enemies too quickly in this league.  Brad Marchand is becoming a player that others are forced to look out for, and not necessarily in a good way.  There is no doubt that he is going to put up some very impressive numbers, he's got the skills for it.  Everybody loves a player who can get under the opponents skin, but there is a line and Marchand has crossed it...several times. 

Most recently, Marchand under cut an oncoming Sami Salo, ducking underneath him and flipping him onto his head.  Now, in his defense, Salo has a long history of head hunting people and smashing them face first into the boards, so the Bruins "self defense" case is very valid.....

This isn't the first time Marchand had done this - take a look back in the Stanley Cup Finals, he did the exact same thing there.  He is a short guy, so it doesn't take much for him to get down and flip somebody, but he is doing this as a defense mechanism, not a hit along the boards or anything.  There is a difference between a hip check by a defenseman on someone coming down along the boards and seeing somebody come towards you and duck under them and take them out at the knees. 

Boston loves this kid, and why wouldn't you.  They love him for almost all the same reasons we love Burrows and Lapierre and Kesler, but the only difference is, those guys aren't putting people in dangerous positions.