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Summer Tidbits: Ring of Honour Plus Bieksa, Raymond and Demitra News

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:29:45 +0000

It went somewhat under the radar because it was reported the same day as Markus Naslund’s jersey retirement was announced, but the Canucks have announced that they will be having a “ring of honour” at Rogers Arena. The idea behind the ring of honour is that they will be able to honour some players from the past that don’t quite deserve to have their jersey retired.

Is this a good idea? In a way I like the idea of honouring past players in a way other than jersey retirement, but just what will be the criteria to get on the ring? Four players will be honoured this year, beginning with Orland Kurtenbach. The other three have yet to be announced.

Maybe I’m overly skeptical, but I can see this “ring of honour” becoming a bit of a joke. Lets be honest here, the Canucks do not have a great history. A long history, sure, but not a great history. I’m sure Orland Kurtenbach was/is a great guy and he was their first captain, but he’s the first member of the ring of honour? Kurtenbach played only four years in Vancouver, never played a game in the playoffs for them, and put up point totals of 53, 61, 28 and 21 in blue and green. He’s currently 46th in Canucks all-time scoring (one point ahead of Mark Messier).

So is the ring of honour for ‘good guys’ like Kurtenbach and guys like Tiger Williams, Dana Murzyn and Harold Snepsts? Or is it for their greatest players, like Pavel Bure, Alex Mogilny and Todd Bertuzzi? Personally, I think it should encompass both. If you aren’t one of the top players in the history of the team, you’re out. If you embarrassed the club like Bertuzzi, you’re out. If you turned your back on the city like Bure, you’re out.

So who should make it in? They probably will not feel a need to honour the guys who have already had their number retired like Smyl, Linden and Naslund, so it should be the next group of guys who were the best players for a number of years while maintaining a minimum level of class. Thomas Gradin is a no brainer in my opinion. He’s the most unappreciated Canuck of all time. He was perhaps a better player than Stan Smyl was, yet gets no publicity while Smyl gets a tonne.Very similar to way we look at Trevor Linden versus Markus Naslund.

Other players that should get consideration? Don Lever, Andre Boudrias and Dennis Kearns from the 1970s, Richard Brodeur (along with Gradin) from the 1982 Cup finalist team, Tony Tanti and Doug Lidster from those terrible teams in the 1980s, and Kirk McLean, Jyrki Lumme and Cliff Ronning from the 1994 cup finalist team. Honourable mentions go to Geoff Courtnall, Greg Adams and Petri Skriko. Harold Snepsts, Garth Butcher and Tiger Williams will probably get consideration too, but probably shouldn’t.

Bieksa’s Not Gone Yet

Kind of interesting that the trigger hasn’t been pulled on Kevin Bieksa… yet. Is it possible that Mike Gillis is planning to keep all of his d-men this year? That would make six d-men making over $3 million plus Shane O’Brien ($1.6 million). I still think Gillis has to make a move and certainly Bieksa is the man to go, but with every passing day without a trade the chances of Bieksa staying increase.

Apparently there is a lot of interest in Bieksa. Ben Kuzma (the Kooze!) of the Province figures that Anaheim, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Jose and Columbus are all interested. I can’t see the Canucks wanting to help LA or San Jose, but the other three make sense to me. Obviously trading to a team in the east is the best option though.

What’s Raymond Worth?

I guess it depends on who his comparables are. Wojtek Wolski just signed for $3.8 million and Guillaume Latendresse signed for $2.5 million. Safe to say Raymond falls somewhere in that range, so perhaps $3 million? What do you think? Lets hear your opinion in the comments section.

Demitra Signs in the KHL

As expected, Pavol Demitra will not be returning to the Canucks this season, signing a deal in the KHL. His NHL career is likely over but perhaps we’ll see him again at the Olympics in 2014. Once a great player with the Blues, he never made it to the Stanley Cup finals in his career. This past season with the Canucks was injury riddled, and his previous season was sub-par. His absence will be felt in the shootout though, where he was one of the team’s best. We will also miss his crazy interview ramblings.

Bieksa to Columbus? Got to Love Offseason Rumours

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 19:17:52 +0000

When you have eight NHL defencemen under contract and are still set to re-sign Shane O’Brien, rumours are bound to follow. When you’re the #6 d-man on the depth chart and making $3.75 million, chances are you’ll be the guy talked about in those rumours. I’m speaking of course of Kevin Bieksa, who was rumoured to be on the trade block by yours truly after the Keith Ballard trade and is now being rumoured all over the place. Despite the fact that Mike Gillis isn’t confirming that Bieksa is being shopped, you have to believe he is.

But where could he be headed? What could be coming back in return? Well, the Columbus Dispatch has done their best to shine a light on it. The Columbus newspaper is reporting that Nikita Filatov could be headed to Vancouver in return for Bieksa. Bieksa would give the Blue Jackets an offensive defenceman that they desperately need. The Canucks would shed cap space and add Filatov, a young skilled Russian forward set to be a $2.196 million cap hit this season. Filatov was picked 6th overall in the 2008 draft (four spots ahead of Cody Hodgson) and played in the KHL last season. He’d be a bit risky to take on, given the fact he could bolt to Russia if he is unhappy about his playing time or life in North America. There’s also the question as to whether or not Filatov would be good enough to play on the team’s top two lines this year or if he has the grit to play on their third line.

Regardless, if this is an offer that’s sitting on the table I think Mike Gillis absolutely has to take it. The upside of Filatov is huge, and snapping him up could pay off huge. Imagine Filatov, Hodgson and Schroeder all developing at the same time and making entry level money. If they were to all pan out (that’s a big ‘if’ I know), the Canucks would be sitting pretty.

Goaltending Controversy in Vancouver? Plus News from ‘Roxy’ O’Brien

Tonyz Tanti — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:03:33 +0000

Ok, maybe there’s not a true goaltending controversy in Canuckland these days, but if it weren’t for Roberto Luongo’s reputation, there would be. Luongo is having his worst season in a Canucks jersey, being pulled more times than ever, while Andrew Raycroft is enjoying the the best season by a Canucks backup since Alex Auld. Statistically speaking, Raycroft has better numbers.

They share essentially the same save percentage (Luongo at .913, Raycroft at .914) and Raycroft has a better goals against average (Luongo at 2.55, Raycroft at 2.31). These stats should be skewed a bit given the fact that Luongo plays fatigued more often and usually plays the tougher teams, but this is still highly unusual for Luongo. Luongo typically has numbers far superior to his backup and is usually at the top of the league in GAA and SV%. This year, he’s middle of the pack, 18th in GAA and 17th in SV%. To put that in perspective, Dan Cloutier was 16th and 18th in GAA and SV% in 2003-04.

All of these numbers are not to suggest that the Canucks should play Raycroft in the playoffs or that Luongo won’t regain his form, but it still has to cause a bit of concern. He’s not at his best right now and hasn’t been for a while. Since the Olympics, Roberto Luongo is a very mediocre 7-5-1, has been pulled three times, and has given up four goals or more five times. That means there have been far too many stinkers for a goalie of his caliber.

Do you think Shane O’Brien will be laying off the club scene for a while now? The Canucks blueliner is enjoying a pretty good season so far on the ice. He has been steady, averaging more minutes per game than he did last year and has a very respectable plus-minus rating of +16. Off the ice, he has been in and out of Alain Vigneault’s doghouse. It’s being suggested that his multi-game stint in the press box in favour of Andrew Alberts a few weeks ago was because he put on a few pounds during the Olympic break. His most recent trip to the doghouse is by far the most serious. Apparently O’Brien had a wild night at the Roxy on Sunday night and was late for practice on Monday morning. The biggest problem with this is the fact that practice was at 11am! I can understand someone hitting the snooze a little too long if practice was at say, 8am, but missing an 11am practice is pretty ridiculous.

O’Brien has been banished from the team, at least for a few games. Hopefully he and Vigneault can patch things up and get him back on the ice. I believe he’s quite a bit better than Andrew Alberts as the team’s number six defenceman, and will be counted on during the playoffs.

David Backes Rumoured to be on his way to the West Coast

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:22:02 +0000

Who likes rumours? Everyone! Matthew Sekeres is reporting that the Canucks and Blues may be working on a deal that would see the Canucks acquiring David Backes with Cory Schneider heading the other way. Apparently Mike Gillis decided last minute to skip the Top Prospects Game in Windsor in favour of the Habs-Blues game in Montreal, presumably to watch Backes.

Here are some other interesting things that Sekeres is saying about this rumour:

- In July 2008, one of Gillis’ first acts as Canucks GM was to sign St. Louis centre David Backes to a three-year, $7.5-million (all currencies U.S.) offer sheet. The Blues, grudgingly, matched.

- The Blues are six points out of a playoff spot, and have 16 games remaining before the Olympic break

- Blues president John Davidson was in Winnipeg in early-January, and told a local radio station he was there to scout the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose, Vancouver’s farm team, and the Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals farm team. Both the Canucks and Caps are in playoff position.

- The Blues have been trying to get by with the tandem of Chris Mason and Ty Conklin, a pair of 33-year-olds who have been backups more than starters over their careers. Prospect Ben Bishop seems to have fallen out of favour, and long-range prospect Jake Allen proved that he is not nearly ready for prime time with an abysmal performance at the world junior championship in Saskatchewan earlier this month.

What would this trade mean for the Canucks:

-Acquiring a 25 year old 31 goal scorer (last season)

-Adding size and grit

-Upgrading on Kyle Wellwood as a 3rd line centre

What this would mean for the Blues:

-Securing their goaltending future

-Shedding some salary for a relatively cash poor franchise

Acquiring David Backes is very intriguing to me. Is he the 31 goal scorer we saw last year or is he the under performing player we’re seeing this year? Probably somewhere in between. He’s the right type of player they need: a young big bruising forward. My only concern is that giving up Cory Schneider might be a bit too much. If they could throw-in a draft pick, I think they may have a deal.

Lets hope this deal gets done if for no other reason than to wonder what Kesler and Burrows have to say to Backes when he walks in the room:

Burrows Beef

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:09:12 +0000

With a pair of goals on Monday against Nashville on top of last week’s NHL number one star of the week honour, Alex Burrows is red hot at the moment. But it’s the controversy that revealed itself on Monday night that is all anyone can talk about. Burrows accused referee Stephane Auger of carrying out a personal vendeta against him, looking to call penalties because Burrows showed up Auger a month ago. Listening to Burrows in his post game interview and looking in his eyes, it’s not likely that he is fabricating this story. If it’s true, the NHL will have a messy situation on its hands. Helping Burrows’ case is the fact that his chat with Auger was caught on camera, although you can’t tell what they are talking about.

Laser-Gate

It seems that the only thing more beloved than those green men at GM Place is the laser pointer guy at GM Place. Well, at least for some. The Calgary Flames aren’t too happy about it. For good reason, I guess. You shouldn’t have to deal with that for that long, but I think some people are starting to exagerate things a little bit. Take a look at the Calgary Flames message board. Here’s a sample of some of the best:

That was not the same laser you use to play with your cat. It has to be considered assault. I don’t care if it was a kid fooling around, an over enthusiastic college kid or somebody’s Grandma, it’s assault and they should be charged for it. Set an example before this gets out of hand.

Not only an ejection but the !%@##+ should be charged for trying to cause bodily harm to another person.

This whole incident appears to be a security issue at GM place.
Now that it has been highlighted, there is no excuse for the owners not to fix it.
If it continues then perhaps a league fine and/or movement of the remainder of the games to a safer venue is in order.

It’s a laser pointer people. It probably won’t appear again, and if it does, the security at GM Place will do a better job of finding the person. It’s also not some kind of retina burning laser or a shark with a laser beam attached to its head. Actually, it’s something more like this:

Mathieu Schneider on Waivers

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:56:16 +0000

The Canucks have announced that Mathieu Schneider has been placed on waivers. In most likely not unrelated news, the Canucks have called up Alex Bolduc.

Disappointing news concerning Schneider in my opinion. Why exactly was he brought in? He was brought-in to run the power play, yet received practically zero time with the #1 unit and was in and out of the lineup. I know that the Canucks’ power play has been very good this season, but when you analyze the stats, it’s puzzling why Schneider (two power play points in very limited action) received far fewer power play minutes than Kevin Bieksa (five power play points with lots of power play time).

Schneider was also brought-in for veteran leadership and to provide depth. Of course that would come in handy when the games get more physical/intense in the stretch run and into the playoffs. Mark my words: one or more Canucks defensemen will suffer an injury and they will wish that they had Schneider to call-on.

At the moment it’s not clear whether the Canucks told Schneider to stay away from the team so they could move him or if he just bolted, but in either case, it’s too bad.

Mitchell and Kesler Altercation at Practice

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:46:07 +0000

Willie Mitchell and Ryan Kesler are fighting mad. Jim Jamieson is reporting that Ryan Kesler and Willie Mitchell almost fought this morning at practice. What is up with that? Usually this happens when a team is in the midst of a losing streak, not just right after a win. It also doesn’t usually happen with two assistant captains. Even weirder is that this is the second time that Willie Mitchell has been involved in something like this in the last calendar year. During an eight game losing streak last year, Mitchell was involved in an altercation with Mason Raymond. Is this a case of Willie Mitchell being a little chippy in practice? Or maybe there’s a rift in the dressing room. Either way, don’t believe the spin that’s sure to come, this is not a good sign.

Onto more positive news. How ’bout Rick Rypien!? The little pit bull (and Canuckz.com favourite) knocked off another giant yesterday in 6’7″, 245lb Boris Valabik of the Atlanta Thrashers. I predict that it won’t be long until the fans at GM Place will be chanting his name.

Canucks Shopping Demitra and O’Brien?

Tonyz Tanti — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:58:14 +0000

Interesting stuff from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun. Among other things, Garrioch is reporting that the New York Rangers are interested in acquiring Pavol Demitra and that the Canucks are shopping Shane O’Brien. Interesting news on both fronts.

Apparently the Rangers are interested in reuniting Slovak buddies Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra (no word on Demitra buying a house in Manhattan yet). This makes some sense when you think about it, as Glen Sather has been prone to reuniting countrymen, just as he did with Jaromir Jagr, Robert Lang and the rest of the Czech National Team.

Just who the Canucks could get in return is another story. Sure, the Rangers would love to have Demitra, but he also makes $4 million per season and the blue shirts are at the cap. Looking at the Rangers roster/cap situation, I don’t see a fit.

So what about O’Brien? Vigneault dressed him in three straight games which has sparked rumours that he’s shopping him. While on the surface this may make some sense, they had better get a defenceman in return if they trade him. The Canucks have been remarkably lucky with their injury prone defense corps this season, but lets not forget that Sami Salo and/or Mathieu Schneider are VERY prone to injuries. They need to have extra d-men waiting in the wings.

This is not to say that Mike Gillis isn’t or shouldn’t be working the phone lines. The Canucks have not been good enough this season and could still use a proven scorer. Let me be the first to beat the Alex Tanguay and Ray Whitney drums. Both guys are pending unrestricted free agents that are having disappointing seasons thus far. Might be worth a shot.

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Nazzy’s Coming Out of Retirement! To Play in Sweden….

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:23:33 +0000

It appears that Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg will be returning to pro hockey together, playing for their hometown team of Modo in Sweden. The two of them are clearly very loyal to Modo, as they are reportedly going to play for FREE! This will mark the third (and presumably final) time that Forsberg and Naslund have played together for Modo. The two played together previously for Modo before their NHL careers and during the lockout canceled season in 2005-06.

The most interesting part of this new development could be the impact on Team Sweden for the Olympics in February. Forsberg has reportedly shown interest in playing in February but up to this point, Naslund hasn’t. He may or may not be interested, but if Naslund and Forsberg click well together in Modo, why wouldn’t Naslund want to have his swan song in the Olympics? It would mark his first return to play hockey in Vancouver since he last played for the team in 2008. He also missed the chance to play for Team Sweden in the 2006 Olympics, thus missing a chance at a gold medal. Consider further that Team Sweden doesn’t exactly have the best depth right now, and I think there’s an outside chance that Naslund could be in the 2010 Olympics.

Forsberg to Vancouver? Maybe…

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:27:45 +0000

It’s that time of year again folks. Yep, the time of year that Mike Gillis tries to coax an aging Swedish future hall of fame centre to not retire and come to Vancouver. Peter Forsberg played in the Karjala Cup tournament in Helsinki this week, and is apparently contemplating a return to the NHL and possibly play in the 2010 Olympics this February. And Mike Gillis is interested.

The issue with Forsberg is of course his health. If he’s healthy, he’s still a very good player, but nagging foot problems have plagued him over the last bunch of years. So where will Forsberg land? Not Philadelphia according to reports. There are also rumours that he’s considering the KHL, but I would find that hard to believe. The Canucks should have the cap space to sign him because of Demitra’s injury, but would Forsberg consider Vancouver out of loyalty to the Avalanche? In the past he has reportedly felt that way, but lots has changed since then. Both teams have completely revamped rosters (gone are the likes of Bertuzzi, Cooke, Ruutu for the Canucks and Sakic, Roy, etc for the Avs), and are no longer the bitter rivals they once were. I’d still consider the Canucks a long shot to get him, but it sure would be nice to see him in a Vancouver uniform.

Imagine what a healthy Forsberg could do for the Vancouver lineup:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Demitra-Kesler-Raymond

Samuelsson-Forsberg-Bernier

Those are three pretty potent scoring lines. If he gets injured, you throw Wellwood into his spot, and you’re back to where you are now.

TEAM 1410 Sports Radio

That’s right, there’s a new all-sports radio station in Vancouver, and it can be found on 1410 AM. It appears that it will be the home for the BC Lions as well as some US syndicated shows such as the Jim Rome Show. Pretty good idea if you ask me.

The current Team 1040 lineup has a lot of the same kind of show with the same kind of guests. I love listening to it, but sometimes it’s nice to hear about, say, the World Series instead of the Calgary Flames’ H1N1 flu shots.

Schneider in Goal Tonight

No, not Mathieu Schneider (wouldn’t be too surprising considering all the positions Canucks defencemen are playing lately), but Cory Schneider will get the start in goal tonight against Dallas. A little surprising considering how well Andrew Raycroft has been in goal this year (did you know he’s first in GAA and 2nd in SV% this year?!). The move is probably a good one, considering that the last time Raycroft played in the 2nd of back-to-back games he was pulled.