Canuckz.com » Pavol Demitra

Not Again! Salo Reportedly Injures Achilles, Gone 3-5 Months

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:40:27 +0000

Reports out of Finland are saying that Sami Salo has injured his achilles tendon in a game of floor hockey and could be gone 3-5 months. The report has not been confirmed as of yet.

Assuming the report is true, this could be a very difficult injury for Salo, now 35, to recover from. Not only is he 35, but he has a lot of mileage on his body.

One side effect of Salo being injured may be Kevin Bieksa. The longer Salo is out, the more valuable Kevin Bieksa becomes. A long term injury also provides salary cap relief, just as Pavol Demitra’s long term injury did last season.

***Update: The report has been confirmed by the Canucks

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.

Game 6 Recap – Hawks Too Much For Canucks

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 13 May 2010 16:45:32 +0000

The better team won. Face it. I have heard lots of whispers from the Canucks players and from fans that somehow the Hawks aren’t the better team, which boggles my mind. They were the better team during the last two regular seasons, they were the better team the last two playoffs. Sure there were some mitigating factors. Willie Mitchell’s injury sure hurt. Playing game 6 with a less than 100% Sami Salo and losing Alex Edler made things difficult. Lots of the Canucks forwards were banged up. Injuries ARE excuses, legitimate excuses. Injuries don’t mean you automatically lose, but they make things more difficult. These injuries meant that the Canucks had to be extra good, seeing as how they were underdogs to begin with. In the next few days I’ll take a retrospective look back at the Canucks season that was, but for now, lets concentrate on what happened in the deciding game, game 6 versus Chicago.

The Start

The Canucks got off to a terrible start in game 6. The shots on goal and the score were very misleading stats after the first period. The Blackhawks got probably the best five chances to score, but were stonewalled by Roberto Luongo. Luongo was positively in vintage form in the first period and gave his teammates a mulligan for a terrible start. Despite the bad start, his big saves got the crowd really involved, who were much more into the game than they were at the start of game 3 and 4 of this series.

‘Balls of Steel’

Canucks fans are normally known for unimaginative, lame cheers. You know the ones, “Turrrrrrrrrrrcoooooo!” and “Calgary Sucks!”. Well, we took a giant step forward with the “Balls of Steel!” chant for Sami Salo in game 6. Salo did indeed play, and was clearly under distress. He showed great courage, and should have provided a boost for his teammates.

Edler gets Byfuglien’d

The beginning of the end came in the first period when Alex Edler got hit into the boards by Dustin Byfuglien. Edler fell awkwardly on his leg and suffered an injury, which knocked him out of the game. Edler was the Canucks’ best defenceman in the playoffs, and given the depth on defence, he was probably the player they could most ill afford to lose.

Bad Bieksa

In the game preview yesterday, I asked the question of whether we would see the good Bieksa or the bad Bieksa. In game 5, we saw the good Bieksa. In game 6, not surprisingly, we saw the bad Bieksa. His unbelievable misplaying of the puck in the neutral zone which lead to Chicago’s second goal was a huge moment in the game. It kind of summed up his season: too casual.

Demitra’s Grand Finale

Demitra decided to roll the dice on a play at the blueline and he crapped out. His giveaway which lead to David Bolland’s breakaway goal made it 3-0 going into the second intermission. It was an absolute dagger. Alain Vigneault wasn’t impressed and benched him the rest of the game. That play will be Demitra’s last as a Canuck.

The Comeback

Could they? Would they? They didn’t. Shane O’Brien’s goal early in the third made things interesting, but only for a moment.

The Nail in the Coffin

Patrick Kane’s goal to make it 4-1 all but sealed it up. Another Canuck blunder, the Blackhawks made it look easy. Despite the fact that the Canucks stayed almost completely out of penalty trouble, the Hawks waltzed into GM Place and had their way. Nevermind the home ice advantage, the crowd, having last change. None of it mattered because the Blackhawks were too fast, too strong, too mean, too skilled, too good. There’s no shame in losing to the Blackhawks, they were the better team, but to lose in that fashion, was an embarrassing way to end the season.

Game 4 Recap/Game 5 Preview – Time for Luongo to Step Up

Tonyz Tanti — Sun, 09 May 2010 23:31:48 +0000

Apologies for not getting the game 4 recap out sooner, but all of the Canuckz.com team were out drowning their sorrows after one of the most disheartening games in recent memory. For the second straight game the Canucks were outsmarted, getting scored on and getting laughed at by the stronger, faster, cockier and so far better Chicago Blackhawks. Without getting into it too much, I’m sure we want to forget it by now, the Canucks need better goaltending from Roberto Luongo, more disciplined play, and better penalty killing.

And now, moving ahead to game 5….

A lot of what the Canucks need can start from Luongo. Perhaps that’s a bit simplistic to suggest, but Luongo should be their best player and should be their best penalty killer. So if Luongo plays well, the team feeds off it, and their penalty kill improves automatically.

Penalty Kill

Speaking of the penalty kill, apart from getting better goaltending, they need to get more aggressive. The PK had a turn around against the LA Kings by getting aggressive all over the rink. They have gotten away from that again in this series. They need to make it difficult for the Hawks to gather speed through the neutral zone and difficult to set-up in the offensive zone.

Play Their Game

The Canucks need to play Canuck hockey. By this I mean they need to play to their strengths and not get side tracked by all of the Chicago nonsense. I would leave Byfuglien alone in front of Luongo on the power play for starters. You’re not going to move him, so better to have just one big body in front of Louie rather than two. The entire team also needs to do their best to stay out of the box, seeing how their PK is playing. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be aggressive, but they can’t take any needless penalties after the whistle and such.

News from the Twitter World:

Getting some great news from the world of Twitter on today’s game from some of the media guys in Chicago.

More reason for the Canucks to be disciplined, Eric Duhatschek points out that it looks like the refs will be calling it tight tonight.

Dan Murphy is reporting that Pavol Demitra will be back in for today’s game, with Tanner Glass drawing out. Demitra will move to the second line and play with Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler. Worth a shot in my opinion, although I think I would have played Mikael Samuelsson on the second line and moved Mason Raymond to the third.

Murph is also reporting that Luongo has shaved his playoff beard. I guess as Geno Reda pointed out, sporting the second lowest save percentage among NHL goalies after the Olympics (minimum 15 games played) has him wanting to change his luck.

They Can Do It:

The Canucks aren’t dead yet, although it doesn’t look good. I believe that tonight’s pivotal game 5 will be the toughest to win. If they can manage to win game 5, they figure to be due for a win at GM Place. If they can do that and force a game 7, the weight of the world will be on the Blackhawks not to blow a 3-1 series lead on home ice. A few things need to go right, but it’s not impossible and it’s been done before. If that happens, it will be because Luongo was great, their forwards keep scoring and their penalty kill steps up. Hopefully for Canucks fans, that starts tonight.

Game 4 Preview – Vigneault Shakes up the Lineup, Burish Calls Canucks ‘Clowns’

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:19:57 +0000

Skate and go to the net, presumably that’s the message from Coach V to his troops tonight. Alain Vigneault has a few lineup shuffles in mind for tonight’s contest. Pavol Demitra and Rick Rypien will sit out tonight’s contest in favour of Michael Grabner and Tanner Glass. Here’s what the Canucks lines are expected to look like:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Raymond-Kesler-Grabner

Hansen-Wellwood-Samuelsson

Glass-Johnson-Bernier

I like the idea of them shaking it up. You’ve got to give the Hawks a different look, make your team unpredictable.

Power Play

The Canucks power play clearly needs to be better and Alain Vigneault has decided to shake that up also:

1st PP Unit:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Bieksa-Salo

2nd PP Unit:

Wellwood/Bernier-Kesler-Samuelsson

Ehrhoff-Edler

Once again, I like the sounds of this. The mandate sounds like they want more point shots with a net presence. If they do that, it’ll open things up for the Sedins down low. It’s no different than having a three point threat helping your post players in basketball.

Burish Bullsh*t

Adam Burish had a few choice words for a few members of the Canucks. Here are a few excerpts:

“The thing that upsets me about O’Brien and Burrows is they go and target [Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews],” Burish said Friday morning. “The clown Burrows goes after [Brian] Campbell in the middle of the ice.

“Give me a break. If you want to target someone, come find me or [Ben Eager]. You guys want to pretend you’re so tough, and yet you go and try to pick a fight with those guys. If you want to hit them and play hard, fine. But those clowns are pushing them after the whistle and punching them.”

“We call O’Brien a ‘spot picker,’ ” Burish said. “He picks his spots pretty nice. He knows who’s on the ice and when he can be a tough guy and when he kind of has to shut up.”

To me this is nothing more than Burish trying to throw the Canucks off their game. I don’t know if it will work or if it will just motivate the Canucks, but I do know that those are tough words for a guy who got his clock cleaned by O’Brien last season:

Demitra to Play Saturday

Tonyz Tanti — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:39:45 +0000

Team 1040 is reporting that Pavol Demitra will likely make his season debut Saturday versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. Great news, now all they have to decide is where to put him. Has the second line of Samuelsson, Kesler, and Raymond shown enough to not get broken up? I’m not sure it has.

It appears Alain Vigneault isn’t ready to shake up his top two lines. Here’s what the lines looked like at practice today:

Sedin-Sedin-Burrows

Raymond-Kesler-Samuelsson

Demitra-Wellwood-Bernier

Hordichuk-Rypien-Glass

Jannik Hansen looks to be a healthy scratch, Ryan Johnson is still injured and Alex Bolduc is injured because he’s crazy.

*Update: It looks like Bernier re-aggravated his groin injury, so look for Jannik Hansen to take his spot on the third line.

Henrikmania, Schneider-Lukowich Swap, Jannik “Dangerfield” Hansen and More!

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:00:14 +0000

After lets face it, a boring first 20-30 games this season, there are now lots of things going on in Canuckland. In fact, I can think of at least ten of them:

1. Henrikmania

Henrik Sedin, Art Ross Trophy winner… could it happen? You would have been laughed at if you suggested this even a month ago. But not now. Henrik was named the NHL first star for the month of December and is currently tied for first in the league in scoring! This is not just a small streak that he’s on, we’re more than halfway through the season. Take notice: Henrik (and Daniel) have arrived as elite players.

2. Mathieu Schneider is Gone

Apparently he’s nice and happy in Manitoba now and apparently it sounds like the Canucks wanted to see him go as much as he did. One of the more interesting excerpts:

“You’re speaking to a guy who generally believes in forgiveness,” assistant general manager Laurence Gilman said. “But there’s been a certain amount of water under the bridge at this point. He hasn’t been happy with what has occurred here, and we haven’t been happy with what has occurred.”

Doesn’t sound like they’ll be interested in recalling him anytime soon. Something was obviously said/done behind the scenes that we don’t know about.

3. Lukowich is Back

Brad Lukowich is back in town! The Canucks entered this season with 9 defencemen under contract and it looks like it was a good decision. They’ve used them all. Luckily Lukowich got through re-entry waivers (a little surprising if you ask me).

4. Jannik Hansen Gets No Respect

Jannik Hansen is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Vancouver Canucks. He has seven points in 20 games so far, playing only 12 minutes a night on the fourth line. Those are great numbers, he has an even plus-minus rating and I think he checks well also. So why has he been a healthy scratch since the December 27 win in Calgary? I know why: no respect.

5. Louie’s Lights Out

So why are the Canucks playing so well of late? Well as usual, the Canucks go as Roberto Luongo plays. He’s been lights out lately and so has the team. He’s starting to climb up the ladder in goalie stats to where he belongs.

6. Tickets to Canucks Games

Notice how many times the Canucks have released tickets for games at GM Place lately? I can’t remember another season like it. Any chance they’re not actually selling out all of their games anymore? Maybe they’ve finally reached the ceiling for ticket prices, especially in this economy.

7. Rick Rypien

Need we say more?

8. Pavol Demitra

He practiced this week for the first time in months and he’s almost back from his injury. Lets just hope he can stay healthy once he gets back.

9. Cody Hodgson

Watching the World Juniors without Cody Hodgson got me thinking, has he played this year yet? Well the answer is no. It also got me thinking once again: why was he playing in the NHL preseason again?

10. On the Right Side of the Bar

Finally the Canucks have re-joined the top 8 in the Western Conference! I don’t think I was the only one who was getting nervous about that. Don’t look now, but they’re knocking on the door for the division lead too.

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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Treading Water

Tonyz Tanti — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:52:53 +0000

At the quarter-way mark of the 2009-10 season, the Canucks have successfully treaded water. With a record of 10-10-0, you’d think that the Canucks would be disappointed, and perhaps they are. For me, this is about what we should have expected, all things considered. If they had been 100% healthy, you’d maybe expect a record of 13-7 through 20 games. Consider that Luongo has started only 13 games, Daniel Sedin has played only four games, Sami Salo has only played 12 games and Pavol Demitra has missed the entire season, not to mention the other countless missed games here and there, a 10-10 start should be considered par for the course.

With that said, there are more than a few alarming trends through the first 20 games:

Injury or no injury, Roberto Luongo hasn’t been lights-out yet. He has a very mediocre 6-7 win/loss record, 2.74 GAA and .903 SV%. Those are not Team Canada numbers. It’s also alarming that he got injured, again. He needs to stay healthy.

Offense from the D. Alex Edler (he of the minus seven rating so far), Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo have combined for ONE, just one, goal.

Kyle Wellwood. He’s been absolutely invisible through 20 games.

Team toughness. Where is it? The Canucks were a nasty piece of business to deal with last year. Perhaps injuries have changed that a bit, but still. They’ve got to get back to that blue collar attitude.

So will the real Vancouver Canucks please stand-up? We haven’t seen them yet, and might not this season given Pavol Demitra’s status, but once they get Daniel Sedin back (and that should be soon). The excuses will be all gone. And hopefully the losing will be gone too.

The Replacements

Tonyz Tanti — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:07:54 +0000

In a weird twist this season, the Canucks have all 8 of their defencemen healthy (defencemen usually are the most injury prone), and a whole whack of injuries to forward, and then of course there’s Roberto Luongo. The result has been a lot of dull hockey, with the team trying to play more defensive due to their lack of fire power. With that said, here’s a review of the replacements for Luongo, Daniel Sedin, Pavol Demitra and Ryan Johnson (as well as Kyle Wellwood and Rick Rypien here and there).

Michael Grabner:

Chicks are digging the speedy Austrian sniper, and why not? Grabner has been impressive with the big club. He has five points in his first nine NHL games and has been generating a lot of scoring chances. Unfortunately, a replacement for this replacement will be needed. Grabner was lost to an ankle injury that he suffered during the pre-game hallway warm-up. It’s been that kind of season for the Canucks (kind of reminds me of when the Canucks lost all those defencemen in the 2007-08 season and Lukas Krajicek slipped on some ice and injured himself).

Tanner Glass:

Glass has looked good thus far. Sunday’s game against Colorado was probably his best, notching a goal and hitting a crossbar. He’s been pretty reliable, finishing all of his checks and responsible in his own end.

Aaron Rome:

The Canucks’ forward (forward!? Yes, forward) has been impressive since being moved from defence. Vigneault moved him from defence to forward because of all the injuries up front, and must have sure liked him there. He lead all Canucks forwards in ice time in Friday’s game versus Anaheim. That’s clearly ridiculous, but he hasn’t looked out of place at forward (unlike Mathieu Schneider who looked completely lost in his one game at forward… Vigneault clearly hasn’t heard of not being able to teach an old dog new tricks).

Alexandre Bolduc:

Bolduc, like Grabner, has also been injured since being called-up. While healthy, he played pretty much error free, but didn’t offer anything notable.

Sergei Shirokov:

The “Pocket Russian Rocket” hasn’t been able to lift-off as of yet. In six games in the NHL, he has been unable to get a single point and is a minus four. Disappointing, sure, but even more disappointing is that he hasn’t been noticeable. He has been sent to the Moose a couple of times already, and continues to rip it up down there, but so far he hasn’t been able to translate that to the NHL level.

Andrew Raycroft:

Raycroft has played pretty well in his limited action. I thought he was unfairly pulled in the loss to Anaheim on Friday, but responded with a shutout against his old team, the Colorado Avalanche. He wasn’t tested a lot against Colorado, but still, I have more confidence in him than any back-up goalie they’ve had since Alex Auld. He should get all of the starts until Luongo comes back.