Canuckz.com » Shane O’Brien

Who will stay? Who will go? Mike Gillis’ Offseason Game Plan

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:13:31 +0000

The countdown to the free agent frenzy is on. July 1st marks the first day of free agency 2010 and the Canucks are sure to be busy. The Canucks currently have five regulars scheduled to become unrestricted free agents and four regulars set to become restricted free agents. Clearly not all of them will be back and some new players will be added via free agency. There is also the potential for young players to step into the lineup and more trades to happen. So what will Mike Gillis do? Well, lets try to figure that out right now:

Unrestricted Free Agents:

Willie Mitchell: Perhaps the most valuable Canucks defenceman over the last number of years, most in the know are assuming that the Port Alberni native’s days are numbered in Vancouver. Mitchell, 33, made $3.5 million last season and should still have a couple more very productive years left. If not for his concussion history, I think the Canucks would be wise to re-sign him at the same money for a couple more years. The question is what will he command on the open market? He’ll probably land somewhere in the neighbourhood of $4 million on a short term deal or $3.5 on a 3-4 year deal. I don’t think he’ll be back, but I think they should try to keep him.

Pavol Demitra: Needless to say Demitra will not be back. He had a disappointing two seasons in Vancouver and isn’t a top six forward anymore with the players they have.

Andrew Raycroft: The one-way deal for Cory Schneider means that Raycroft won’t be back, though he was probably destined to go somewhere else anyway where he can get more money and playing time.

Ryan Johnson: Johnson is now 34 years old and has a lot of mileage on his body. His heart is unquestionable but he provides little offense and has lost a step. He had a very poor year on the penalty kill last year and I don’t think he’ll be back. He’ll find another spot in the league most likely, but at less than the $1.15 million he earned last season.

Kyle Wellwood: Sorry to say it, but I think Canuckz.com blogger Sean Ovariez’s favourite player will be playing somewhere else next season. Wellwood is just so inconsistent and doesn’t provide that grit element the Canucks were missing in the playoffs. Add the fact that the Canucks are probably hoping that Cody Hodgson takes over the third line centre role next season and I think the writing is on the wall, but he’ll be missed.

Restricted Free Agents:

Mason Raymond: Raymond will be back, but the question is at what price? A good comparable is Wojtek Wolski, who at a similar age and production just signed a two year deal worth $3.8 million per season. Wolski probably has the better resume thus far, so expect Raymond to make less than that, but not much less. Bet on about $3.2 million per season.

Shane O’Brien: O’Brien got a qualifying offer from the Canucks worth $1.6 million. The question is, is that too much for the role he plays? With the acquisition of Keith Ballard, O’Brien is now sixth on the depth chart. I like O’Brien, but I don’t think you can afford to pay your sixth d-man that kind of coin. He might be trade bait.

Tanner Glass: Glass brought some nice elements to the team last season, but I don’t think he’ll be back. He was good, but the team will probably be looking for more potential in his spot.

Jannik Hansen: Jannik Hansen is an interesting case. He’s still young at age 24, and was actually quite productive. Something tells me he won’t be back though. Perhaps it’s because he’s not Alain Vigneault’s favourite guy or perhaps they just want more grit and toughness on the third/fourth line.

Young Players Ready to Step In:

Cory Schneider: The young netminder signed a two year one-way deal worth $900,000 per season and will be handed the backup job behind Roberto Luongo. Mike Gillis has hinted that Schneider will get more playing time than Luongo’s backups have in the past.

Cody Hodgson: The Canucks most important prospect is now two years removed from his draft year and the team will do anything it can to give him the third line centre job. Assuming that he’s recovered from his injury troubles from last season he should be up for the challenge. Cross your fingers.

Jordan Schroeder: Schroeder didn’t have a great year last season with the University of Minnesota, notching 28 points in 37 games. At the end of the college season, he joined the Manitoba Moose and looked impressive. He put up 9 points in 11 regular season games and 6 points in 6 playoff games. That’s an impressive pro hockey debut, but I’m thinking he’ll probably need some more seasoning in the AHL.

Evan Oberg: In his first season of pro hockey Oberg lead all Moose d-men in scoring at age 21. He’s still young and could challenge for a job with the big club next season He’s probably destined to be a call-up from the Moose though.

Trade Bait:

In my mind the Canucks have a few pieces that could be offered up in a trade. Most notably, Kevin Bieksa could become expendable with the acquisition of Keith Ballard and perhaps the signing of free agent d-man. Shane O’Brien is in much the same situation as Bieksa (overpaid for his spot on the depth chart) and could be on the block. Look for at least one of them to go.

Up front, the trading of Michael Grabner probably solidifies Mason Raymond’s spot with the team. I say probably, because if he demands too much money as a restricted free agent he might be gone. That’s a long shot though. Darcy Hordichuk didn’t play a playoff game last season, but something tells me that he’ll be back.

So Who Will Gillis Bring Into the Fold?

Check back tomorrow when Canuckz.com will take a look at the most likely free agents the Canucks will target on July 1st. We’ll also take a stab at a few juicy trade rumours making the rounds. Remember to follow yours truly on Twitter for all the updates.

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 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:

Game 5 Recap – Not So Quick

Tonyz Tanti — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:23:52 +0000

Game 5 was the first one sided game of this entertaining series. For the first time in the series, Roberto Luongo clearly outplayed Jonathan Quick, who was chased in the second period. For the second game in a row, the Canucks power play equaled the Kings power play, perhaps indicating that this penalty killing jinx is at least close to ending.

While the Kings have silenced Alex Burrows in this series (I believe he must be injured, he hasn’t looked himself at all), they haven’t found an answer for Mikael Samuelsson. Samuelsson had two goals in game 5 and is red hot, netting seven goals already in this series. That ties him with none other than Pavel Bure for the franchise record of most goals in a playoff series.

Encouraging for the Canucks was the play of their defense. Alex Edler continues to be a beast on the back end, with Ehrhoff and Sami Salo also leading the way. The problem in recent weeks has been the play of their bottom three d-men: Kevin Bieksa, Shane O’Brien and Andrew Alberts. While the three of them weren’t superstars by any means, Bieksa looked steady, O’Brien got in a fight and the fans were chanting “Lets Go Alberts!” late in the game. Alberts looked steady defensively, but is still incapable of making an outlet pass, which reminded me of possibly the best tweet in the history of twitter: “Saw Alberts play a bit in Carolina. Hits like a truck. Handles the puck like a truck, too”.

Speaking of O’Brien, he appears to have not learned his lesson yet. I think he’s an underrated player, but giving the #1 motion with his finger after his fight was not the brightest move. If you’re in a one-off game in the regular season I don’t have much of a problem with it, but doing it in a playoff series is showing up the other team and essentially works the same as giving the other team “bulletin board material”. Kings head coach Terry Murray called him a “clown” which was probably a little bit harsh, to which Alain Vigneault responded with “I don’t care” (you got to love Vigneault).

Here’s another example of why you’ve got to love Vigneault:

Now the bad news. The Canucks ran away with game 5 and looked good doing it. I believe a lot of Canuck nation is getting a little cocky after it though and we shouldn’t be surprised if the Kings take game 6 to set-up a dramatic seventh game at GM Place. Teams often rebound from blowouts to win the next game, presumably because the losing team makes a lot of adjustments while the winning team gets a little overconfident. Game 6 will also be played at the Staples Center where the Kings have looked great and the Canucks (save for the 1st period in game 3 and the 3rd period in game 4) have looked overwhelmed. Once again, special teams will be of the utmost importance. If you stop the Kings power play you should win the game.

And now something to keep you entertained until game 6, one of the better Canucks songs I’ve heard in a while (with apologies to Ivan Hrvatska and Ink Operated) :

Game 2 Recap – Penalties Kill

Tonyz Tanti — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:01:47 +0000

The advice the Canucks could use can be summed up in five words: stay out of the box. Vancouver gave up six man advantages on Saturday night, which isn’t a lot, but that’s not the point. The point is the types of penalties they’re giving up right now: dumb penalties. Look no further than Shane O’Brien’s stupid penalty midway through the 2nd period last night. With the Canucks up 2-0, O’Brien got his arm up into the face of the Kings player to take an obvious roughing call. The puck had already been played out of the area and O’Brien didn’t hit him very hard. The Kings scored on that power play and the Canucks lost the game, which magnified the blunder.

As bad as O’Brien’s penalty was, it pales in comparison to the play of Andrew Alberts. So far Alberts has been responsible for putting the Canucks shorthanded for a combined 13 minutes. That’s significant when you consider how poor the Canucks have been at killing penalties. So far the Kings are 4 for 9 with the man advantage. Bet on Alberts to sit out game 3 with Aaron Rome probably healthy enough to play. Personally, I think Nolan Baumgartner deserves to play ahead of Alberts, but I don’t think Alain Vigneault is thinking along those lines.

With that said, game 2 was decided on a bad call, a too many men on the ice penalty in overtime. Rule 74.1 states: “If in the course of a substitution either the player(s) entering the play or the player(s) retiring is struck by the puck accidentally, the play will not be stopped and no penalty will be called”. Clearly, Kevin Bieksa was trying to get out of the way and did not play the puck intentionally. Maybe Terry Murray pulled a ‘Marc Crawford’ on the Kings bench:

With that said, the Kings were the better team on Saturday and deserved to win the game. They outshot the Canucks 32-26 and probably had the better scoring chances. It will be interesting to see if Alain Vigneault continues to play mainly three lines, rather than four, as he has for most of the season. If he decides to stick with giving his fourth liners 5-6 minutes a night, it might be a good idea to insert Tanner Glass into the lineup for a little bit of grit. Steve Bernier is also someone who might deserve a promotion, perhaps to the third line in place of Jannik Hansen.

Of course, these are minor details in comparison to the real keys to winning: Roberto Luongo playing at the top of his game and the Sedins finding the back of the net. We’ll see if they can do that on the road (a place that has not been kind to this bunch) for the next two games.

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.

Samuelsson Hurt, Grabner Re-called, and Everyone Hates Cooke

Tonyz Tanti — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:29:18 +0000

After calling the Canucks “Cup pretenders” last Friday, I must admit that I was starting to believe they were contenders with one of the most impressive outings of the season against the Senators on Saturday followed up by a 1st period knockout of the Calgary Flames the next day. But then came the Islanders game on Tuesday night. Now I’m not suggesting that Canucks fans should begin panicking about this team because of it, but it certainly didn’t help. Another thing that didn’t help was losing first star of the week, Mikael Samuelsson. He’ll be gone 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury or so we’re told (and we’ve been lied to before, see Dan Cloutier). With that said, here are a few random thoughts going through my head as the playoffs loom:

Wonder how John Tavares had such a productive night against the Canucks Tuesday night? Maybe cause he put up two of his points either with Aaron Rome or Andrew Alberts on the ice. How do those two players end up matched up against Tavares when they only have one decent scoring line and you have the last change at home?

They could have sure used Willie Mitchell last night.

Can we please end the Andrew Alberts experiment? I put Shane O’Brien, Aaron Rome and even Nolan Baumgartner ahead of him. Especially O’Brien. He’s had a good season as far as I’m concerned, and brings everything Alberts brings, and more.

Luongo didn’t look great against the Islanders but I’m sick of the Luongo bashers. He’s having a good (not great) season, but stop freaking out. He’s human. He’s also still putting up a better save percentage than Brodeur, Thomas, Ward, Turco, C. Mason, Quick, Fleury, Backstrom, Rinne, and more. Ease up.

A potential blessing in disguise with Samuelsson’s injury is that it made room for Michael Grabner to be called up. I say this with emphasis on “potential” because his success with the Canucks earlier this season has been exaggerated a bit. Grabner put up five points in nine games, all of which came on the power play. Seems not far off what Jannik Hansen would produce with a similar chance. So lets see what happens.

If the Canucks win their division, I’m VERY worried that the Detroit Red Wings finish in 6th place and face them in the first round. If that happens, that would likely mean the Wings will be healthy and on a roll.

I’m going to be the only person defending Matt Cooke. Everyone is appalled at him not receiving a suspension, but they’re calling for a rule change to call head shots. Excuse me, but if there’s no rule against head shots, then you can’t suspend him for a head shot. His hit wasn’t late, it was with his shoulder and he didn’t jump. It might have been a hit made in bad taste, but it’s not against the rules.

I can’t believe that people are defending Alex Ovechkin’s hit on Brian Campbell. He pushed him from behind into the boards at high speed in the danger zone. That is against the rules and it’s dangerous as well as dirty.

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.

Canuckz.com is on Twitter! Follow Tonyz Tanti and Sean Ovariez for the latest updates to Canuckz.com. Come on, do it, all the cool kids are.

The Bubble Boys

Tonyz Tanti — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:14:06 +0000

This year has been the most competitive Canucks camp in recent memory, with so many players with a realistic chance to make the team. Head coach Alain Vigneault has a lot of tough decisions ahead of him, particularly concerning players on the bubble. Numerous young and old guys are fighting for spots at forward, defense and in goal. Here’s where the “bubble boys” stack up so far:

Goaltenders:

Perhaps none of the battles have been as close as Schneider versus Raycroft for the backup job. Both have played well in their games, but conventional wisdom would suggest if it’s close, they’d give the job to Schneider. One would think that the Canucks want desperately to shop Schneider and then trade him as soon as possible while his stock is high. The thinking is that Schneider has already done everything he can do at the AHL level and that his trade value can only go up if he proves something in the NHL. It wouldn’t come without consequence though, Schneider’s cap hit of $1.084 million is more than double the minimum wage $500,000 hit from Raycroft. Raycroft would also have to clear waivers, while Schneider doesn’t. Should be interesting to see how Gillis makes the jigsaw puzzle come together.

Defense:

Shane O’Brien has been impressive so far in the preseason, looking more mobile and making good decisions with the puck. Everyone knows he’s tough, but he’ll need to be reliable defensively to deserve his new $1.7 million deal. Christian Ehrhoff has 4 points in 2 games, and is looking like he is solidifying a spot on the first unit power play. Brad Lukowich is a steady defensive defenceman, which means he won’t dazzle anyone, even when he’s at his best. Look for Lukowich to be their #7 or 8 defenceman, along with O’Brien. Mathieu Schneider hasn’t played a game in the preseason yet, presumably resting the 40 year blueliner for the regular season. It would be hard to imagine them not having him in mind for their top 6 if they are resting him in the preseason. Another impressive player in the preseason has been Aaron Rome. Barring injury/trade, I give Rome very little chance at cracking the Canucks roster. The resumes of the other 8 defencemen in camp are far superior and I don’t think there’s anything Rome can do to change that.

Forwards:

The Canucks currently have 13 proven NHL forwards under contract and I believe that all of them will make the team. Mason Raymond and Rick Rypien in particular have looked very impressive. Of the 13, Jannik Hansen is in the most danger of being thrown on waivers. That list of 13 forwards also includes the injured Pavol Demitra, which means that at least one of the bubble players will get a shot on opening day.

That’s where things get interesting. Cody Hodgson, Michael Grabner and Sergei Shirokov make-up the list of youngsters trying to crack the Canucks roster for the first time while Mark Parrish, Ronald Petrovicky and Dave Scatchard are all veterans on tryout contracts. None of the veterans have shown enough to earn an NHL gig thus far. Michael Grabner appears to be a young sniper who doesn’t score, and that’s a bad combination. Cody Hodgson has looked ok, but I don’t think he looks quite at home in the NHL yet. I think there’s a good chance that Hodgson will be sent back to junior. That leaves Sergei Shirokov. He’s impressed everyone since his first day at rookie camp and, assuming he can recover from his minor injury set-back, is my pick to make the Canucks roster.

And now for a trip back down memory lane… Possibly the greatest preseason goal ever scored:

Sportscaster of the Week: Michael Landsberg

Tonyz Tanti — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:07:57 +0000

Every Tuesday, Canuckz.com profiles a Canadian sportscaster. Sometimes they’re sportscasters we like, sometimes they’re ones we don’t. Today’s sportscaster is someone we love to hate: Michael Landsberg.

Landsberg first broke onto the national scene as a reporter for TSN’s Sportsdesk in the 80′s (I still think they should call it Sportsdesk, but that’s another story for another day). He was my favourite anchor when I watched Sportsdesk in the early 90′s when he got his current gig as host of Off the Record. That’s when my opinion of Landsberg changed.

Off the Record, for those that don’t know, is a sports talk show that combines celebrities, athletes and sportscasters, talking informally about the sports news of the day. The only problem for those that don’t live in the Greater Toronto Area is that guests are often Toronto sports personalities/athletes and/or talk about the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, Argos a ridiculous amount of time. TSN is never more the “Toronto Sports Network” as when this show airs.

No doubt, Landsberg has a huge ego, he’s not very likable, but I have to admit, he’s entertaining. He was on the Blake Price Show on Team 1040 when he was in town for the Junos in March. He was so cocky, but totally entertaining. He had no problem talking about himself or how great he makes his show, but he didn’t give the standard run-of-the-mill answers.

So do we like Michael Landsberg? I’m still not too sure, but we keep watching him, and I guess that’s the point.

One of the best episodes I’ve seen of Off the Record (amazingly it had TWO Canucks and NO Leafs/Raptors/TSN anchors/Toronto Community Channel personalities/etc.). Find out how Kevin Bieksa “punted” Shane O’Brien…