Vancouver Canucks

[Ballsakic]

Schneider to start tomorrow vs. Columbus.

[ridinryan44]

Schneider to start tomorrow vs. Columbus.

Awese news and deserved. Sounds like Edler should play as well, but that could change ce game time.

[First Round Pick]

Sounds good with Edler, hadn't heard much after he got knocked out of the game. By HNIC it sounded like Raymond was to play Tuesday as well. Who sits... and dare we ask what the lines are?

[bondon]

Sami Salo will be in the lineup and Roberto Luongo will get the start against Calgary tomorrow.

[bondon]

Canucks go up against the Flames tonight, as mentioned before Salo will return to the lineup and Luongo will get the start.

Raymond will also be making his long-awaited return since his back injury in the SC finals.

Lineup should look something like this:

D.Sedin-H.Sedin-Burrows
Higgins-Kesler-Booth
Raymond-Hodgson-Hansen
Malhotra-Lapierre-Weise

Bieksa-Hamhuis
Edler-Salo
Rome-Ballard

Unfortunate news yesterday as Aaron Volpatti is done for the season with a labrum tear, same injury suffered by Steve Pinizzotto in pre-season.

[bondon]

Quick thoughts on the game:

-Booth line buzzing all night. Wasn't even Kesler driving the line, it was all Booth and Higgins tonight. Higgins' goal was off a rebound by Booth's wraparound attempt and Booth's goal was on the same type of backhand wraparound that succeeded.

-Experimentation with the powerplay - First powerplay unit that the Canucks sent out tonight included Burrows-H.Sedin-Kesler with D.Sedin/Salo on the points. Next powerplay Burrows was out and Edler was back in on the other point.

-Luongo - what more to say? Looks like he's back on the top of the depth chart, but again gave up a patented 'behind-the-net' goal to Alex Tanguay with under three minutes in the first period.

-Killer Instinct - Canucks scored three goals in under six minutes in the third period tonight.

-Raymond gets a point in his first game back.

-Bieksa and Hamhuis - mentioned this in my Studs and Duds on Thursday to not miss your chance on these two. Both are manning the second PP unit and are putting up points.

[JagrBomb]

hey nucks fans, need some help. ive been debating which dman to pick up in a one year league and finally nabbed hamhuis after i saw angus' tweet on potential norris candidate. i know he's known more for his defensive prowess, but do you think its a good idea to have d.sedin, edler and hamhuis on my squad? ive been going through the boxscores and it seems that hamhuis is getting top pp time...will that lower with the return of salo?

[bondon]

hey nucks fans, need some help. ive been debating which dman to pick up in a one year league and finally nabbed hamhuis after i saw angus' tweet on potential norris candidate. i know he's known more for his defensive prowess, but do you think its a good idea to have d.sedin, edler and hamhuis on my squad? ive been going through the boxscores and it seems that hamhuis is getting top pp time...will that lower with the return of salo?

It will do wonders for your +/- if your league counts that lemme tell you that much.
Vancouver is fourth in the league in Goals/Game so the scoring is coming. My thoughts are to roll with it and see where it takes you. I don't know if Hamhuis will be able to keep this up and yes he was subbing in for Salo on the PP but Salo has only missed four games and Hamhuis still has 14 points on the season.

Bieksa and Hamhuis were on the second PP unit tonight and still saw a good amount of TOI there. They were both also very aggressive in jumping into the play and I'm hoping that they keep doing it.

[JagrBomb]

It will do wonders for your +/- if your league counts that lemme tell you that much.
Vancouver is fourth in the league in Goals/Game so the scoring is coming. My thoughts are to roll with it and see where it takes you. I don't know if Hamhuis will be able to keep this up and yes he was subbing in for Salo on the PP but Salo has only missed four games and Hamhuis still has 14 points on the season.

Bieksa and Hamhuis were on the second PP unit tonight and still saw a good amount of TOI there. They were both also very aggressive in jumping into the play and I'm hoping that they keep doing it.

bieksa and hamhuis were both available, but i am dead last in +/- so i went for hamhuis. thanks bondon, repped ya

[ridinryan44]

I just wanted to give a huge shout out and thanks to bOndon as has agreed to help me out with the Canucks coverage. I've been really busy lately and adding an article each week has forced me to balance my commitments a bit better. Thanks a lot, it's a huge help.

[ridinryan44]

I just wanted to put up a quick analysis and review of the play of some of our prospects, from all levels of hockey.


Nicklas Jensen - The Canucks' first round pick last year is picking up right where he left off last year. Jensen currently sits tied for 24th in OHL scoring with team and linemate, Boone Jenner. Both have 15 goals and 18 assists for a total of 33 points in 28 games. His 15 goals are also good enough for 23rd in the league. Jensen has something that our FW prospects don't usually have, and that's size. At 6'3 he's still working at filling out his 186 pound frame, but that will come. Jensen looked fantastic in camp this pre-season and is rather unheralded in fantasy circles. He makes a great add to leagues with farm systems, his return will be very good and his value will rise a lot once he becomes more of a household name. Jensen was compared to Gabriel Landeskod in terms of game maturity and the style they play, he will pay dividends later on. Grab him if you can.

Joe Cannata - Angus has been mentioning Cannata a fair amount lately, and deservedly so. Cannata has had an incredible start to his season with 8 wins in his first 10 games. He carries a stellar GAA of 1.81 and a spectacular SV% of .931. Cannata doesn't have tremendous size, but Justin Goldman has this to say about him:

JOE CANNATA - All you have to do is talk to a Merrimack fan and ask them what Cannata means to the Warriors. He’s their defensive leader and consistently gives his team a chance to win. His timely saves and steady confidence are easily his two finest traits.

That's what I wanna hear about a goalie. Sounds to me like he isn't feeding off of a great team in front of him, but more that he's the one putting the team on his shoulders. That's a great sign. There has been an influx of NCAA goaltender's getting drafted lately, Goldman comments on that as well:

When looking at the new update for my NHL Depth Charts, you can sense NCAA products are getting more chances due to the success of some current young stars. Yes, it really helps when guys like Cory Schneider and Jonathan Quick continue to perform well, as it raises the reputation of all NCAA prospects. People talk. And the next thing you know, guys like Kieran Millan, Kent Patterson, Joe Cannata, Allen York and Martin Oullette get drafted year after year.

If you get mentioned in the same breath as Cory Schneider and Jonathan Quick, I'll listen. It will be a long wait for Cannata, but he's a guy to keep an eye on.


Anton Rodin - One of my favorite Canuck's prospects, one who I was extremely excited for, has done nothing but disappoint. A consistent scratch from the Chicago Wolves roster, Rodin has yet to live up to his offensive billing, and I thought that his success in his first couple years in the SEL would help translate to more success in his NA debut. This hasn't happened yet but there is still time. It is his first year over here after all. I have definitely tempered my hopeful expectations, though. Rodin has two goals and six points in 14 games with the Wolves.

Jordan Schroeder - The GM's who passed on Schroeder and let him fall to Vancouver in the later picks of the first round must have known something of Schroeder's situation that we didn't see. Considered to have an attitude problem at the time, Vancouver was happy to take the risk on his upside at their draft position, but while Schroeder's game has improved in certain areas, he isn't the offensive force that Vancouver had hoped for. At least not at this point. Schroeder actually looked quite good in the pre-season this year, but he had a tendency to be invisible for stretches. More consistency is needed but the improvements he's made to his defensive game is a positive. Schroeder may be a much better player when surrounded by more talent, but that means it's going to take him much longer to make an impact at the NHL level. Schroeder only has eight points in 21 games at the AHL level. Much more is expected.

[ridinryan44]

Some pretty big news coming out of The Score right now about Roberto Luongo and reported trade discussions:

http://www.thescore.com/home/article...roberto-luongo

[ross10019]

Some pretty big news coming out of The Score right now about Roberto Luongo and reported trade discussions:

http://www.thescore.com/home/article...roberto-luongo

I saw that, it was also reported on SI's website, but the minute I saw it was based on a report by Bruce Garrioch, I tuned out. That guy is like the Eklund of mainstream hockey journalists.

Note that I would be surprised if it was confirmed that Gillis did contemplate trading Luongo and kicked some tires and/or will do so in the future. See this separate thread on this discussion where huge Canucks fans B0ndon and Tripel weighed in on the matter of Luongo v Schneider: http://www.dobberhockey.com/index.ph...329#post846329

[ridinryan44]

I saw that, it was also reported on SI's website, but the minute I saw it was based on a report by Bruce Garrioch, I tuned out. That guy is like the Eklund of mainstream hockey journalists.

Note that I would be surprised if it was confirmed that Gillis did contemplate trading Luongo and kicked some tires and/or will do so in the future. See this separate thread on this discussion where huge Canucks fans B0ndon and Tripel weighed in on the matter of Luongo v Schneider: http://www.dobberhockey.com/index.ph...329#post846329

Yea it's more because it makes sense for them to at least kick tires on a deal. There have gotta be some talks somewhere. Can't see Lou wanting to go to Ottawa tho!

[ridinryan44]

Chris Higgins may have a foot infection and Viktor Oreskovich has been recalled.