How Are The Recent Former Canucks Doing?

I won't go back more than last season but figured I'd give you a heads up on what/how some former Canucks are doing with their respective clubs. Killing time...damn ASG Break.


PAVOL DEMITRA

Demitra's Yarolsav Locomotiv are 3rd in the KHL and 1st in the West after 47 games played. Demitra, to my utter dismay has not missed a game this season. He is averaging just over 19:00 per game, has 17 goals and 53 points and a +14. That's more points than Jaromir Jagr! GTFO! I don't know how much the Locomotiv are paying him, but I sure as hell don't miss his $4 million salary.

STEVE BERNIER

Bernier was traded, along with Michael Grabner, and the Canucks' 1st and 25th picks in the 2010 draft to the Panthers for Keith Ballard and Viktor Oreskovich. Not-so affectionately dubbed "Death To Scoring Chances" by our own Yankee Canuck because of his frustrating ability to miss the net or flub shots repeatedly, he continues to live up to his name in Florida. In 37 games with

the Panthers this season, Bernier has scored 4 goals and 11 points and is a -9. It gets better. Bernier has 1 assist in his last 15 games and his ice time has diminished, to the point of being benched for the last 2 Panthers games.

MICHAEL GRABNER

Grabner failed to secure a roster spot with the Panthers at their training camp and was placed on waivers. The Islanders claimed him off the waiver wire on October 3rd. He has 15 goals and 6 assists in 45 games with the young Islander squad. He has 6 goals and 2 assists in his last 7 games and is on fire right now. Nice. I always liked Grabner and hated to see him go. I thought he was a great fixture on Line 2 and now in hindsight look at that line now: a revolving door for Kesler linemates.

WILLIE MITCHELL

Ugh. Speaking of hating to see guys go. This was the hardest to take. Unsure of his ability to avoid concussions and wanting a change in direction, the Canucks let him hit free agency last summer. Of course, he has not missed any time due to concussions this season. Rather, a broken wrist on November 7, where he missed 14 games, and after playing a few games went out for 11 more games with a lower body injury. Mitchell has 1 goal and 4 assists in 25 games with the Kings this season. He is also a +6 and averages 21:04 ice time on a Kings team that is 16-8 with him in the line up.

SHANE O'BRIEN

With the Canucks playing the Predators this past week the Roxy jokes ensued, but teammates like Kevin Bieksa especially said SOB was a great teammate. He was fun to be around, which isn't a surprise really. The guy has a great sense of humor. That's fine and dandy, but personally I'm glad the distractions that came along with SOB are gone. It looks like he has simplified his game in Nashville. He has 2 goals and 8 points and is a -4 in 48 games with the Predators this season. 43 PIM's in those games with what looks to be maybe 3 fighting majors and a high sticking major on Panthers' Stephen Weiss for which he received a 2 game suspension.

Here is one of the fighting majors vs Steve (bitch) Ott:

Here is another scrap against BJ Crombeen very early in the season.

He is averaging 16:55 per game. His evolution into a better defensive defenceman in Vancouver was something I appreciated beyond all the distractions.

ANDREW RAYCROFT

"Rayzor!" Raycroft 's exit from Toronto was messed up. Sure, he had tough nights from a personal performance standpoint but I always maintain my stance that aside from that he played for a Leafs team that had an atrocious team defence. So when he does this:

I love it!

He mostly struggled in Colorado in 2008-09 for the same reasons. But when he came to Vancouver last season he was solid, posting his best numbers in about 6 years dating back to his days with the Bruins. Great play, but we had to make way for Mr. Schneider.

This season in Dallas his numbers are even better. 15 games played, an 8-4 record, a 2.42 GAA, a .920 save percentage and 2 shutouts. He had a 9-5 record, a 2.42 GAA, a .911 save percentage and 1 shutout in 21 games played with the Canucks last season.

Here is Rayzor's best save of this season so far, and it's a beauty:

Yeah, baby. I love goalies and I love comeback stories.

KYLE WELLWOOD

Unwanted by NHL teams in the summer of 2010, Welly headed to Russia to play for Mytishchi Atlant,where he scored (in my opinion) a paltry 5 goals and 8 points in 25 games there. I thought he would excel on bigger ice. When he was summoned back to North America by the Blues on the waiver wire he was claimed by the Sharks. In 3 games with San Jose Wellwood has no points, 3 shots and is a +2 as he adjusts to the Sharks' style. Remember him being decent at faceoffs? He has a 48.6% win rate in SJ which so far is dog shit comparatively on that team. He was 53.8% last season in Vancouver.

RYAN JOHNSON

Balls went unclaimed in the free agency summer on 2010. The Blackhawks finally signed him to a contract on December 17. In 8 games since he has no points, 5 shots,  is a -4, averaging 8:29 of ice time, 11 blocked shots and a whopping 63% faceoff winning percentage. Hey I loved many aspects of Johnson's defensive game, but I sure hated his lack of scoring. It was what it was, and we are mostly better off without him given the look of our current 4th line.

DARCY HORDICHUK

Speaking of the look of our 4th line... in 2009-10 it was Rypien-Johnson-Hordichuk. So you have to like this year's model, which will contribute offensively more often, fuck the goonery. Hordichuk-Norris has played 36 games for the Panthers, scoring 1 goal and 3 assists, averaging a piddly 4:35 icetime per game. The 30-year old still drops the gloves:

MATT PETTINGER

-Has 9 goals and 33 points in 30 games with the Cologne Sharks (Germany).  That is 2nd on the team by the way.

BRAD LUKOWICH

-Has not played in the NHL since last season. He remains with the Texas Stars, where he has 1 goal and 18 assists in 43 games this season. I was always a fan of his stability on the blue line but apparently no other NHL GM feels that way.

C'mon...you love this:

OK, that's all I've got. Hope you enjoyed the info.