Morning Buzz: Canucks close to claiming comrades, the Rangers are a contender, and the Seattle Coyotes?
by Jordan Clarke on Jan 4, 2012 7:41 AM PST
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While the country mourns another disappointing World Junior result, remember this: that Russian team had two players on the Lokomotiv plane that crashed in September — the biggest tragedy in hockey history — so it's an understatement to say they deserve a little good fortune. It was a hell of a comeback attempt by Canada, but ultimately wasn't meant to be.
Moving on, we have the greatest league in the world to watch on a daily basis, and our favourite team is one of the best in it, so chin up and click some links!
First, a funny story about last year's World Juniors. I was at a bar with friends watching the gold medal game between Canada and Russia, with Canada up 3-0 in the 3rd period. A reporter from CTV was there doing his game story, a friend from media school. He decides the game is over and wants to interview me for his "fan reaction" as if Canada just won gold so he can get out of there. It felt wrong, but I did it, and immediately after we watch Russia score 5 goals to win. He has to re-interview me after the game, while my friends are livid, blaming him for the collapse. The lesson here kids is "don't be lazy", especially when it comes to Junior hockey.
Vancouver Canucks news & notes:
- Derek Jory has the latest Canuck Report, which basically writes this section of my post for me. Highlights: Byron "Ballroom" Bitz has cleared himself to play and is with the Chicago Wolves; David Booth will be having a CT scan this week and the results will determine whether or not he travels with the team on the upcoming road trip; Aaron Rome sounds like he's close to returning from a broken thumb; and Roberto Luongo doesn't get mad when Don Cherry mis-pronounces his name. "Nah, it's fine, my dad doesn't get anybody's name right either, I don't get mad at him for that, it's just the way it goes." Translation: my dad is also an old man, and these things happen to men who are old. [Canucks.com]
- I feel bad bringing this up in every post lately, but it's the hot topic: Cody Hodgson's ice time. While Hodgson himself is saying all the right things, are the Canucks flirting with a dangerous situation with his agent, Ritch Winter? [Pass it to Bulis]
- Stanchion added this to yesterday's post, but it deserves another link. Daniel Sedin vs. Brad Marchand. [Legion of Blog]
- Does Sami Salo need a rest? The Tinfoil Toque thinks so. [Canucks Army]
Today in Canucks history: [Jan 4, 1984] Thomas Gradin earns his 408th career point, moving past Don Lever as the Canucks' all-time scoring leader. Vancouver and Los Angeles play to a 3-3 tie.
NHL news & notes:
- Good piece by Jesse Spector on the Rangers showcasing themselves as a Cup contender during the Winter Classic. I agree, and think the Blueshirts have the right mix of skill and character (not to mention unreal goaltending) to come out of the East this year. [Sporting News]
- Last word on the Classic: it drew a crowd of 3.74M viewers, more than last year's game. It had a few elements working against it: the last minute time change, and the fact that it was played on Jan 2nd, a Monday, not New Year's Day. [Puck the Media]
- Interesting note from last night: Loui Eriksson scored a goal assisted by Jamie Benn and Jordie Benn, who are brothers from Victoria. It was the NHL-debut for Jordie. Might not seem like much, but as a city we don't see many of our own make the NHL, much less many as good as Jamie Benn. [NHL VideoCenter]
- Seattle has arisen as an unlikely contender in the Phoenix Coyotes saga. [Puck Daddy]
- Elliotte Friedman's latest 30 Thoughts has some additional stuff on where the Yotes could be headed. [CBC]
- The Leafs have sent Luca Caputi to the Ducks for someone named Nicolas Deschamps. That's Luca Caputi, not to be confused with Luca Brasi, one of Don Veto Corleone's muscleheads who ends up like this:
Today in NHL history: [Jan 4, 1984] Wayne ‘The Great One' Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton's Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date. [On-This-Day.com]
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Seattle
Feel like this has come up a few times over the years, but I would absolutely love to see an NHL team in Seattle. City/region has a great junior hockey tradition, and they’d be guaranteed raucous games whenever they play the Canucks. With no NBA team there, it seems like the best non-Canadian market to which to relocate a team or expand.
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Their biggest issue is that KeyArena is not a functional arena for hockey, no? I’d catch Canucks games in Seattle. Hell, if the tickets are cheap, I’ll catch Blackhawks, Red Wing, Philly games there too.
Frequent visitor to Nucks Misconduct.
They’re trying to get both an NBA and NHL team into the new arena. If I were to guess I’d say a basketball team would be slightly higher on their wish list than hockey, but that’s just me speculating. Seattle is a great sports town.
by Jordan Clarke on Jan 4, 2012 9:51 AM PST up reply actions
Are we adding or moving another team into the Pacific Northwest area?
If we add a team then we have 9 teams in one of the two more western conferences without a bunch of shuffling. I’d assume Colorado would jump to Conference B. Then I suppose you could put Columbus in the Tri-State conference. Add a team in Quebec and everyone wins. Except Phoenix, they never win. I like the Idea of a Portland team, they seem to have more sport loving people than Seattle. And they don’t have the NFL or MLB to split fans with. If you moved say Phoenix to Oregon/Washington then you don’t even have to realign at all.
by mechanixfetch on Jan 4, 2012 10:49 AM PST up reply actions
No way
they get an NHL team in an arena that seats 11,000 for hockey – MTS centre seats 15,000 and that is borderline. I’d love a team in Seattle but they’d need a new rink to make it happen.
Rose Garden
Looks like it could fit 15 000+
by mechanixfetch on Jan 4, 2012 12:14 PM PST up reply actions
they can always
use the Tacoma Dome which seats around 17k for hockey while awaiting construction of a new arena.
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Holy crap. Look at Rome!!- Sean Zandberg
Sonics played there
when the Key was rennovated. Its a decent facility.
If Seattle gets a team, I will be very conflicted. Gravitated towards the Canucks due to Seattle’s lack of an NHL team.
That coho article is an interesting read
But an agent would have to be pretty stupid not to realize hodgson is in the perfect spot to build value. He has two years left and then he’s still going to be an rfa after that. Because of where he’s positioned in the medias eye (glaring in this town) he is building that priceless quality: untapped and held back potential. He’s on a team with the potential to win a stanley cup and he would almost certainly play a role in that. Giving him that “knows what it takes to win” value. Maybe he’s just positioning for the future but for this season at least coho couldn’t be in a better spot.
It's hard to believe
that Gallagher is the vice-president of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, since his articles suck 75% of the time. Must be a seniority issue. AV is right of course, who drops Kesler’s minutes or Henrik’s in favor of CoHo? On another team maybe…maybe he gets a crack at 2nd line center. But he does have to learn better defensive responsibility and get better at his face-offs, so I am sure he is happy to learn from Kesler and Malhotra.
Lead writer of nothing, commenter on everything.
The whole CoHo thing is the media making stuff up, is it not?
Early on in the season I thought CoHo deserved more ice team, but since then he’s gotten a decent up tick in minutes AND he’s getting to play in various situations like PP and OT. Since there’s no way he’s going to eat into minutes that normally go to Henrik or Kesler, unless he shifts to wing I don’t understand what Gallagher and co are getting at.
I agree
His ice time is way up from the six minutes he was getting to start the year. I don’t agree that AV is right. You don’t just play the crap out of your stars and expect them to keep performing at a high level and you don’t have different rules for different players. Coho or Ballard make a mistake they’re on the bench. Kesler takes bad shots and gives the puck away and he’s still gonna play 30 mins.
As far as Gallagher goes his job is to not only report on the NHL but report on things that will interest people and generate discussion. In my opinion few do that better.
I don’t really agree this comment Canuckel. The Sedins and Kesler get way less ice time than other stars of their caliber around the league from what i read. I think AV does a good job of rolling the lines when the prudent game management allows for that.
by Kelownakid_2000 on Jan 4, 2012 4:33 PM PST up reply actions
Godson can learn a better 2 way game on a checking line too. We know his 2-way game was ass earlier, right?
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by Sean Zandberg on Jan 4, 2012 5:30 PM PST up reply actions
today is also the last day of voting for the ASG.
so, within the next couple days, we’ll find out who’s going.
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@NM_missy
"It means Luca Caputi sleeps with the Ducks"
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by nucksandpucks on Jan 4, 2012 12:32 PM PST up reply actions
all I could think when I heard Caputi was traded
was that Frank D’Angelo would be devastated.
by mechanixfetch on Jan 4, 2012 12:53 PM PST up reply actions
That's too bad.
I thought he was bang on.
Warm winds blowing, heating blue sky, and a road that goes forever...
by Smoboy41 on Jan 4, 2012 1:22 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
life sucks when your boss points a gun at your head
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by Sean Zandberg on Jan 4, 2012 5:31 PM PST up reply actions
Interesting read about the Sedins and how people are not giving them the respect they deserve as elite levels players. If someone already linked to this, my bad, just though I would share it.
Set your sights to improve...And rest inside the flames.
Yep, great read. This Justin Bourne article from a while back was also a great analysis of the Sedins.
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by nucksandpucks on Jan 4, 2012 4:26 PM PST up reply actions
In the comments section, lots of non-Vancouver fans keep saying they aren’t tough enough. But how much time have they missed from injuries? Hardly any. Who cares that they dont drop the gloves regularly, thats not their role. In fact, I think that would detract from their role as elite level scorers. In the playoffs when that cocksickle Marchand kept punching Daniel, that showed tons of discipline to not retaliate. I was always told by coaches that refs wont see the first offence but they catch the retaliations. It showed to me that they are team players who will take punishment for their team, not that they cannot stand up for themselves.
Set your sights to improve...And rest inside the flames.
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