Booth And Weise Healthy Scratches For Pittsburgh Game

I think that if you can recall two players that were unacceptably non-existent in the embarrassing loss to the Ducks you could easily point out David Booth and Dale Weise. Both players are ticked at the benching but like Weise said today:

"...if you find a guy who’s happy with being scratched, let me know."

Booth had played 19 straight games since being a healthy scratch in November. He had 4 goals and 3 assists in that span, but 1 assist in his last 8 games, and no points in the Canucks' 4-game losing streak. It appears he will always have a gun to his head in his tenure here.

John Tortorella said today:

"In California, the second and third period of both games, our defence was under siege," Tortorella said. "We need to get some work down the other end to take some pressure off our D. Physical play comes into that.

"It’s not just banging. Physical play to me is taking a hit, hanging onto a puck. We haven’t been consistent enough with that."

So...Chris Higgins draws back in after a bout with the flu, Benn Ferriero stays in and recently called-up Darren Archibald gets more NHL action.

Darren Archibald:

He has offensive upside as well.

For more on this, including a new-look 2nd power play unit, which won't get much PP time anyway, check out The Province.