Urban Vancouver

Welcome to 2009.  It’s time for the Canucks to stop worrying about the issues that they had in the month of December and focus on the goal at hand for the balance of the season.  They picked up Jason LaBarbera from the Kings and he’ll get the start tonight, so we’ll see how that plays out.

First Period

19:30 - And Jordan Tootoo wants to go with Alex Burrows right from the opening draw, and AB obliges him.  Gonna be an interesting night, methinks.

17:50 - Penalty for the Preds, and the Canucks go the powerplay.  This would be a good time to get this thing going, as the Preds are pretty good at home lately. 

13:16 - 2nd powerplay, and the Canucks really aren’t doing a whole lot with the powerplay yet.  Even Darcy Hordichuk is playing on the PP for God’s sake.  Vigneault must really be trying to shake things up.

12:41 - Ohlund kinds of floats one at the net and it goes in.  It’s not a powerplay goal, but no matter.  The Canucks are up 1 - 0.

11:20 - Canucks are going back to the power play again.  They need to get going with it, although, I have a feeling that the Canucks are going to wind up taking an even up penalty pretty soon.

9:25 - Nice hit by Jason Jaffrey, but the Canucks are now 0 - 3 on the powerplay.  They should just decline any future penalties if they’re not going to do anything with them. 

4:52 - Not a lot of flash to this game.  Just going to be a long, grinding process it looks like.

0:50 - Alain Vigneault has to duck again as another shot goes into the Canucks bench. 

0:00 - Not a whole to say about the first period other than it’s good that the Canucks have the lead.  If the whole game goes like this, it’ll be pretty much a snooze all night long.  But a win tonight and a win tomorrow night over the Thrashers would go a long way to closing the gap on the Flames.  Stupid scheduling.  Two game road-trip to Nashville and Atlanta and home again to play the Stars.  Why did I think the scheduling was better this year?

Second Period

18:15 - Good pressure by the Canucks but they can’t capitalize.  One goal just isn’t going to do it tonight.

16:09 - Canucks seem to be taking it to the Preds tonight, but they’re going to have to pour it on and get another goal or two to avoid getting bit by the bad bounce of a random puck tying the game up.

14:30 - Hell of an attempt by Henrik and Demitra but a great save kept the game at 1-0.

14:07 - Bieksa takes a penalty and, amazingly, it’s the first one of the night.  Hopefully that’s a sign of better things to come in the new year. 

12:17 - Great save by LaBarbera.  Based on just tonight, he wasn’t a bad pickup.

11:45 - And the Canucks have surrendered the tying goal.  Not on the power play, but it doesn’t much matter at this point. 1 - 1.

10:00 - 3 on 2 for the Canucks but Hordy can’t put the puck in the net.

9:12 - Ohlund just leveled Tootoo and that woke them up in Nashville.  Looks like Olly got the rougher end of it, though.

5:00 - God this game is boring.  It’s like watching a couple of baseball teams who are 20 games out playing in late August.  Let’s go….

2:26 - And Henrik takes a lazy hooking penalty.  PK has to come up big here.

0:00 - Good bit of pressure to close out the period, when Hank came out of the penalty box and the Canucks wound up with a 3 on 2.  They need to come out fast in the third and end this thing.

This is something that’s more than a little rare around here - a post that isn’t about the Canucks, at least not directly.  It’s a post about Wayne Gretzky.

When I was a kid, playing both ice and street hockey, I had a white Titan 50/39 stick.  It was in tribute to Wayne Gretzky scoring 50 goals in just 39 games back in 1981.  Until I looked at the standings the other day, and the league stats earlier today, it really hit home just how incredible a feat that was.  So here’s the little bit of perspective.

Wayne Gretzly scored his 50th goal in just his 39th game that season.  The Canucks will play their 39th game on New Year’s Day against the Preds.  Barring any miracles tonight against Philly, Daniel Sedin will be the team leader in goals scored.  He has 17.  The league leader, Jeff Carter of the Flyers, has 26 goals after 36 games.  Most players trying to get their 50th goal of the season are usually in a race to get it done during the playoff chase in March.

Wayne Gretzky was in a race to get his 50th goal before New Year’s Day.

And the scary thing is, he did it.

He scored his 50th goal on December 30th, 1981 in a game which saw him score 5 goals.  One of the amazing things, though, is that this was one of his records that wasn’t set while the Oilers were playing the Canucks.  It was against the Flyers.  Gretzky finished that season with 92 goals.  In an 80 game schedule.  As much as I couldn’t stand the guy back then, I was hoping that he’d get to 100 goals, just to see if it could be done.  Alas, he fell short.  And the 100-goal season is something that will now never happen.  Because if Wayne Gretzky couldn’t do it, than it can’t be done.

At the end of that 1981-82 season, the Canucks got very lucky when the Los Angeles Kings knocked the Oilers out of the playoffs in the first round.  You all know what happened that year.  I know that I won’t ever forget it, because that was the year that we got the season’s tickets from my dad’s company for that whole playoff run.  I was at the Pacific Colisum for game 4.  I watched the Stanley Cup being presented.  Not to the team I wanted it to be, but no matter.

Anyway, that’s just something that I wanted to get out of my head tonight, so I thought I’d put it out there for CanuckNation readers.  If you were there, and were old enough to remember it, maybe it’ll make you reflect on just how special that season was.  And if you weren’t there, hopefully you’ll gain some understanding of what it was like.

The liveblog is on again tonight at the Canucks Fanzone, so stop by and talk about the game, or what you think about the Sundin signing, and the fact that it’ll now be next Tuesday before he makes an appearance in Vancouver.

On the night where I participated in my first live blog at the Canucks Fanzone, about the best thing that I can say about the game was that I got to hang out with some cool people online.  Thanks to the Anton Sledgehammer Creative Agency for putting the thing together.  Can’t make it for tonight’s, but I’ll definitely be back.

Short of Daniel Sedin’s 15th goal of the season to open the scoring, there wasn’t a whole lot to write in a positive light about.  The Canucks didn’t play badly, but they just didn’t seem to have any luck going their way.  Just getting the one goal on Christobel Huet wasn’t going to be enough to put the game away.

The game did have its moments, though.  Like Curtis Sanford getting his bell run in a collision with one of the Hawks and Shane O’Brien, who didn’t have a stellar night, in my opinion.  He provided a perfect screen in front of Sanford on the first Hawks goal. 

The power play was ineffective as well, seeming refusing to shoot the puck on net, and preferring to have the puck jump into the net on its own. 

It was a game that it would have greatly benefited the Canucks to win, as well.  The Wild lost to the St. Louis Blues, and Calgary was only a single point up them, so they could have jumped over the Flames into sole possession of the Northwest lead. 

Hopefully things will go better against the Ducks tonight.  And if you get a chance, stop by the FanZone live blog stand in the concourse at GM Place which will be staffed by Rebecca and DaveO of the Crazy Canucks podcast (Dave also hosts the Canucks Outsider podcast). 

Swing by the Canucks Fanzone where there’ll be a number of people liveblogging the game against the Blackhawks tonight.  I’m not moderating, but I’ll definitely be participating in there, so if you want to contribute as well, make sure you stop by at 7pm Pacific time tonight.

We’ll see you there, and Go Canucks.

There was speculation on the part of Mike Gillis the other day when Mats Sundin announced that he would sign with either the Canucks or Rangers on Thursday that he might be waiting until after the ceremony for Trevor Linden.  Whether or not that was the true reason or not, we’ll never know, but Sundin has made his decision.

Welcome to the Vancouver Canucks, Mats.

Sundin joins the team after 13 years split between Quebec and Toronto, and it’ll be interesting to see what sort of a dynamic he’ll be able to bring to the team.

According to Sportsnet, it’s a one year deal, which just seems like he’s a rental player.  Which means that theoretically, the Sedins, Sundin, and Mathias Ohlund could all be gone at the end of the year.

The other thing that Sportsnet seems to be foaming over is the chance for the Sedins to play with Sundin.  But seeing as how both Henrik and Sundin are centers, which one is going to be moving to play the wing?  I wouldn’t count on it being Henrik.

We’ll have more details as they come in.  Mike Gillis will be making the announcement in a press conference from GM Place in about 5 minutes.  So make sure to come back later today for more information.

June 11, 1988 was the day that Trevor Linden was picked second in the NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, right behind Mike Modano.  Twenty years later, Linden’s number became the second to be retired by the Vancouver Canucks.

Sure, there were those few years after he got traded to the Islanders that he bounced around a bit (3 teams in 3 years), but the Canucks were lucky to get him back from Washington in 2001, and this is where he finished his career last season.  Where he belongs.

And obviously he wasn’t as productive in his final years, but then, neither was Wayne Gretzky.  But that’s not the point here.  In the last twenty years, no one has embodied what it means to be a Canuck more than Trevor Linden.  Maybe not ever.  Not Kirk McLean.  Not Pavel Bure.  The only one who comes close would be Stan Smyl.

So it’s probably fitting that the first player to pay tribute to Linden last night was The Steamer himself.  Last night’s ceremony to retire Linden’s jersey wasn’t over the top like it could have been, but the Canucks showed a great deal of class, having both Jim Robson and John Shorthouse MC the whole thing.  And to bring back former teammates Harold Snepts, Garth Butcher, Cliff Ronning, Kirk McLean and Geoff Courtnall made it even better.

When Brian Burke was installed as the GM in Toronto, he made it clear that the Leaf players were going to be doing community service, or Burke would find them someplace else to play.  The same was expected of players when he was in Vancouver.  But that was never an issue with Linden, as the community service that he’s done is almost legendary in the NHL.  I remember watching a segment on the TV about how he purchased a suite at GM Place, and provided tickets to low income kids to let them experience attending NHL games.

Or the work that he did for Canuck Place, visiting with kids and families at a time when any bright spot in their day would help.  This wasn’t something that was talked about a whole lot.  Linden wasn’t doing it because he wanted to get into the press, or to make himself look good.  He did it because it was the right thing to do, and because he wanted to help in anyway that he could.

For myself, the three most memorable moments in Linden’s career were the 1994 Finals against the Rangers, when Linden was playing inured, but still helped to carry the Canucks through; his first game coming back to Vancouver from Washington.  The reaction of the fans was unbelievable; and finally, the reaction after what turned out to be his final game.  The fact that he was awarded the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd star, even though the Canucks lost 7-1 was the first step.  But the send-off from Jarome Iginla and the rest of the Calgary Flames showed that it wasn’t just those in Vancouver appreciated what he’s done for the game.

No he’s not going to wind up in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but when the Canucks retired the number, it was the highest honour that the Canucks could pay to their former captain. 

Thank you, Trevor, for everything that you’ve done for the city of Vancouver, both on and off the ice.

While the Canucks retired Trevor Linden’s number last night, this post is going to be about the game.  I’ll have another post that’s Linden specific a little later today.  Even though many gave the Canucks up for dead when Roberto Luongo went out, they seem to be able to find ways to keep winning despite some shaky performances from both Cory Schneider and Curtis Sanford.

And while they didn’t stay completely out of the penalty box, it was really only Mathias Ohlund’s penalty late in the third, which lead to an Edmonton powerplay goal came at a really inopportune time.  That gaol got the Oilers to within one with just a minute and change to play.  Thankfully they were able to get it back as Janik Hansen was able to put one into the empty net with just seconds left to seal the deal.

They did get bit by the injury bug again, losing a pair of defencemen in Shane O’Brien and Sami Salo, who was playing in his first game after sitting out the last three due to injury.  The Canucks need Salo’s cannon of a shot, but why does he have to be such a china doll so often?  This isn’t really what they need when they have to play the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.  A team that gave the Ollers their worst pounding at home this decade.

Thankfully they’ll be spending more time at GM Place for the forseeable future, with only one trip out of town in the next seven games.  Unfortunatley, that trip out of town will take them to San Jose.  But we’ll deal with that when we get to it.

Chicago is up next, and the Canucks FanZone will have the live blogging covered.  I’ll be participating there, so come on by and participate.

Brian at Canucks Corner posted that not getting Mats Sundin wouldn’t be the end of the world for the Canucks, and I think that he’s both right and wrong.

At this point in time, the Canucks aren’t suffering as badly in the scoring department as the whole world full of “experts” just knew they would.  That’s not to say that they couldn’t use more scoring, but if they continued at their current pace, even without Sundin, things wouldn’t be that bad.

And despite what Darcy Hordichuk said about the chemistry being just fine without bringing in a newcomer, the chemistry of a team changes regularly, as it did when Roberto Luongo went out, and Cory Schneider came in.  And it changes again after the trading deadline if a team makes a deal.  If Sundin came to Vancouver, the team would adjust, and so would Sundin.

But bringing Sundin in would definitely benefit the Canucks in other ways.  If the Canucks go deep into the playoffs this year, they’re going to run across teams like San Jose or Detroit.  And while the Canucks have seemed to have the Wings number so far, the playoffs, as everyone knows, is a completely different animal.

Despite coming from a team that’s regularly playing golf in late April, the biggest benefit that the Canucks could get from Sundin is in the playoffs, if for no other reason that he’s only going to play half a season, and won’t be as tired as everyone else if the Canucks do go deep.

So Sundin would no doubt be a great addition to the Canucks.

Just maybe not for all of the reasons that people think.