Lost in the Hodgson hysteria was what the Canucks did not do at the deadline. They did not go out and find a veteran defenseman to replace Keith Ballard. Instead they picked up an inexperienced player who probably won’t play until someone gets hurt. This is a very clear vote of confidence in Chris Tanev. [...]
A comment from the previous thread got me thinking about one point about the Hodgson trade that I have not seen discussed very much. J21 wrote: Your point is taken that “the deal was there now, so Gillis took it,” but I find it hard to believe he couldn’t have gotten a better return by [...]
The trading of Cody Hodgson probably won’t go down well with a lot of fans, but I’m giving Mike Gillis props here. Gillis probably hasn’t made the team any better for this year, but I don’t think their chances are any worse either. I’ve said several times that Cody Hodgson – like Cory Schneider – [...]
Ed Willes cautions Canuck fans about reading too much into the team’s victory against Detroit on Thursday night. While he is right about the significance of one game – any game – when comparing two teams, he makes way too much of the scheduling differences faced by the Wings and Canucks: The Detroit Red Wings [...]
It doesn’t get any better than this in the regular season for a hockey fan. One of the best things about following a terrific team is the number of terrific games you get to see. Detroit against Vancouver? That’s as good as it gets for effort, excitement, razzle and dazzle. But just for fun, let’s [...]
I caught a few minutes of McCown today while his roundtable reviewed the state of each of the Canadian teams. I missed most of what they said about the Canucks (and I don’t care enough to go through McCown’s archives) but as an aside about another team Damien Cox said, “Vancouver is head and shoulders [...]
Rick Nash to Vancouver? Zero – and I mean zero – chance. Why on earth would the Canucks want to get Rick Nash now? That’s a terrible idea. Not only would he cost two or three of Schneider, Hodgson and Tanev, the Canucks would have to drop at least two other players to fit Nash [...]
Mark Spector thinks that Mike Gillis should trade Cory Schneider at or before the trade deadline: The Canucks will be an annual Cup contender for a few years yet, but will they ever be more ready to win the Stanley Cup than they are today? They are experienced, their leaders are in their prime, and [...]
Ed Willes defends Alain Vigneault in this column published a few days ago, an action that any reasonable person would surely see as unnecessary. That it is both necessary and timely reflects more on the expectations in a crazy market than the qualities he actually brings to his work. There persists, in some corners of [...]
A variety of thoughts on a variety of subjects: 1) A sloppy, wild and hugely entertaining World Series game distracted me from hockey (and another forgettable Canuck performance) last night. That the Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers played a sloppy, wild and hugely entertaining hockey game the same night gives rise to the question, “Are [...]
