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Gallagher: History has prepared this year’s Canucks

Posted on April 30, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

No matter what anyone may think of the matchup between Vancouver and San Jose, one thing is pretty clear.

The Canucks should be abundantly more prepared for these playoffs this season than they were last year.

For starters, they’ve played just 48 games this season. It’s been intense but mercifully short, so much so that Ryan Kesler hasn’t even had time to get hurt yet. And therein lies a huge positive over last season, as has he’s played only 17 games, this outstanding player is fresh, hungry and ready to go, a huge lift for any team.

Traditionally this team plays its best between games 45 through 65 when they pull away before coasting home. The timing is right if that pattern still holds, although to be fair, this year it’s not just the usual run of the middle regular-season games they’ll be trying to win.

The older roster has not just finished a grind of 82 games whereby they underperformed from...

Gallagher: Inspiring performance against Hawks comes at just the right time

Posted on April 23, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

After the Vancouver Canucks were outshot 34-14 but managed to beat the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night, captain Henrik Sedin proclaimed the game one of his team's best performances of the year.

He was either totally delusional or just a little early with that comment. Their best performance of the season was almost certainly their next game up which was Monday night against the President's Trophy-winning Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver outshooting, outhitting and outscoring the seemingly disinterested best team in the game this season. To be sure, the Canucks dominating any team physically is a truly rare sight.

It was a wonderful debut for defenceman Frank Corrado who didn't look the least bit out of place in his first game playing with partner Alex Edler and he wasn't the only Vancouver player to have an exceptional night. Daniel Sedin was at his best and his brother wasn't the least bit in arrears. Max Lapierre was hitting, not just pushing, everyone...

Gallagher: Canucks throwback to glory days with Hansen’s slapshot

Posted on March 19, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Pity the Vancouver Canucks didn’t have those Millionaire costumes on Tuesday night because they certainly enjoyed a throwback night.

They got an old time, ‘70s style, down-the-wing slap shot goal from Jannik Hansen that must have reminded every Canuck fan over 50 of Stan Smyl’s glory days.

They got a vintage magic goal from Daniel Sedin who converted a seeing-eye pass from his brother and also threw in some tremendous moves which didn’t quite turn to gold on some other occasions as the Sedins were on top form.

They got manna from heaven in the form of a goal from Dale Weise and an assist from Jordan Schroeder and they got old time goaltending from Cory Schneider that reminded everyone of well, Cory Schneider.

They had their usual dreadful third period, of course, now having been outscored 9-3 in their last three third stanzas, but they had built up enough capital to emerge with their dignity intact.

The confluence of these factors resulted...

Gallagher: Canucks throwback to glory days with Hansen’s slap shot

Posted on March 19, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Pity the Vancouver Canucks didn’t have those Millionaire costumes on Tuesday night because they certainly enjoyed a throwback night.

They got an old time, ‘70s style, down-the-wing slap shot goal from Jannik Hansen that must have reminded every Canuck fan over 50 of Stan Smyl’s glory days.

They had their usual dreadful third period, of course, now having been outscored 9-3 in their last three third stanzas, but they had built up enough capital to emerge with their dignity intact.

The confluence of these factors resulted...

Gallagher: It’s a waiting game for next season as Canucks continue to tank

Posted on March 18, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Samuel Beckett would have been a big fan of the Vancouver Canucks this season had the absurdist playwright been with us.

He was the man who wrote ‘Waiting for Godot’ — a play in which two lamentable figures wait forever for somebody who never seems to materialize, the piece going on at great length with the two characters explaining their entire experience in terms of waiting.

That’s what the Vancouver players seem to be doing these days. They’re waiting.

They’re waiting for a third line centre to arrive perhaps and for somebody to leave as a result of a deal that would bring him here. They’re waiting for Roberto Luongo to be moved, or Ryan Kesler to get better. They were waiting for David Booth to get going for the longest time, now they’re waiting for him to get back from his ankle sprain and they’ll be waiting ‘indefinitely’.

Some are waiting for coach Alain Vigneault to be moved out after seven...

Canucks GM Mike Gillis tight-lipped about lockout

Posted on September 23, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

For many in the hockey community who have been around a while, this lockout has very much the same feel and complexion as the last one, give or take several of the issues.

The players, owners, employees and the people in the adjoining businesses that are suffering the collateral damage of this difficult situation are all experiencing very much the same thoughts and emotions from 2004 when a stoppage with this same feel first started with everyone hoping it doesn’t go a full season like last time, or longer.

But that’s decidedly not the case for Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gills.

During the last go-round, Gills was one of the leading agents in the game with a group of outstanding players of all ages who relied on his counsel with respect to setting direction for their own careers on the ice in some ways as well as every conceivable way off it. As a businessman he had a reputation for...

Canucks GM Mike Gillis tight-lipped about lockout, but confirms Tanev to Wolves

Posted on September 22, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

For many in the hockey community who have been around a while, this lockout has very much the same feel and complexion as the last one, give or take several of the issues.

But that’s decidedly not the case for Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gills.

What if NHL players got militant about CBA and the impending lockout?

Posted on September 13, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

The first and essentially only sign of impatience from NHL players in the process of being milked of their cash by NHL owners came in Calgary this week when the Flames players decided not to participate fully in a charity golf tournament run by the team.

Not surprisingly, Flames president Ken King got in a little dig in his released statement. First he said he understood, then thanked the golfers and sponsors who stayed with the event, saying that the latter two groups “totally appreciate that the heart of the event is about important fund raising for local charities,” as if somehow the players don’t — after donating their time for all these years for the endless events that teams think up.

Can’t imagine he’ll be fined by commissioner Gary Bettman for those lovely words. What made the Flames’ move stand out is that it goes right to the heart of how nicey-nicey these disputes really are, even...

Gallagher: It’s time to consider getting rid of the NHLPA all together

Posted on September 8, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

When you watch how the collective bargaining negotiation process works in the NHL now that the Players Association has accepted the poison pill of a salary cap, you have to wonder whether the NHLPA hasn’t outlived its usefulness.

The question here is not should they de-certify as a gimmick or a negotiating ploy, but should they just shut down for good or, at the very least, shouldn’t there at least be a serious study done looking at what would happen if there was no association whatsoever?

This is not to disparage the people in the association now or or in the past, or to question how much good this organization has done the players over the years, nor is it to say the owners might actually legally find more ways to mess with the players in the future were there not a union of some sort. But seriously, what does the union do for the players right now?

On the surface...

Luongo’s stock skyrockets after Penguins snap-up Vokoun

Posted on June 5, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis took a couple of days off this weekend to go fishing and clear his head for the decision-making process which is about to begin in earnest over the next couple of days. And while he did that, he and his team got lucky.

At least that’s the way it would appear to anyone watching the goaltending situation.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins snaring of Tomas Vokoun from Washington to back up Marc-Andre Fleury for the next two seasons Monday, and Tim Thomas announcing he was going to sit out next season, the chances of improving the return on any Roberto Luongo deal just took a significant leap forward.

Pens GM Ray Shero seemed to catch others who would have liked to consider Vokoun for their own organizations napping with his pre-July 1 strike, giving up just a seventh-round draft pick to leave teams like Toronto, Chicago and Tampa with their pants at half mast. And assuming...

Gallagher: Penguins scooping up Vokoun sweetens potential market for Luongo

Posted on June 4, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

With the Pittsburgh Penguins snaring of Tomas Vokoun from Washington to back up Marc-Andre Fleury for the next two seasons Monday, and Tim Thomas announcing he was going to sit out next season, the chances of improving the return on any Roberto Luongo deal just took a significant leap forward.

At least that’s the way it would appear to anyone watching the goaltending situation.

NHL playoffs are no safe place for star players

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

One can say that it's always been the case in the NHL that stars have been targeted during the NHL playoff, and to some degree that would be correct.

But the circumstances are much different now. In the old days when Bobby Hull or Frank Mahovlich were the targets of hard checking, the player involved in the harassment had to fight the other team's tough guy and the linesmen were perfectly prepared to let that fight be decided until the point was reached where one participant was in trouble.

Now, under the direction of the league office, the linesmen come in as quickly as humanly possible to break up any possible fight and it's even become manly, part of the strategy, not to fight. It's almost like the reverse code, so you get a guy like Dustin Brown who targets stars on the other team, makes his hits and then gets off the ice as quickly as possible. Not saying...

Gretzky on Canucks involvement rumour: "Nothing to it at all"

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

There are loads of rumours about Wayne Gretzky and Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini having dinner together when the Canucks and Kings were playing in Los Angeles about two weeks ago, and that’s certainly true.

But apparently there isn’t a whole lot to be read into it.

According to the Great One, the Aquilini family’s real estate broker in California has been a longtime friend of Gretzky’s, some 15 years now, and those two happened to be speaking with each other the very day that Francesco was there. They ended up having dinner together that night.

“Honestly, there was nothing to it at all, just four or five guys having dinner,” said Gretzky by email Tuesday afternoon.

Gretzky has said that one day he will think about getting back into hockey, and there was immediately speculation that he may have chosen Vancouver as a possible landing spot for activity in some capacity. But it turns out there isn’t a whole...

NHL has let rough stuff trump skill since the Canucks-Bruins rematch in January

Posted on April 26, 2012 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 7: Dan Hamhuis #2 of the Vancouver Canucks shoves Chris Kelly #23 of the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on January 7, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

At the beginning of the year the Boston Bruins were clearly the best team in the league. If there was any more evidence needed it was delivered by Wings coach Mike Babcock when he came through Vancouver and said: “There’s Boston and the rest of us. They’re the class of the league right now.” Then along came their game with the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 7, an unbelievably intense affair that may have been one of the best regular-season games ever played in the NHL. It had everything. Two weeks after losing it 4-3, Tim Thomas snubbed the White House. Whatever you might believe to be the cause, the defending Cup champion Bruins and Canucks both went on something of a downhill slide from that month on, as did the other two teams in the conference finals last year, although it happened earlier for them. What happened to these teams in question, fatigue or whatever, is one question. What happened with the...