Tag Archives: national hockey league

No quick-fix solution to Canucks’ problems

Posted on May 17, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks have no salary-cap space available, a shortage of National Hockey League-ready prospects and lack portability among their key player contracts. Other than that, general manager Mike Gillis’ summer “reset” of the team shouldn’t be a problem.

The week after their second straight first-round playoff elimination, Gillis was still working through his coaching review and a planned summit meeting with ownership, while his top assistant, Laurence Gilman, continued to tour North America for potential minor-league locations.

The really heavy lifting — think Superman shifting the moon’s orbit — still lies ahead. And it doesn’t take a superhero to understand how difficult it will be for Gillis to make even a few impactful roster moves to catch up to the NHL curve towards big, brawny teams.

It took the Canucks years, literally, to configure their team the way it is: skilled, fast and too small up front. The evolution spanned managerial regimes; most of the core players were...

Banished: Rap sheet and reputation led to Torres’ suspension

Posted on May 16, 2013 by admin in Province Hockey | No comments

If you’re outraged over the Raffi Torres suspension, you may want to pace yourself.

You may need some of that anger next season.

Torres, National Hockey League bad boy, and designated headhunter, will be on the Canucks’ radar this summer as the they look to add size and some, ahem, intimidation through free agency.

Torres brings both, along with his hall-of-shame-worthy rap sheet.

At least, the old Torres would have brought both. Who knows what kind of imprint Brendan Shanahan’s boot has left on Torres’s game after suspending him for the rest of the second round for a hit many around the NHL believed to be clean.

Actually, the suspension was for his reputation and six previous times he had supplemental discipline. The hit? It would have been fine if it was just about anyone else in the league executing it.

Can Torres ever hit again?

If the NHL had its way, the answer would likely be no. The league is out to lobotomize the...

Iain MacIntyre: Canucks to ‘reset’ the organization after ‘terrible season,’ says GM Gillis

Posted on May 10, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Mike Gillis took the witness stand Thursday and for 45 minutes was grilled about the playoff failure of the Vancouver Canucks, his culpability and when he might get around to firing coach Alain Vigneault.

It may have been the easiest day of his summer.

The Canucks general manager acknowledged at his year-end news conference that the team has fallen behind the National Hockey League curve toward bigger, grittier, defence-oriented teams.

"From my perspective ... it’s been a terrible season for us," Gillis said. "We’re going to have to reinvent ourselves and do things differently in order to be successful. The macro look at this team is that changes have to be made."

Amen.

The Canucks’ need for more size and grit, particularly among the top three forward lines, was evident when they lost the Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins two years ago.

It was reinforced by first-round playoff exits this season and last to the San Jose Sharks and Los...

Canucks’ Cup dreams left to rot in hockey graveyard

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

Erect a tombstone on the Vancouver Canucks’ season and the epitaph would read: What if?

Like, what if Richmond referee Kelly Sutherland hadn’t blown an overtime call from 100 feet away? Or what if coach Alain Vigneault hadn’t publicly blasted Sutherland after another terrible call cost the Canucks a regular-season game in Calgary?

What if Kevin Bieksa hadn’t accused the San Jose Sharks of diving, a charge that doubled as an allegation against the referees?

What if goalie Cory Schneider didn’t bobble pucks on the two goals that ended the Canucks’ season? Or what if Vigneault had made a safer choice — on numerous levels — to start Roberto Luongo in the last game that mattered?

What if Jannik Hansen hit the empty net near the end of Game 2 or Daniel Sedin had buried his open-net rebound chance in Game 4?

What if key secondary scorers Hansen and Chris Higgins had managed even one goal each in the series instead of combining...

Iain MacIntyre: Canucks’ Cup dreams left to rot in hockey graveyard

Posted on May 8, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

Erect a tombstone on the Vancouver Canucks’ season and the epitaph would read: What if?

What if Kevin Bieksa hadn’t accused the San Jose Sharks of diving, a charge that doubled as an allegation against the referees?

What if Jannik Hansen hit the empty net near the end of Game 2 or Daniel Sedin had buried his open-net rebound chance in Game 4?

What if key secondary scorers Hansen and Chris Higgins had managed even one goal each in the series instead of combining...

Canucks ‘took too many penalties,’ failed to unplug Sharks’ power play

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was pure embellishment. Kevin Bieksa only appeared to be doing everything he could to win.

There were certain things the Vancouver Canucks had to do to beat the San Jose Sharks. Scoring goals was one of those things. And there were things they absolutely had to avoid. Like Bieksa taking a needless cross-checking penalty near the corner, late in the third period when the Canucks were clinging to a lead and their National Hockey League season, against a Sharks team feasting on Vancouver penalty-killing.

Bieksa plays with heart. He competes. He was competing in these playoffs while injured. But shoving Tommy Wingels head-first into the boards was one of the worst decisions of Bieksa's career.

Yeah, referee Chris Lee could have let it go. Just like Kelly Sutherland, the Richmond referee regarded as one of the league's best, should have let go Canuck Daniel Sedin's perfectly legal shoulder-to-shoulder check in overtime.

But this is the NHL. If...

Iain MacIntyre: These Canucks showed no push back or resolve

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The Vancouver Canucks, who should have won the Stanley Cup two years ago and until last week still talked about winning one, have been reduced to seeking a moral victory, a sliver of respect before their National Hockey League season is taken from them.

Rarely have the Canucks looked as flimsy as they were Sunday when, playing for their playoff lives, they were easily beaten 5-2 by the San Jose Sharks.

Rarely have the Canucks been pushovers.

But they're now likely to be thrown out of the Stanley Cup tournament in the minimum four games, swept for the first time in any round since 2001 when Vancouver was still struggling as a franchise for respectability and footing.

But even then, overmatched by a Colorado Avalanche team on its way to the Stanley Cup, the Canucks battled fiercely through every shift.

CANUCKS-SHARKS GAME 3 PHOTOS

Sunday, they hardly battled at all when they fell behind 3-1 early in the...

Canucks-Sharks Game 3: Twitter talk

Posted on May 5, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

30 hottest hockey players

We love the speed, the skill and the fights in hockey … but you know what we love the most? The players. Follow along as we take a look at the 30 hottest players in the National Hockey League, as voted by Cosmopolitan magazine readers. (There is only one Vancouver Canuck!)

Photos: 30 hottest hockey players of 2011

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Canucks Nation, process this: Signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Hockey coaches will tell you it’s all about the process. Except in the playoffs, when it’s all about wins.

But since the Vancouver Canucks don’t have any of those, let’s look a little at the process that is leading them to a second straight first-round elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was a very poor sign Friday night that with their National Hockey League season hinging on preventing the San Jose Sharks from sweeping two games in Vancouver, the Canucks couldn’t hold a lead in the final minute of the third period and lost 3-2 in overtime. A very bad sign.

It was not a good sign that the Canucks wasted a mighty, inspired final 30 minutes from Ryan Kesler, who scored twice in the third period and played with the physical abandon and head-to-the-net determination rare among teammates.

It was not a good sign that on the winning goal in OT, Kevin Bieksa, second among Canuck defencemen in NHL...

Iain MacIntyre: Canucks Nation, process this — signs, signs, everywhere are signs

Posted on May 4, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Hockey coaches will tell you it’s all about the process. Except in the playoffs, when it’s all about wins.

But since the Vancouver Canucks don’t have any of those, let’s look a little at the process that is leading them to a second straight first-round elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It was not a good sign that on the winning goal in OT, Kevin Bieksa, second among Canuck defencemen in NHL...

Canucks-Sharks Game 2: Twitter talk

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

30 hottest hockey players

Photos: 30 hottest hockey players of 2011

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Iain MacIntyre: Canucks coming up short in game of grinding giants

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — A month after the Vancouver Canucks tried to acquire Raffi Torres and Ryane Clowe at the National Hockey League trading deadline, we found out why.

Well, it was more a confirmation than a discovery Wednesday because there really was nothing new about the Canucks’ 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the teams’ opening game of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Canucks didn’t do enough to force their way to the net and create havoc and second and third scoring chances. Vancouver scored one greasy goal, which is rarely enough in the playoffs.

Size matters. And the Canucks don’t have much of it among their top nine forwards — the guys whose minutes decide games.

With largely the same lineup, the Canucks are 1-7 in playoff games since getting within a victory of claiming the Stanley Cup two years ago. Alas, that lone win came during a first-round loss to the Los Angeles Kings last year, rather than in...

Canucks coming up short in game of grinding giants

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — A month after the Vancouver Canucks tried to acquire Raffi Torres and Ryane Clowe at the National Hockey League trading deadline, we found out why.

The Canucks didn’t do enough to force their way to the net and create havoc and second and third scoring chances. Vancouver scored one greasy goal, which is rarely enough in the playoffs.

Size matters. And the Canucks don’t have much of it among their top nine forwards — the guys whose minutes decide games.

Iain MacIntyre: Ryan Kesler’s disturbingly quiet night

Posted on May 2, 2013 by admin in Sun Hockey | No comments

VANCOUVER — Oh, how we long for those carefree spring days when the only medical intrigue surrounded goalie Cory Schneider and the Vancouver Canucks didn't trail anyone in the playoffs. Seems like only yesterday.

Technically, it's not possible to lose a seven-game National Hockey League series on opening night, but it was difficult for Canuck fans to leave Wednesday's game at Rogers Arena with much to feel optimistic about.

Yes, some of the gloom was a reflection of the accumulated baggage from playoff failures, and a here-we-go-again foreboding that yet another Stanley Cup tournament will be short and disappointing in Vancouver.

And it's more than just the San Jose Sharks pouring in the final three goals to overcome a late second-period deficit and win 3-1, lifting “home-ice advantage” from the Canucks. The Sharks are 17-2-5 this season in San Jose, and now the Canucks will have to win at least once in the Silicon Valley if they hope to make the...