Tag Archives: Raymond

Brad Ziemer Vancouver Sun ST. PAUL, Minn. - Mason Raymond said he was surprised, but he may have been the only one. The struggling Vancouver Canucks winger was pulled aside for a brief chat with coach Alain Vigneault during Monday morning's game-day skate at the Xcel Energy Center and told he wasn't playing against the Minnesota Wild. He probably should have seen it coming. That kind of thing tends to happen when a guy counted on to be a significant offensive producer falls into the kind of slump Raymond is mired in these days. Raymond hasn't had a point in eight games and has just eight goals and 16 points in 46 games this season. He missed the first 25 games of the season after suffering a serious back injury in last season's Stanley Cup final. "I don't think you go into a day thinking you are going to be a scratch," Raymond said. "So yeah, it was a surprise. "You just have to carry...

Brad Ziemer Vancouver Sun There are still 16 games remaining in the regular season, but Alain Vigneault is already beginning to put the pieces of his playoff puzzle together. And the Vancouver Canucks coach, like many of the team's fans, is wondering exactly where winger Mason Raymond fits. Right now, Raymond is one of those pieces that doesn't seem to fit very well anywhere, which explains why he figures to start tonight's game against the Dallas Stars on Vancouver's fourth line. Raymond's offensive struggles, combined with the intriguing play of newcomer Zack Kassian, have cost him his spot on the Canucks' second line. No one is saying it is permanent - and let's face it, with a chronic line-juggler like Vigneault, nothing is - but Kassian is going to get a good look at filling Raymond's spot alongside Ryan Kesler and David Booth. "This is done on gametogame basis," Vigneault said after Monday's practice. "We are finding out what Zack can bring to the table,...