With Kevin Bieksa, the Good Far Outweighs the Bad
Jeff Angus
February 28 2013 01:10PM
Kevin Bieksa has carried many labels during his tenure with the Canucks. At his best, he is a physical and instinctive two-way defenseman who can play on the power play and shut down opposing star forwards.
At his worst, he is an overly aggressive defenseman who goes out of position to make plays, both defensively and offensively.
He has battled through some pretty significant injuries in his career. He has formed one half of two of the best defensive pairings the Canucks have ever seen (with Willie Mitchell for a few seasons, and now with Dan Hamhuis).
Bieksa is also a difficult defenseman to analyze. Why? Read on to find out.
Breaking Down Henrik Sedin's Give-And-Goal in Dallas
Jeff Angus
February 23 2013 11:13AM
Henrik Sedin and Alex Burrows combined for a beautiful goal against the Dallas Stars on Thursday evening. As we are all well aware of by now, a lot more goes into a Sedin-generated goal than just a shot on net. Let's break the goal down frame by frame.
Game 16 Preview: Canucks @ Stars
Jeff Angus
February 21 2013 01:06PM
Ryan Kesler and the Canucks are in Big D tonight to take on Cody Eakin and the Dallas Stars. Dallas got the best of Vancouver last Friday night, defeating the Canucks 4-3 at Rogers Arena. It marked the first time that the Canucks had lost a game at home after leading through 40 minutes since October 2009.
Cristopher Nilstorp is getting the start for Dallas tonight, as Kari Lehtonen remains sidelined with a groin injury. Cory Schneider will get the call for the Canucks - his second consecutive start after stealing Vancouver a point in Chicago on Tuesday evening.
Read on for a preview of tonight's action.
Breaking Down Henrik Sedin's Record-Setting Assist
Jeff Angus
February 16 2013 04:20PM
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Henrik Sedin, in fitting fasion, delivered his record-setting assist on a silver platter to Alex Burrows last night. I had the above graphic created to pay tribute to Sedin's riduclously amazing saucer passes, and it is only fitting that he delivered the sauce while setting the Canucks all time record for points. Oh, and the Canucks lost the game, but let's ignore that for the next little while.
Sedin had a great game last night (as did the rest of the Canucks top line). They had Dallas hemmed in their own zone on multiple occasions, especially at even strength. It was arguably the best game of the season for either Henrik or Daniel, and with Ryan Kesler now healthy (and he was launching one-timer bombs all night long), the Vancouver offense should really get rolling now.
Mr. Drance did a great job with the game recap, so I won't dive into too many of the other details from last night's action. Instead, I want to break down the Burrows goal frame by frame.
Chris Higgins and the Value of the Role Player
Jeff Angus
February 14 2013 11:51AM
Canucks fans didn`t have much in the way of expectations for Chris Higgins after the club acquired him and Maxim Lapierre at the 2011 trade deadline.
Those two moves were largely overlooked at the time and Higgins and Lapierre were described as "depth players" and "insurance." But Higgins and Lapierre were integral parts of Vancouver`s Stanley Cup run and almost two years later, they are both playing consistent minutes for Vancouver. Higgins, in particular, has found a home with the Canucks as its Mr. Everything (a title he shares with Jannik Hansen). He can play on the power play and on the penalty kill. He is a great skater, he hits, and he is one of the best Canucks at winning one-on-one puck battles along the boards.
Let`s take a bit of a look back at Higgins and his journey over the past few years.
