Canucks backup-for-a-day Dustin Butler on Jannik Hansen, his favourite goalie and more
Patrick Johnston
April 14 2013 11:10AM
Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images
One moment you're thinking about exams, the next you are on your way to the Saddledome to join an NHL team. Then tv, then radio... Then the blogs called.
Yup, it was a busy 24 hours for Dustin Butler, University of Calgary goaltender and now Canuck-for-one-day. Is cult hero status next?
Canucks Army caught with Dustin by phone, a day after his big NHL moment, back at the books as he stared down his last-ever session of university exams.
Pavel Bure's number to be retired - it's the right thing
Patrick Johnston
April 06 2013 04:07PM
So it's going to happen. Number ten will finally hang from the rafters.
After years of haranguing over the Russian Rocket's departure from Vancouver in 1999, everything is forgotten.
Pavel is loved, Pavel is remembered for the greatness that he was, Pavel is going to be the best. Officially.
It's the right thing to do.
Game #38 preview: Flames @ Canucks
Patrick Johnston
April 06 2013 02:12PM
Ten games to go. Amazing how quickly a short season can be - and how much better the twists and turns can be when it is such a season.
Tonight, the Abbotsford Heat Calgary Flames roll in to town.
To re-cap, the Flames no longer have Jarome Iginla. They no long have Jay Bouwmeester. They do still have Miika Kiprusoff, but they don't have Blake Comeau.
Yes, this is a team that is done. Which, of course, means that they will be a threat.
Or will they? More on that, after the jump.
Trade Deadline 2013: Five Top-Six Forwards for the Canucks to Target
Patrick Johnston
April 01 2013 01:20PM
Martin Gelinas was a free pickup for Pat Quinn. Mike Gillis probably won't find a similar gem, but one can dream.
Getting a forward. That's all anyone in Vancouver has talked about in the last month. Get another forward.
Sometimes the mob gets overly agitated for no good reason. In this case, however, they are dead on. The Canucks need a forward, preferably a centre. With Ryan Kesler likely never to be quite the same - how could he be, having undergone two serious surgeries on joints in the last two years - and David Booth apparently done for the season, the Canucks' forward lines are out of whack.
After the jump, let's have a look at five names out there that might be useful pickups for the Canucks.
Trade Deadline 2013: Five Defensemen for the Canucks to Target
Patrick Johnston
April 01 2013 10:36AM
Eric Weinrich's legacy as a feckless trade deadline acquisition lives on!
Another day, another entry in our series of deadline previews.
We've already taken a thorough inventory of the team's needs, cap-space and trade chips, looked closely at Mike Gillis' history at the trade deadline, the Hodgson-for-Kassian move, and talked (strombabbled) endlessly about whether or not Roberto Luongo might be moved ahead of the deadline.
A year ago, Drance established the Weinrich-to-Brown meter as a super-scientific assessment tool for defensive trade deadline targets. Let's bring it back.
Click past the jump for an assesment of five defencemen who might be on the Canucks' radar.
