Canucks First Round Outlook
Thomas Drance
April 26 2013 11:57AM
One more weekend left before the playoff excitement begins!
Photograph by Jeff Vinnick, NHLI/GETTY
Just like Thursday night's shrug of a contest at Rogers Arena, Saturday's Canucks game on the road against the Edmonton Oilers will have no real meaning for either team. The Canucks have locked up the third spot in the West, they can't move up or down in the standings. As such, avoiding a cheap shot from a frustrated Taylor Hall, testing out Corrado to see whether or not you can count on him in the postseason (so far so good), and getting the special teams units a bit of additional practice is really all the Canucks should be pushing to do on Saturday night.
But there will be four other contests worth paying attention to this weekend, four games which will impact the identity of the Canucks opponent in the first round of the playoffs. So in advance of the final weekend of regular season hockey why don't we take a look at the lay of the land, which clubs the Canucks could realistically meet in round one, and which teams you should root for this coming weekend.
Canucks Get Down on One Knee, Chug Sugary Vodka Based Beverage
Thomas Drance
April 26 2013 12:27AM
Mason Raymond takes a penalty. I guess the refs didn't realize that all Ducks must get iced in Vancouver.
Photograph by Jeff Vinnick NHLI/Getty
You know when you're looking for the good frying pan in the cupboard, but instead you find a 500 mililitre jug of Smirnoff Ice that your bro hid, and so you have to chug it while everyone laughs? Odds are you don't live in a frat house and haven't actually experienced the rather specific situation I'm referring too, but it sucks, and it's old hat, and in that way a lot like Thursday night's Canucks game.
The Canucks were listless through forty minutes, with Ryan Kesler going so far as to call the club's effort in the first two periods "embarrassing." I wouldn't call it embarrassing because, who really cares? It was game forty-seven, there's really nothing for the Canucks to play for, they lost a one goal game that was decided by a softy and no one got hurt. So it was a crummy effort and a really dull game, but lets approach it the same way both teams did: it's just not a big deal.
Read past the jump.
Evening Headshots: April 25th
Thomas Drance
April 25 2013 06:19PM
Great shot of the Sedin twins by Michael Martin (NHLI/Getty)
Today at CanucksArmy, Jeff Angus handed out some NHL hardware and snubbed Henrik Sedin, Cory Schneider and Christian Ehrhoff, we checked in on some parting shots between the Canucks and Wolves organizations as the affiliation agreement between the two clubs expires (and also ran down some quallity of competition estimates for Canucks prospects), we previewed Thursday night's game against the "Ducks," and Austin Wallace turned in episode three of the Week of a Canucks Bandwagoner series.
Read past the jump for more Canucks news and links.
Game #47 Preview: "Ducks" @ Canucks
Thomas Drance
April 25 2013 02:00PM
You know when an Andrew Alberts image leads off our game preview that it's going to be a good one.
Photograph by: Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America
The Ducks aren't really playing tonight. Anaheim's lineup, in fact, won't include Iced Man Ryan Getzlaf (though actually it might which is hilarious), Bobby Ryan, Luca Sbisa, Bryan Allen, Corey Perry, Saku Koivu or Teemu Sellane. So if they're not showing up, why must I in writing a game preview?
Because that's my damn job. Read past the jump.
Chicago Wolves Quality of Competition, and the End of their Affiliation with the Canucks
Thomas Drance
April 25 2013 12:47PM
Bill Sweatt gets burned by Tomas Tatar who qualifies as tough competition.
Photograph by Rex Larsen
Earlier this week the Chicago Wolves signed an affiliation agreement with the St. Louis Blues, the organization the Canucks had previously acquired the Peoria Rivermen from.
So the affiliation agreement between the Canucks and the Chicago Wolves has ended after two years, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say that the relationship has ended on an acrimonious note publicly, I would suggest that it seems the two sides are glad to be moving on.
Read past the jump.
