Photo Credit: Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports Nine games into the new NHL season, the Vancouver Canucks’ young forwards don’t look out of place. Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen both continued to state their compelling cases for spending the season in the NHL, and were both standouts in the Canucks’ convincing 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night. As the…
View image | gettyimages.com “This isn’t a ‘try’ league, it’s a ‘gotta get it done’ league.” That’s how coach Willie Desjardins explained his decision to make underperforming Sven Baertschi a healthy scratch against the St. Louis Blues last Friday, per Farhan Lalji of TSN. The Vancouver Canucks didn’t get it done against the Blues—or, with Baertschi back in…
View image | gettyimages.com Are we having fun yet? A 3-0-1 start to the new NHL season has the Vancouver Canucks perched atop the Western Conference and dishing up some highly-enjoyable hockey. Three out of four points against the rival Calgary Flames, then road wins in scary SoCal against Anaheim and Los Angeles: if you listened…
Photo Credit: Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports The Canucks’ new look for the new season was triggered in large part by the shortcomings they showed during their six-game playoff loss to the Calgary Flames last April. What better way for Jim Benning to assess his offseason changes than to open the new year with two head-to-head looks at his Canucks against the…
Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA TODAY Sports The kids have looked so good, they’re making the veterans look bad. Strong preseason play from centre Jared McCann, 19, left wing Brendan Gaunce, 21, and defenceman Ben Hutton, 22, is keeping a vast array of prospects in the mix for spots on the Vancouver Canucks’ opening-night roster. Coach Willie Desjardins likes what he’s seeing…
Photo Credit: Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports Snip, snip. The training camp cuts have begun. The Vancouver Canucks are in the process of trimming down their roster as the regular season approaches. This week, 17 players were released from the Canucks preseason roster—twelve on Tuesday, two more on Thursday, and four more on Saturday (including Hunter Shinkaruk). Goaltender Richard…
Photo Credit: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports The Vancouver Canucks wrapped up their 2015 Young Stars tournament on a positive note on Monday with a 3-2 overtime win over the Calgary Flames. Vancouver’s 2-1 record for the weekend is solid enough, but the tournament is more useful for evaluating individual players than for analyzing systems or special teams….
Photo Credit: Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports The hype is at an all-time high. Hotels in Penticton, B.C. are booked solid and the tickets have sold at a record-breaking pace for this weekend’s 2015 Young Stars tournament. Always a big event in the Okanagan, Connor McDavid’s NHL debut has caused fan interest to spike even higher than usual.
