Afternoon Headshots: February 11th

 
Via /r/Canucks redditer Eagle1388, a screenshot of some dude repping the Canucks hard on the Price is Right today

Speaking of prices, and whether or not those prices are "right"; on Friday Brad Ziemer got a Mike Gillis quote in which Vancouver’s General Manager reiterated that whichever team wants to acquire Roberto Luongo, they’re going to have a pay a fair price for the superstar goaltender. By the way, Roberto Luongo is starting for Vancouver tomorrow and here’s my take on that decision: Vancouver is eager to demonstrate that their oft-stated, and scoffed at "we’re happy keeping both of them" threat isn’t an empty one. [The Vancouver Sun] 

Jason Botchford with a not particularly positive sounding update on David Booth, whose recovery from a groin injury sounds like it’s behind schedule. That’s bad news, but it could be an awful lot worse so let’s spin this like Henrik Sedin. First of all, Booth is practicing (in a no-contact jersey) with the club, so at least he’s on the ice even if he’s not feeling one-hundred percent. Secondly, upon Booth’s return one of Kassian, Booth, Raymond, Higgins, Hansen or Burrows will be bumped down to the fourth line – so at least Vancouver is deep at Booth’s position. Thirdly, the Canucks are already three points clear of the Edmonton Oilers (and also have a game in hand) in the Northwest Division, and they’ll be getting Ryan Kesler back very shortly (I still think that’ll happen this week) so, yeah, Booth can take his time. [The White Towel]

More links and commentary past the jump.

If you’re into this sort of thing, and lord knows I’m not, you can watch Sunday’s Vancouver Canucks Super Skills event, in full, on youtube:

Alternatively you can read Daniel Wagner’s quality recap of the event, and in doing so save yourself a couple of hours. [Pass it to Bulis]

Ben Kuzma on the Canucks’ ironic hardest shot winner: power-play non-entity Jason Garrison. For what it’s worth, I remain convinced that Jason Garrison is playing well this season, that is, if you can get past the whole ONLY ONE GOALZ thing. [The Province]

Clay Imoo breaks down some alternatives to the coin flip, just in case Alain Vigneault wants to "insert some chaos" into the Canucks’ goaltending situation in a less Two-Face-y way. [Canucks Hockey Blog]

Iain Macintyre writes about Henrik Sedin’s opportunity to move into sole possession atop the franchise list as the Canucks’ all-time, leading point producer. Anyone else hoping he manages to eclipse Markus Naslund’s milestone with a goal? [Vancouver Sun]

Our pal Jordan Clarke recaps the Canucks week that was, and previews the Canucks week that will be over at Nucksmisconduct. [Nucksmisconduct]

The cherry poppers (ew) over at the Legion of Blog want to take a Canucks fan, a fan who has never attended a Canucks game live in the past, to a game. You can win two tickets to a game against the Phoenix Coyotes in February if you submit the most creative submission. Second prize by the way? Four tickets to a Canucks game against the Phoenix Coyotes. [Legion of Blog]

Marc Spector praises the Canucks‘ handling of the "goaltending controversy" saga. No really. [Sportsnet]

Tony Gallagher looks on the bright side, noting that the Canucks are taking care of business in the Northwest Division as any half decent championship caliber team should do. [The Province]

Daniel Wagner sings lightning fast Dale Weise’s praises over at our favorite Dale Weise-only-content mill Pass it to Bulis. Wagner points out how extraordinarily unlucky Weise, and the rest of Vancouver’s fourth line for that matter, has been this past season. He also rightly notes that we should expect Dale Weise’s percentages to regress (in a positive direction) going forward. Once his luck balances out, Dale Weise might even manage to put together four or five whole points this campaign! [Pass it to Bulis]

Finally, the Canuck Way breaks down Jordan Schroeder’s first career goals from Saturday night’s game against Calgary. Big night for the kid. [Canuck Way] 

Now, while I’m not big into the "Canucks Superskills" thing (I turned fifteen a decade ago), one thing I do enjoy is that the event always produces adorable photos up the wazoo. Let’s go through some of my favorites to end this post, starting with Alex Edler mean-mugging some Sedin children (photo credit Melissa Cheng):

And Jordan Schroeder smiling after being pied (welcome to the show, kid!):

And finally Kevin "Gulliver" Bieksa, gets attacked by Lilliputians:

I got all three of those photos from SealCat.