Afternoon Headshots: February 14th

 
The Japandroids sport Canucks gear during a live show.

So over at Canucks.nhl.com, they’ve reached "phase II" on project NU2 which aims to replace U2’s "Where the Streets have no Name" which the Canucks have used as entrance music since as far back as I can remember, with another track by one of six artists. There is only one right call and it’s the Japandroids and their song "House that Heaven Built." This isn’t even close, guys, the other songs are legitimately not good and the Japandroids track is perfect as a new entry song. First of all the band themselves root for the team, secondly, the lyrics are about defiance and maintaining a sense of yourself in spite of pressure and thirdly there’s a catchy bit that everyone can sing in unison as the team skates onto the ice. Please go vote Japandroids (and not Nickleback). [Canucks.nhl.com]

Read on past the jump for more links and Canucks news.

Obviously the big news of the day is Malhotra being placed on injured reserve for the balance of this season. At this point it seems pretty likely that Malhotra has played his last NHL game, which is impossibly sad. He’s a warrior and he’ll be missed around these parts, that’s for sure. [Province]

Here’s my take on the impact losing Malhotra will have on Vancouver’s lineup in the short-term. [PlayNowBlog]

Excellent profile from David Ebner on the hard work that Zack Kassian has put in – both on the ice, and in the octagon – to get to where he is in the early going this season. And where is he, exactly? He’s leading the team in scoring, no big deal. [Globe and Mail]

Justin Bourne’s systems analyst posts are arguably the best thing in the hockey blogosphere. Today he brokedown Jannik Hansen’s lovely goal from Tuesday night against Minnesota, with a particular focus on how Mason Raymond hyptonized Kyle Brodziak. [Backhand Shelf]

Kevin Bieksa, he of the three goals in the past four games, gets a "plus" while Jason Garrison needs to pick up his game according to guest writer Mitch over at the Legion of Blog. [Legion of Blog]

Interesting Jim Jamieson bit focussing in on what motivates Canucks rookie Jordan Schroeder. If I was an NHL rookie and someone asked me this question I’d totally answer with "money and women." At least that’s why I blog *sobs violently*! [The Province]

Yesterday your humble narrator wrote about Vancouver’s luck in net, and their poor luck on the penalty-kill in the early going this season. [PlayNowBlog]

Let’s end off with this hilarious feature from the Canucks wishing their fans a happy valentines days: