Afternoon Headshots: January 23rd
11 years ago
Alex Burrows tells Ben Kuzma that he’ll "surprise" opponents with his effectiveness in the face-off dot. About that, I have to say, it would completely and utterly shcok me if he wins 45% of the draws he takes as a full time centre. For what it’s worth Burrows is 2 out of 7 on face-offs so far this season, and has won 77 of 195 (or a shade under 40%) over the past six seasons according to NHL.com. [The White Towel]
Marc Spector recaps the Luongo to the Edmonton Oilers trade rumours, and makes the case that Roberto Luongo wouldn’t really fit in Edmonton, and that certainly the Oilers shouldn’t give away anything more than Sam Gagner in exchange for the services of the second best goaltender in the National Hockey League. Yeah, because trading for an elite goalie a few seasons after picking first at the entry draft three years in a row has never worked out for a franchise in recent memory. [Sportsnet]
Harrison Mooney of Pass it to Bulis finds what is basically the opposite of a tribute video to Dale Weise. It’s just a collection of moments where Dale Weise got pummeled (either by Jeff Petry, or of his own vollition) into the boards during Sunday night’s Canucks shootout loss to the Oilers. Like "man gets hit by football in the groin" this video is remarkably simple and funny. Hey, at least Weise is laying his body on the line for the team, right? Anybody? [Pass it to Bulis]
Our buddies over at The Legion of Blog have debuted "LoBTV" which features them mostly haggling off camera with Rogers Arena security and ultimately interviewing Canucks fans at Saturday night’s home-opener against the Anaheim "don’t call me Mighty" Ducks. The video is well worth your time. I’m not sure if it’s Trevor Linden good necessarily (what is, really?), but these two certainly have more camera presence in their cuticles than I’ll ever have. [Legion of Blog]
If you’re interested in what Flames fans are saying about tonight’s tilt between Calgary’s "perpetually ninth in the Western Conference club" and the Canucks, and I’m not sure why you would be, then Justin Azevedo of Flames Nation has you covered. [Flames Nation]
Read on past the jump for more links and stuff.
Jason Botchford with an interesting take on Alain Vigneault’s Luongo/Schneider two-step in goal and the inherent contradiction in the head-coaches "we have two number ones" posture regarding his netminders. [The Province]
Brad Ziemer reports on the issue between Air Canada – who installed some peasant class seating on their charter plains in order to make some money while the seven Canadian NHL teams were locked out this fall – and the Canucks, who don’t want their players to have to sit in economy class seats. I’m not an expert on these things, but it seems to me that Air Canada made a short-sighted, penny pinching move here and may lose a high-profile client over it. [Vancouver Sun]
All eyes in Vancouver will be on Jordan Schroeder tonight as he makes his NHL debut at long last. Here’s Jim Jamieson on the circuitous route that Schroeder has taken along his development path. [The Province]
Bad news for those of us with, you know, any capacity for human empathy: Ben Eager has been diagnosed with a concusion, the result of getting pummeled on Sunday night by Canucks brawler Zack Kassian. Per Gene Principe:
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