Afternoon Headshots March 19th
11 years ago
Today at Canucks Army we recapped Monday night’s loss to the Wild, defended the notion of "staying the course" and previewed Tuesday night’s tilt between the Blues and the Canucks in Vancouver.
If you’re feeling Canuck-y (punk), read past the jump for more Canucks related links and news.
Tony Gallagher rips the goaltending, the power-play and the coaching, of course, in his latest column excoriating the performance of the Canucks over the past fourteen months. "Games are flying by so quickly and the points slipping through their fingers so surely," writes Gallagher, "that making the post-season now is increasingly beginning to look like a long shot." [The Province]
According to the website Sportsclubstats.com the Canucks have a 76% chance of making the postseason (Monday night’s regulation loss to Minnesota dropped their odds down from 83%).
David Booth’s ankle injury – sustained during a freaky play in the first period of Saturday’s game against the Red Wings – will keep him out of the lineup indefinitely. With Booth’s underwhelming production in twelve games this season, there’s speculation that he might have played his last game in a Canucks uniform. While Booth is certainly a more likely buyout candidate now than he appeared to be back in January, I still don’t think such a maneuver would make much sense. Harrison Mooney doesn’t either. [Pass it to Bulis]
Good stuff from Rob the Hockey guy on Mike Gillis’ merely average draft record. [Rob the Hockey Guy]
Mitch’s plus/minus of the week is always a good read. Needless to say this week gave him lots of material for the "minus" side of the ledger. [Legion of Blog]
The AHL has suspended Adam "son of Libor" Polasek for three games for his role in the epic between the benches brawl between the Chicago Wolves and the Rockford Ice Hogs this past weekend.
Andrew Ebbett claims that the Canucks’ face-off struggles are rooted in psychology. I think they’re rooted in a lack of NHL qaulity natural centreman down the middle of the lineup who are also six feet tall. But that’s just me (and anyway, face-offs are way overvalued). [The White Towel]
Here’s an odd comment from Alain Vigneault, who according to Jeff Paterson was asked about how this particular group has persevered through adversity in the past:
Man. Already seen the Canucks questioned for their toughness and lack of identity – whatever those things mean. If the losing continues are you prepared for the "chemistry issues" narrative?
Nicklas Jensen wasn’t ever seriously considered as a recall replacement for David Booth, which isn’t much of a surprise seeing as he’s been in North America for only about ten days or so. Scott Arniel talks to Cam Tucker about his skillset and Jordan Schroeder’s. [Metro News]
That’s it for today. Sort of a light day for Canucks news really, lots of doom and gloom and not much actually being said. If you thought the prevailing tone in Canuckistan was grim today though, just remember that it could’ve been worse if Kevin Bieksa hadn’t recovered himself on this play, narrowly preventing an all-time blooper:
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