Afternoon Headshots May 29th
10 years ago
Today at Canucks Army we forged ahead with our Coaching Candidate Profile series and took a look at Dave Tippett, we also shrugged our shoulders at the news that the Canucks re-signed fourth-liner Tom Sestito.
Read past the jump for all the Canucks news that’s fit to link to.
Five years ago today Canucks defenceman Luc Bourdon lost his life at the age of twenty-one in a tragic motorcycle accident. Sean Leahy talked to Penguins defenceman Kris Letang, Bourdon and Letang were close growing up, about Luc Bourdon’s memory and life for Puck Daddy. Heart wrenching stuff, really. [Puck Daddy]
The really big NHL news today was that the New York Rangers fired headcoach John Tortorella, who probably won’t be too seriously considered in Vancouver according to Botchford. Tortorella requires that all of his players block shots like mad men, which probably isn’t the sort of encouragement that a player who struggles with durability issues – like say Ryan Kesler – needs right now.
Alain Vigneault, on the other hand, will probably get a long look from the Rangers. Bob McKenzie notes that Vigneault was on the short-list for the Rangers the last time the former Vancouver bench boss was on the job market, while Louis Jean opines that the Rangers will have to ante up (featuring Busta Rhymes) if they decide to go the Vigneault route. Not that throwing around Jimmy Dolan’s money is anything foreign to Glen Sather and the New York Rangers organization.
In Canucks free-agent news, the team re-upped Tom Sestito on Wednesday but haven’t reached out to any of their other unrestricted free-agents according to the News1130Sports Twitter account (including Mason Raymond, Maxim Lapierre, Derek Roy and Manny Malhotra). I don’t think that comes as much of a surprise, really. Let’s run a quick diagnostic here: Mason Raymond has underwhelmed since his devastating injury in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, Derek Roy hasn’t been seen by anyone since game 47 of the regular season and may well have joined Ozzie Smith at the Springfield Mystery Spot, Mike Gillis isn’t comfortable with Malhotra’s ability to defend himself in a National Hockey League game, and Maxim Lapierre regularly slotted in behind Andrew Ebbett and Jordan Schroeder in Vancouver’s lineup last season. So yeah, a grand total of zero surprises there.
Marlies Coach Dallas Eakins has officially begun his interview process with the Vancouver Canucks. If you want to learn more about Eakins, Jeff Angus did a wonderful job on his profile of the highly regarded coaching prospect yesterday. [TSN]
Tony Gallagher touches on the Patrick Roy hiring in Colorado, and views Vancouver’s own search for a change-of-pace bench boss through the prism of Patrick Roy’s firey personality. [Canada.com]
Sportsnet’s expert panel – Christ Johnston, Doug MacLean, John Shannon and Jeff Marek – break down the Canucks coaching hunt, and all of them save for Johnston bring up Lindy Ruff. As Cam Charron wrote yesterday that is soo not happening. [Sportsnet]
Canucks fan and youtube sensation M A K I A V E L L I cut an awesome video of the diving in the series between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks. In writing it up Greg Wyshynksi suggests that we should, "Please keep in mind that everybody in the NHL embellishes in order to draw a penalty. It’s just that some do it more often than others, and sometimes do it to the point where you feel like they’re crying wolf if someone does in fact foul them on a play." Of course he’s right. [Puck Daddy]
But still, it’s worth noting that the faux media outrage over Couture, Brown and company’s repeated prat falls was muted his postseason. It’s like how no one in the media has ever really noticed Bolland hacking away at Henrik Sedin, but when Toews takes a crosscheck from Nicklas Kronwall everyone on press row seems to tweet about the abuse the Blackhawks star is heroically fighting through like the clutch hockey saint he is.
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