Afternoon Headshots: May 31st

Lieutenant Daniels standing in front of Andrew Alberts and Roberto Luongo’s lockers? #k
Image is from a Fringe episode a few years ago, via redditer Bosim.

Today at the internet’s best and most humble Canucks blog: we wondered what former Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault would do next, and took stock of the depressing stasis in Canucksistan heading into the month of June, a month which could define Mike Gillis’s tenure with the organization. 

Click past the jump for more links and Canucks news!

Excellent stuff from Jason Botchford urging Canucks ownership to step up and help their General Manager get rid of the Luongo contract. [The Province]

Mason Raymond is a celebrity spokesperson for a line of skin products because of course he is. 

Friend of the blog Tom (aka GayCanuck) has retired from the fantastic Puck Buddy’s blog. It’s a big loss for the Smylosphere, and we’ll miss Tom’s awesome blog posts about curtains in particular. [Puck Buddy’s]

Will the Canucks interview the great one – Wayne Gretzky! – for their vacant headcoaching position? No, no they won’t.

Nate Silver makes some fascinating points about Canada’s two decade long Stanley Cup drought, and the reasons for it. Those reasons? That Canada has too few teams, have been fabulously unlucky, and the timing of Bettman’s salary cap couldn’t have been worse for hockey fans north of the 49th parallel. [Five Thirty Eight]

Daniel Wagner breaksdown the possibility of Luongo not reporting to Canucks training camp this fall. [Pass it to Bulis]

Sean Larson performs a player autopsy on Ryan Kesler’s season. I’m really enjoying this series from Nucksmisconduct, but man, "player autopsys" sound so grim! [Nucksmisconduct]

The mother ship wants to know which logo you think is the best, the stick-in-rink emblem or the orca: 

I’m still a big fan of the pizza skate logo, frankly…

Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston profiles Toronto Marlies coach Dallas Eakins, who the Vancouver Canucks interviewed earlier this week. [Sportsnet]

Good stuff from Tyson Giuriato on Joseph LaBate’s sophmore season in Wisconsin. [Canucks.com] 

Tony Gallagher tosses some sensible cold water on the notion that the Canucks might take on Rick DiPietro’s contract and buy it out as a way of recouping significant value in a Roberto Luongo deal. [The Province]

Former Canucks assistant coach Rick Bowness is getting some buzz as a possible associate coaching hire in Edmonton. [Edmonton Journal]