CA Monday Mailbag: January 18th

Sometimes I wonder if Ryan Miller is the messenger of false hope. He lights up when it’s least convenient, but outside of that, he’s been decidedly vanilla, if not below average. I will admit that watching him against the Islanders was a blast, but probably not what a bottom-feeding team that’s getting slaughtered needs in the long run. 

That’s completely unrelated to the mailbag, though. Much like every other week, we have a handful of questions from you, the readers. Lets dive in!

The Canucks will likely give Demko all the time that he needs, should he decide he wants to stay in school. Even if he turns pro, one would assume he’ll play at least a year or two in the AHL. Cory Schneider, the last truly blue-chip Canucks goaltending prospect that the Canucks drafted, spent six post-draft years in College and the AHL; this year is Demko’s second.

We’re an analytics blog with “army” in our name. We’ve got a reputation for being overly negative. We don’t need a tank-o-meter; we are the tank-o-meter.

The Canucks have a lot of players, but they don’t have a lot of Canucks. Dorsett is a Canuck. Prust is a Canuck. They try hard, they play hard, they punch faces, they chase the puck until the player who had it previously was on the ground, and they try really hard.

That’s why they’re the best. That’s why they’re Canucks. That’s why they play the tough minutes at the end of the games.

In seriousness, it doesn’t hurt to have a physical player around; while the “protection” part of the game is going away, it’s still existent to an extent. It doesn’t hurt to have a skilled player who can be aggressive on your team. Having two of them with questionable skill is a little hard to sell, though.

Hamhuis is tentatively scheduled to return in and around the all-star break, giving him about a month of playing time before the deadline. If the Canucks are looking to sell, they should make sure that he’s at 100% before returning; getting him into games sooner sounds great in theory, but if he’s bad or re-aggravates his injury, other teams have no incentive to pick him up. A hot stretch in the weeks before the deadline, on the other hand, could work in Vancouver’s benefit.

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