Playoffs Are So Close, We Can Taste Them (Just kidding, they’re not making the playoffs)

New Vesey, Who Dis?

Visions of Demko, Weep The North, Boeser Beastin, and Seriously Figure the DiPietro Thing Out

• We get pretty up in arms when our guy doesn’t get consideration for a big award or when he loses out on one that statistically would say the opposite. Thatcher Demko has turned the month of March upside down and without getting into the thick of it, he’s worthy of Vezina talk. Where have we heard this before? He isn’t expected to win the coveted award but getting more than a bit of pub from NHL.com is warranted, at the very least. This is Demko’s domain and we’re just hanging around.
• Is it really an accomplishment to win the North division this season? The final four teams that make the postseason this year won’t be “the best” aside from it saying so on paper. The Leafs will win the division, that much is certain, but can you put faith that they’d cruise through the division in the playoffs? I can’t. Edmonton is pretty impressive but again, after round one, what will they do? Connor Hellebuyck will hold court for the Jets and Montreal is not too shabby either but this division is pretty sheltered. It’s a microcosm of the Canucks series against the Senators this season; sure they’re undefeated but what does that even amount to?
• He’s averaging a goal every other game right now but it isn’t the goals that make Brock Boeser the straw stir right now, it’s the 200-foot game, the forecheck, and the contagious post shots he inherited from Pettersson that give him the glow of a player that’s feeling it right now. He’s opened the scoring for the Canucks twice this month and the goals he’s scored look effortless. He’s the Brock Boeser you hoped he was for another team when you all wanted Matt Dumba.
• This Michael DiPietro situation is cringeworthy. There are more educated voices than your narrator (that’s me) that can give you all the reasons why it wouldn’t make sense to have him as the current backup at the beginning of the season but it can’t be overlooked at how bad this has been handled. The Canucks needed a tandem partner for Demko this year and it could have been someone a lot more lacklustre than Braden Holtby. DiPietro was coming off of a stellar season in Utica and knowing how a taxi squad was going to shake out, as soon as hockey was back on for the AHL, he should have been in a car or whatever vehicle he could find to get to Utica.
• The taxi squad for the Canucks is serviceable at best and burying your next heir apparent — or at the very least battery mate for Demko — in practice is a bad look. Think about this for a second: the Canucks place equal value on their taxi squad at this exact moment in both Loui Eriksson and Michael DiPietro. The difference being there are 12-13 possible opportunities for Eriksson and ONE for Mikey. Holtby is just a name we can bring out to compare but would DiPietro, after having the season he had, not be a great one-off to spell Demko every 8-10 games? This sounds like an old man yelling at clouds but this can’t be how this is handled. Other NHL teams have approached their goaltending in that manner and the world hasn’t ended.
• Alex Edler still doesn’t have a goal, and is sitting at 99.

PowerGlove™ Player of the Game

• Bo Horvat gets my nomination today. He’s harnessing the dad strength again and all I can say is good luck stopping a mad dad. Look at what Travis Green has given him as wingers: Bo is a thing of beauty.

Things I’m Looking Forward To

• Watering my driveway better than my retired neighbour across the street. That one’s an uphill battle.
• Brock Boeser, bar down, on Carey Price. I don’t need any context of how — just the result.
• The new Mighty Ducks reboot series on Disney+. Who isn’t, though?