Friday Evening Headshots: February 8th

Laughing forever at Zack Parise’s decision to spend his prime playing for a Wild team three years away from contention.
Photo Credit: Carlos Gonzalez.

Rob the Hockey Guy, or RTHG as he prefers to be called of late, wonders if all hell would break loose were Luongo to refuse to waive his no trade clause (so he could spend at least this season with a contender). Interesting angle, but I’m not sure I see it. [Rob the Hockey Guy]

For the "Draft Moar Vancouver Giants" sea-to-sky boner crowd, Iain Macintyre breaks down the Canucks’ revitalized efforts scouting Western Canada for homegrown, BC born talent. Yawn. Mike Gillis has been talking about drafting British Columbian players since he first arrived as Genearal Manager, and it hasn’t really happened. This is because the Canucks wisely prefer to pick the player they believe is the "best available" remaining on the board. It hasn’t always worked out for the current Canucks management team, but drafting based on a sense of regionalism isn’t the answer. [The Vancouver Sun]

More links and other fun stuff after the jump.

Jason "stats milt" Botchford doesn’t write about Corsi, but if you don’t think he’s paying attention to the smarter hockey analysis out there, you’re a stone-cold dummie. In his take today on how the Northwest Division still blows, and how this year’s version of the Vancouver Canucks would be cooked without their goaltenders, Botchford uses even-strength save-percentage exclusively in his evaluation of goaltending quality. He also tips his hat to the concept of regression. Great stuff, and wonderfully refreshing for a grumpy gus know it all, such as myself. [The White Towel]

Our pal Tom, (aka @GayCanuck) with some excellent stuff on the history of the Vancouver Millionaires, their role as trailblazers and their sick new uniforms that we all can’t wait to see the Canucks sport in mid-March. [Puck Buddy’s]

Daniel Wagner writes about Jannik Hansen‘s out of this world percentages in the early going this season. [Pass it to Bulis]

Jannik Hansen’s luck hasn’t been all good, however, as his Danish countrymen failed to qualify for the Sochi Olympics today, losing to Slovenia two-one. 2011 Canucks first rounder Nicklas Jensen was on the team and he had an assist in the contest, as Denmark outshot the Slovenians but couldn’t come away with the win. [The Hockey House]

While Wyatt Arndt has been referring to Zack Kassian as the "Kassassin" since he was first acquired by the Canucks a year ago, it turns out that former Vancouver Giant Matt Kassian got there first, and has actually trademarked the nickname. Never been a big fan of the Kassassin nickname myself, so maybe going back to the drawing board on this one isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe we can call Zack Kassian the "anti-dentite." [Legion of Blog]

Finally someone has made some Canucks nesting dolls and of the five dolls, only two of them are current Canucks roster players. Daniel Wagner pokes some well deserved fun at that fact. [Pass it to Bulis]