Friday Mailbag: Are We Home Yet?

The east coast bias is real. Seriously, the Canucks are forever stuck in a different time zone, making the majority of the fanbase have to watch games before they’ve started cooking dinner, which allows for the league to find a way to turn most of these games into one-goal losses while the fans are busy checking on food. 

It’s hard to say right now. Every single time the Canucks have lost, they’ve lost by one. We all have our opinions as to whether this roster is viable or not in the present and future, but the situation is not one that makes you feel committed to a direction one way or another. If they keep losing this many games but start seeing bigger gaps, you might see some of the pending free agents go up for sale towards the end of January, but it’s far too early to see what the present holds.

Assuming 2017 means 2017/18, Jared McCann. He’s not there yet, but he’s showing signs of offensive flair already. Continued development should allow for him to take the reigns of the “big” line while the Sedins step back into a dependable second line role. Oh, and yes, he’ll get fifty points.

What’s wrong with Luca Sbisa?! WHERE DO WE BEGIN? First, let’s talk about his play with the puck…

Oh. You mean that kind of “what’s wrong”.

As we posted on recently, Luca Sbisa is out “for a while“, thanks to a foot injury. 

That wasn’t as fun to answer.

June 27th, 2016. NHL Draft. Stamkos still hasn’t signed with the Lightning, and everybody is all but certain that the Leafs will get the guy they have targeted since he was concieved.

Jim Benning goes to Steve Yzerman. “I know you want to lose, but I can help you stop them from winning.”

Ten minutes later, the Canucks trade a second round pick for Matthew Peca. People are confused, but that’s just Benning’s warmup routine.

Five minutes after that, Steven Stamkos’ rights are traded to Vancouver for Brandon Sutter, Yannick Weber, and Alex Grenier. People are shocked on both sides. Why are the Canucks giving up set in stone assets for rights? Why are the Bolts taking on those players?

Benning answers “cap anticipation”. Yzerman offers “Callahan and Sutter will front the best grit duo of all time”.

Benning convinces Stamkos, by showing him a 48 slide powerpoint presentation comparing the Pacific Ocean to Lake Ontario.

Furious, Leafs co-owner Rogers change the name of Vancouver’s arena to the “THIS COULD HAVE BEEN US BUT YOU PLAYIN, STEVEN Memorial Coliseum”.

Because hockey refuses to switch to the superior street basketball / tennis “win by two” system. The Canucks are 3-0 in games won by multiple goals. They’re 1-6 in single goal margins. You do the math.