In low-profile transaction moves this week, the Canucks dealt Dane Fox to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for future considerations. Which is to say that they’d given up on Dane Fox and then some.

There’s a cautionary tale about placing too much stock into counting numbers for overage players in the CHL. I still remember the hype surrounding Fox coming out of his age-20 season in the OHL. If I remember correctly, Daniel Wagner put out an excellent article on the odds in front of Fox. Basically, the closest and most successful comparable was Chad LaRose.

Frankly, the writing was on the wall for Fox the minute Travis Green didn’t slot him onto the Utica Comets lineup. Especially given the hits they keep taking at centre. Who knows, maybe the Charlotte Checkers can turn Fox into a semi-useful career AHL’er.

All the best, I guess.

Dennis Wideman may do something that resembles playing defence at the NHL level for the Calgary Flames, but that hasn’t stopped us from covering him these last few months at Canucks Army. More specifically, the fallout from his incident with a linesman in a January game against the Nashville Predators.

Wasn’t surprised to see his suspension reduced to ten games. Perhaps a little taken back by how long it took – Wideman had already served 19-games by the time they came to a ruling. At the end of the day, the arbitrator sided with Occam’s Razor. Is it more likely that Wideman suffered a head injury, was in a haze and reflexively checked the skater directly in front of him as a self-defense manoeuvre? Or is it more likely that Wideman, he of no supplementary discipline prior to this event, just snapped and attacked the linesman of all people.

In those terms, it really should be obvious what happened. Will be interesting if we see the concussion defence used in suspension appeals going forward. Huge long-term implications surrounding this case. 

As much as I want a top-three pick for the Vancouver Canucks in the upcoming draft, it really is difficult to cheer against my favourite team. Just can’t do it. If I’m being honest with myself, what I really want down the home stretch is for this club to look competitive and keep on losing. Hell, maybe experiment with some structural changes to their defensive zone coverages. Whatever.

Doesn’t look like I’m going to have my way, though. The Canucks have a pretty easy schedule for the next little while. They just knocked off the Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators. Next up are the Jets and Avs. On the bright side, there’s not a tonne of separation from the best to fourth best defenceman in this year’s draft. If the Canucks can stay in the top-ten, I’m happy… I guess.

Probably should’ve covered this last week, but somehow forgot. Anyways, what’s with the Canucks not having a single player on the North American roster? I might be putting way too much stock into this silly half-baked team idea, but shouldn’t a team on the upswing have at least one player on the under-23 team? Intuitively, I think the answer is yes.

Of course, these are just the preliminary rosters. There’s still a chance for Bo Horvat et al to make some noise between now and September. Not looking good, though. In the meantime, the Sedins are playing for Team Sweden and Jannik Hansen made Team Europe. That’s something. I guess.