NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Mitch Dyck reports today that the Canucks goalie in the wings, Eddie Lack, has had successful hip surgery and will miss the remainder of the season. Will this effect a Luongo trade? Maybe, maybe not. If true, it could mean that the Canucks can send Lack back to the American Hockey League without losing him on waivers, and if Roberto Luongo isn’t traded, this could work well in their favor.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges points out today it’s nice to see the framework of a 50/50 deal finally floating around but because the two sides can’t agree on the dollar figure that will be split, we’ve now lost November and the Winter Classic is hanging in the balance. He looks at some Canucks who are benefiting from the lockout which today. Ryan Kesler, Roberto Luongo, Zack Kassian, Jason Garrison make the list.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Mitch Dyck points to a few reasons why the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat should be the franchise targeted by the Current Vancouver Canucks owners the Aquilini Investment Group. If the Canucks AHL affiliate was in Abbotsford, the recall of players is much speedier for home games and even road games in Western Canada. Good news for Kevin Connauton, Billy Sweatt, and possibly Eddie Lack.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger C-Mac is back inside from laying out in the Victoria sunshine. Teachers and their summers off. He weighs in on the Canucks prospect Nicklas Jensen discussing the possibility of foregoing his last year of major junior eligibility with the Oshawa Generals in order to play a season in the Swedish Elite League should he not make the Canucks roster for the 2012/13 season.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges weighs in with his ananlysis of the Justin Schultz NHL free agency situation. He’s 21, can’t make more than $925,000 on his entry level contract. The Canucks are simply his best shot to win the cup, all other factors aside. The rumoured favourites for Schultz’s services are the, the Oilers, the Blackhawks, the Rangers, and the Maple Leafs.
NWSB insider C-Mac brings us a Northwest Coaching Profile on past Vancouver Canucks head coach and general manager Marc Crawford. A former Canucks draft pick and then a Coach. Cool story. Crow was selected 70th overall in the 4th round by the Vancouver Canucks, and promptly made it to the NHL the very next year in the 1981-82 season. After seven years, Crow was finished in 2006 coaching VanCity.
Dave B. Profiles one of the Northwests own, Defenseman Karl Alzner of the Washington Capitals. Dave tells us how Karl Alzener hails from Burnaby BC, and how he made his way up the ranks of the CHL into the NHL, collecting a captaincy for Team Canada at the World Juniors along the way and how he started his Junior career for the Calgary Hitman.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks writer C-Mac weighs in with the first Canucks player we will evaluate, as part of a series on the organization’s top prospects in the 2012 NHL off-season is the second Dane in the Vancouver organization Nicklas Jensen. Jensen was promoted to the Chicago Wolves minor league affiliate of the Canucks this spring.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges weighs in with an update on the Canucks farm team in the AHL the Chicago Wolves. Van City hired ex-Oilers coach Craig Mactavish to guide the prospects, we update you on Eddie Lack, Bill Sweatt, Mike Duco, Steven Reinprecht, Nolan Baumgartner, Kevin Connauton, Mark Mancari and more. The bubble boys, the 2-ways, guys fighting for their cup of coffee in the NHL.
Resident Vancouver Canucks and hockey insider Josh Hall is back with his third exclusive twitterview for NWSB. This time around, it’s Northwest native Victoria, BC born Sean O’ Connor; Captain for the Augsburger Panther of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Sean currently makes his off season home in Arizona but when it’s hockey season, he’s kickin’ ass on German soil.
NWSB Insider Dave B brings us another profile featuring Vancouver born Troy Brouwer. Brouwer was a thorn in the Canucks’ sides for a couple years with the Chicago Blackhawks but has made his NHL way to Washington, DC. Brouwer is a homegrown talent we can all be proud of…in the big picture. He’s now enjoying life with the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin.
NWSB Insider Dave B brings us another profile featuring Vancouver born Mike Santorelli. Santorelli, currently of the Florida Panthers, started off in the Vancouver Minor Hockey system and is now making his mark in the National Hockey League.
