NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
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 and Vancouver Canucks writer Josh Hall is back with his top 5 first round picks for the Vancouver Canucks at the upcoming draft in just 12 days. Will Mike Gillis focus on defense, forwards or the between the pipes. Josh gives suggestions for all of those but perhaps the brightest one in number 4. Slater Koekkoek, Erik Karlsson, Franky Palazzese to name a few. Have a read.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges says It’s do or die time for your Canucks and this is the moment when heroes are born. With this mind, let’s look at five Canucks who need to step it up and leave it all on the ice. Sami Salo, David Booth, Alex Edler, Zack Kassian and Chris Higgins you are in our crosshairs. Don’t let us down. Go Canucks Go.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger C-Mac tells us In a sea full of negative player ratings for the Canucks against LA, Keith Ballard has maintained an even zero rating following their first win. Ballard’s stop/start year looked to have cemented another disappointing run with Vancouver. It’s turned around for him.
NWSB insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger C-Mac says for all his amazing talents Alex Edler sometimes plays the game, like the old adage goes, as a million dollar player with a 10 cent head. His two egregious puck handling errors, one in each game in these playoffs against the LA Kings, have cost the team in goals against at the most crucial of times. Chris Tanev, Dan Hamhuis, Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts are shaking their heads.
C-Mac chimes in with his version of a playoff preview for the Vancouver Canucks and tells us which lessons the Canucks hopefully learned from last year’s successful failure, if you will. Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider have to be utilised well but how about the 3rd line? Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen and Samme Pahlsson have been playing balls out but can they keep it up and when does Coach Vee shake it up?
Ho hum! When the Vancouver Canucks wrapped up the Northwest division title last week, hardly anybody cared. Some had bigger goals in mind while others dismissed the Canucks winning the worst division in hockey as an accomplishment akin to walking down the block without tripping and falling on your face. Still, it’s an accomplishment that highlights [...]
Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges Love Em Hate Em hockey blog. He recaps and rewinds the win on Wednesday night over the Colorado Avalanche. Despite what Henrik Sedin says, the nice thing about winning by three or four is that you win comfortably and it can’t backfire. Just ask Mark Oliver who was on the receiving end of a beatdown by David Booth in Booth’s second career fight.
NWSB Insider and Vancouver Canucks blogger C-Mac weighs in with on the emergence of young defenseman Chris Tanev. He points out his stats are meagre on the offensive end with only two assists in 18 games but Tanev’s game is one where he needs to be watched daily to truly appreciate the sense of calm, thoughtfulness, and perception he brings to his positional play.
Our man Kevin V. is back with another edition of the Vancouver Canucks Notebook. The trade deadline has passed and what a shocking day it was. Though not as much if you really thought Mike Gillis could pull off the Cody Hodgson for Zack Kassian trade. Marc-Andre Gragnani also comes Vancouver’s way from Buffalo and he’ll start tonight versus the St. Louis Blues, in for Chris Tanev.
Vancouver Canucks blogger Richard Hodges Love Em Hate Em Canucks hockey blog. He recaps and rewinds the win on Friday night against the New Jersey Devils. Somehow, ex-Canucks forward Steve Bernier is on the New Jersey Devils even though he was pretty sure he didn’t exist anymore. The secret weapon for the Vancouver Canucks was Cory Schneider, relatively rested.
Canucks insider Kevin Vanstone breaks down the Game 62 matchup between the Vancouver Canucks and the New Jersey Devils. The Canucks won the game 2-1. Aaron Rome opened the scoring at 8:44 of the first period after cleaning up a loose puck following fellow defenseman Chris Tanev’s shot. Cory Schneider came up with several sensational stops against the Devils, outplaying Martin Brodeur.
