Daniel Sedin

A day after Henrik Sedin admitted that their effort against the Florida Panthers “wasn’t good enough”, the Tampa Bay Lightning were able to hold the Sedin line to a single point, and a combined minus-four rating.  Not to worry, the Vancouver Canucks are getting contributions from secondary sources. Three games through a four-game road trip, the Canucks have two wins, thanks in large part to scoring from sources other than the Sedins and Alex Burrows.  Players such as Manny Malhotra, Mason Raymond, Mike Duco, and Cody Hodgsonhave been finding the back of the net.  One could hardly call the road [...]

Roberto Luongo got the start against the Calgary Flames after a poor goaltending performance against the Nashville Predators from both himself and Cory Schneider. Flames’ back up Henrik Karlsson also commenced in goal. Sunday night also embarked the long awaited return of Mason Raymond. Thankfully there were no paperwork errors this time. Mason Raymond received a cheer from the crowd when he first stepped on the ice. I was a bit surprised; I was expecting a bigger and loader standing ovation. He had to watch his team get shutout in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals and he could [...]

It was, no doubt, surprising to see Alex Burrows goal totals jump from 12 during the 2007/2008 season to 28 during the 2008/2009 season. Much of that success is due to playing on the wing with the Sedin twins and tapping in perfectly executed passes by the brothers. In seeing this experiment pan out, coach Alain Vigneault decided to keep Alex Burrows on the top line for the following two seasons in which the gritty winger scored 35 and 26 goals respectively.

What moves does a General Manager make during the offseason to a team that was one win away from the Stanley Cup?  Apparently, “minor tweaks” and “status quo” are the buzz words in Vancouver.  The following Forwards will be returning to play with the Vancouver Canucks next season:  Daniel Sedin ($6.1 M), Henrik Sedin ($6.1 M), Ryan Kesler ($5.0 M), Alex Burrows ($2.0 M), Mikael Samuelsson ($2.55 M), Mason Raymond ($2.5 M), Manny Malhotra ($2.5 M). The following Forwards are Unrestricted Free Agents, with the ability to sign with whomever they wish (2010/11 cap hit): Chris Higgins ($1.6 M), Raffi Torres ($1.0 M), [...]

One game remains before the light goes out on the 2011 season for the Vancouver Canucks, with one emotion left to be experienced.  That emotion will be strong, perhaps extreme. Rather than examine all of the forces that have gathered us to this point, perhaps one of the biggest storylines:  How will the city of Vancouver, the province and country for that matter, react to tonight’s pivotal outcome? The collective breaths of millions of fans was held during Game 6, knowing that hockey’s holy grail was ready for the taking Monday in Boston.  Buoyed by their home fans and a [...]

As Canucks fans continue to live in the here and now, digesting every morsel of Vancouver playoff hockey, it’s easy to forget the stepping stones that brought them this far.   So often in professional sports, media and critics either directly or indirectly raise the question: What have you done for me lately?  For the moment, let’s fail to adopt that mentality, and recall a former General Manager for the Vancouver Canucks, Brian Burke.  For that matter, let’s involve another, Dave Nonis.  While it’s impossible to say what would have evolved were they to stay longer, the results they produced [...]

With the Vancouver Canucks advancing to the Conference finals for the third time in franchise history, the debate is on: Who would they rather face, the Detroit Red Wings or San Jose Sharks? Of course, for the time being, the Canucks have the luxury of taking a well-earned ‘breather’ until either Saturday or Sunday.  They jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Monday night, guiding home a tight defensive effort to close the series.   Henrik Sedin spoke to the feeling of putting away a plucky Predators team, anchored by solid defense and goaltending. [...]

After infamously being dubbed “the best player to not yet score in the NHL playoffs”, Ryan Kesler scores twice in the Canucks 3-2 overtime win in Nashville. One year ago, during their playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings, Roberto Luongo was asked about the play of Ryan Kesler.  ”He’s a warrior.   That’s all you can call him, a warrior.”  Canucks fans hearts sagged after a disappointing loss in Vancouver in double overtime.  Much attention has been focused on the lack of offensive contributions from key Canuck sources, including (but not limited to) Henrik and Daniel Sedin, and Ryan [...]