Vancouver Canucks Deserve Better from the NHL in 2016
By David Joun
Reason #2: The Breeding Place of Polarizing Characters and Storylines
Just few days ago, you saw how crazy things can get when Vancouver snaps a dozen-game winning streak. Talk about things heating up. But that’s just a single game. Pfft. That’s nothing compared to other things that the Canucks have managed to conjure up in the past handful years.
Also just a couple of days ago, we saw the fates of two ex-Canucks crossing paths. The same very same hour when former Canuck first-round pick Cody Hodgson was put on waivers by the Nashville Predators, Zack Kassian was called up to the Edmonton Oilers. After being traded for each other under the Mike Gillis regime, the stars crossed paths once again. Talk about a plot twist involving these two ex-Vancouverites — one on the rise after restoration, the other on the fall after being hailed as one of the better first-round picks of the Gillis days.
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I know that they are one the same damn quackin’ team. They aren’t going up against each other.
But in the hearts of most, if not all Vancouver fans, the two stand at the polar opposites. They make great headlines for the league every time they play against the Canucks, because one is going to slew-feet Brandon Prust and try to become Brad Marchand No. 2, while the other is going to get a standing ovation and warm our heart with the ever-so-welcoming “Juice” presence.
Of course, one is inked to $42 million over the next six years that is being ranked as one of the worst contracts in the current league. Kevin Bieksa and Ryan Kesler, both former alternate captains for the Canucks, are going to stir up headlines each and every time they face their old team, and that is great for the league.
And I will definitely tune in when Kassian returns to Van-town. Toe-to-toe against the one he got traded for — Prust? Oh man. Got to watch.
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