Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames
Jordan Subban should not be in consideration for a position on the Canucks blue line this year. I had hoped he had improved on his defensive abilities but that isn’t the case yet. He makes too many wrong decisions and is often left hanging because of it.
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This was made obvious when Ryan Lomberg stripped him of the puck and went down the other way to put the Flames up 2-1. He’s great on the offensive and scored a pretty goal as he flew out of the penalty box but he is too much of a defensive liability to be in the Canucks lineup this year. Hopefully, with another year in Utica, he’ll be ready next year to crack the lineup.
Subban might not be ready for the NHL, but I’m convinced that Demko is ready for the pros. Demko made three or four highlight reel saves in this game and looked stellar throughout, stopping two penalty shots from Mark Jankowski and finishing with 23 saves in 40 minutes of action. With Jacob Markstrom away at the World Cup, Demko will get plenty of preseason action this year and I’m looking forward to watching him compete against some NHLers.
Furthermore, Yan-Pavel Laplante is a player I was really impressed with in this game. He had the “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” with a goal, an assist and a spirited fight against Ryan Lomberg, who just so happened to be mic’d up for this game.
Carcone came into this tournament as somewhat of an underdog and ended it with the best play of the tournament going end to end on a give and go with Cassels and going bar-down as the kids say for a very pretty goal, earning himself an invite to NHL camp in the process.