Can A Team Be Too Rested?

The Canucks look anything but Cup contenders through two games vs. the Blackhawks. More worrying that Roberto Luongo's .871 save percentage, which you know won't last, is that the three injured players from round one are all on life support.

Sami Salo has been terrific with two goals, including the third period winner in Game 1, but he's now hurt. And, as we all have seen, the Canuck D is only as good as Salo's health is.

Willie Mitchell (who looks like he's still wearing those weirdly tight jeans out there) as he is a -2 so far in the series and gives the Nux zip offensively anyway.

Mats Sundin is back and has 3 assists yet is a -3.

So did all this rest help these three players at all?

Game 3 and 5 will be the key to seeing where this series is headed and really given the shaky goaltending at both ends, the Nux main goal should be matching Chicago shot for shot. Being outshot 62-47 through the home games here on the Great Wet Coast was puzzling given the home ice advantage of being able to match lines. In the United Center's cauldron of noise (not scoreboard induced like here in Vancouver) coach Yogi Bear is going to also have to be better at getting the right matchups.

Add to this Duncan Keith (of the pointless rd. 1) has found his game with 3 pts and a +3 so far and the Blackhawks are riding a high.

Plus this article suggests maybe Dustin Byfuglien is having a greater impact on the series than we thought.

Let's hope the team Luongos brings them down from that high tonight with some inspired roadwork.

Foggy Days and Nights in Canuckland

The sky has been falling (literally as we've been fogged in the past few days) as well as the Canucks free falling in the standings.

The weird part is from Nov. 20 through Jan. 1 (the period when Roberto Luongo was injured), the Canucks managed to tread water with 10 wins and 10 losses. It's been this latest stretch of 1 win and 8 losses that coincided with the arrival of Mats Sundin (and you may agree with this assessment of the chance of Mats leading the Nux to the Promised Land) and the return of Roberto Luongo that has fans and media panicked.

Now, the hopeful part is Luongo played San Jose tough (sorry, but being outshot 29-14, the rest of the Canucks were MIA) last night (Jan. 20), but blew the game when yet again they could not tame Joe Thornton (the Canuck killer--13 GP 5G 21A as a Shark vs. the Nux) from setting up the tying goal with 40 seconds left and winning goal in OT.

The best plan of action is the Nux have to clone Joel Otto and then they'll have a chance in shutting down Mr. Thornton.

The truth is all playoff teams bar the elite go through these rough stretches every season. A good indicator as to whether any team is just plain lousy or if they are still working hard is the shot totals. In this nine-game stretch, the Canucks have been outshot (and none too badly other than the Sharks' game) in 5 of the 9 games with the Phoenix Coyotes game (Jan. 15) being a dead heat at 32-32 on shots.

The main problem during this stretch has been goaltending. I know Jason LaBarbera came in and was almost lights out but the first four games of this stretch is pretty indicative of his abilities with a save pct. of .903. That is not going to get you into the playoffs unless you have Nicklas Lidstrom leading a D that allows you to win Cups with a midget in net.

After LaBarbera's mini-meltdown giving up 6 goals vs. St. Louis, he was hideous vs. the NJ Devils being pulled after just 3:29 of the first period after giving up 2 goals on 6 shots including one where he got a great assist on a gola by Zach "don't call me J.P." Parise. Curtis Sanford relieves and pretty much copies the same blunder but settles down somewhat after that.

Then the captain returns and not a moment too soon...or maybe it was too soon. His save pct. in the three games he's played since is a less than stellar .853.

Give him his due, he's been out awhile but if the Canucks have to wait a month really until Mats Sundin is in game shape, Roberto Luongo better be ready to rock 'n' roll post-All-Star Game break.

Canucks Wing It In Overtime

The Canucks have sold out the Garage for six zillion straight games...or have they? So far this season there have been single seat sales for all but two games (the first Detroit visit Nov. 2 and, of course, the Make Beliefs' visit Nov. 15). Mainly this Coca-Cola half-price single seat policy that started, I believe, three years ago and would show up maybe six times a year has been expanded for '08/09.

Some kid rockin' a Wings tee

This, of course, meant Johnny Canucklehead and Franz Klammer (part-time ski hero and transplanted hockey fan) could snag a couple of ducats to see the Stanley Cup champions take on the Curtis Sanford. All of this for the price of $59.75 (including ticketmonster and Mats Sundin escrow account fees) is decent...not something I'd pay to watch Columbus or Minnesota but for the Cup champs, I'm there! So here's the view from the last row of the upper bowl right on the blueline (in case the NHL need me to do booth reviews on offside calls).

Starting off, there sure were a lot of GM employees at the game. I thought the company was in dire straits or maybe all the Steve Yzermans, Brendan Shanahans and Nick Libetts took advantage of the half-price sale to show up in their Wings jerseys. The Nux have finally dropped the dated U2 intro music but now opt for what sounds suspiciously like Vangelis's Chariots of Fire theme. Oh well guess we'll be hearing music from 2008 in all probability by 2038.

All of the trees and electricity that have been wasted on what a good game this was, don't believe the hype. Yes, this Canuck team looks like more of a "team" and kudos to Ryan Kesler and Kyle Wellwood for driving the net and creating chances but Pavol Demitra hit the net, please, and Willie Mitchell get rid of that stupid Martin St. Louis long stick you use.

The Wings looked so smooth and in control especially breaking out of their own end. So how did they lose? One intrepid reporter (Tony Gallagher) pointed out they missed Tomas Holmstrom sticking his big butt in the opposing goalie's face. That's probably it as Johan Franzen is more Holmstrom Lite. Given the Wings outshot Vancouver 34-16 through 60 minutes, a good screen or two and it'd have been game over.

Luckily, Daniel Sedin got a bit of a flukey bad hop goal over third base late and the locals woke up. The Nux owned the OT outshooting the Wings 8-0 and Sami Salo scored a beauty on a powerplay to win it. End of story.

Now I'm not sure if the fans razzing Detroit goalie Chris Osgood throughout the game helped but it can't have hurt. Even so, last I looked, Osgood was the starter on two Cup teams so . . . until Roberto Luongo brings the silver chalice home, I'll say Ozzie is not as bad as those long drifters from the past he's let in.

Finally, let's get to my fave timeworn topic--the fans. I thought moving up two price ranges I'd escape the yahoos but let's review. The wannabe gangsta (of course, a white boy with a cheesy Wendy Clark attempt at a 'stache) in front of me started the game off telling us in the row behind him to "get up." Then he attempted to start a "Let's Go Canucks" chant which as the game wore on became a "Let's Go Detroit" chant. I figure the two Detroit babes (and I use that term loosely) next to him convinced Mr. "One Beer And I'm Jello" to switch sides mid-game. Either that or he fell in love with Henrik Zetterberg's sweet Viking beard thinking he'd have a shot at a honey like Henrik's wife, Emma Andersson.

The older couple in Luongo jerseys in my row said nary a peep all game mistaking the Garage for the old days of the Pacific Mausoleum. Glad you could join us.

Then the piece de resistance, an in-game interview with former Nux captain (and recipient of a broken jaw in the '70s courtesy Keith Magnuson) Chris Oddleifson was interviewed on the big screen. This prompted the neighborly stock broker (see, the economic crisis is real if he is sitting in the last row of the upper bowl) next to me to pipe up and say that Chrissy Boy was his fave Canuck. I guess Bryan McSheffrey was taken. He also thought Oddleifson was #6. Dennis Kearns to that, says #14!

Those, my friends, are your Canuck fans. Unless the scoreboard tells them to "Make Some Noise," many of them do become confused by my yelling and screaming at the Sedins to shoot the freakin' puck and enough with the Tour de France. Then again here's comes the Wave--woooo!

Does Gillis Have Too Many Enemies Out There?

To those who may not have read the Mike Gillis excerpt from Bruce Dowbiggin's book on the world of NHL player agents, it's a great inside look into Gillis's life before the Canuck job.



A few things do stand out:
--Gillis apparently orchestrated Pavel Bure's departure from Vancouver to Florida.
--He's obviously made a few enemies of GMs who are still working in the NHL, but
I guess that goes with the agent's territory.
--Although he orchestrated monster deals for many of his clients, he is a frugal guy
for better or worse.

Take all these together and draw your own conclusions. All I know is offering $10
million per year to any player this side of 35, let alone turning 38 in early '09, is
clearly a huge risk. Even so, we all know Mats Sundin is not coming here to improve
his Cup chances unless you believe all you need is a New Jersey West system to beat
the Red Wings or the Ducks for the Western crown.