SB Nation - Mikael Samuelsson

Kings Of The West Pay The Canucks A Visit

Sean Zandberg — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:20:21 -0000

KINGS (21-10-3) at CANUCKS (18-14-0)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Sportsnet

THE OPPOSITION: Battle Of California

UPDATE (5:00 PM): Wellwood on being a scratch:

"There are some workhorses in here that somehow are battling every shift, every day, and you notice it in their personalities off the ice, that's for sure," Wellwood said. "That doesn't seem to be my strength.

"That's the challenge for me … I am laid back and when I get frustrated I can pull back instead of, you know, pushing forward.

"Obviously that can get me into trouble sometimes." -The Province.

Ugh. Woody can't compete at a consistent level and needs tough love to force him to do so. Hate to say it, but this will never change, unless, you know, he gets a lobotomy.

UPDATE (1:46 PM): Bieksa on the Kings: "We're looking to keep the score down, we're not looking to run and gun with them and if we key on their top guys we should be successful." - Vancouver Sun

UPDATE (12:47 PM): Tweeted by CTV Sports: Kyle Wellwood says he is playing tonight. Alain Vigneault says Woody is a game-time decision. No love. Nope. No love.

UPDATE (11:02 AM): The Canucks have recalled Aaron Rome today. He finished a 7-games conditioning stint and scored 6 goals and 7 points for the Moose. I like this guy. He should slot in over Mathieu Schneider, IMO.

UPDATE (10:53 AM): Dan's the man! Daniel Sedin has been named the NHL's 2nd star of the week. Kings' Jon Quick was the first star.

Funny piece in the Sun today about how Alain Vigneault can finally tell the Sedin twins apart. When asked how he could he said:

"I wouldn't know." All I know is I can finally tell them apart and I can't figure out how come it took me four years. For me, right now, they don't even look alike."

********************

If somebody would have told me back in late September that the Los Angeles Kings would be perched on top of the Western Conference standings 34 games in I would have asked them what kind of pot they were smoking. But that is what is happening. The Kings are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games played. The last time they lost in regulation was on November 26 against the...Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks also

beat the Kings 2-1 in a shootout on October 29. ~~Roberto Luongo~~ Andrew Raycroft was solid in that game and Mikael Samuelsson scored the tying goal in regulation and the winning goal in the shootout.

Oh, Samuelsson, where have you gone? He had 14 points in his first 16 games as a Canuck, but only 7 points in his last 16 games played.

We were warned that he was inconsistent. Now we are seeing it first-hand.

The Canucks are off to a flying 2-0 start on their long homestand. They stopped the red-hot Wild in their tracks on Saturday, but this will be the first time in 3 games they face a rested team who has not played back-to-back. Jonathan Quick is smokin' right now. As Canucks.com puts it: he is 7-1-1 with a 2.15 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in his last nine starts for the Kings.

The Kings will be without Wayne Simmonds for a while as he suffered a lower body injury against the Stars last game. RudyKelly at Battle of California called Simmonds the Kings best player over the past 2 weeks. This brings joy to my heart. He has 9 goals and 20 points in 33 games this season, nearly matching his total of all last season.

Look down the Kings' scoring leaders though. There are plenty of guys who can put up points.

I wouldn't think that Alain Vigneault would change the lineup, but I, like many of you, am wondering why he is playing Darcy Hordichuk for only 4 or less minutes per game. Why not fill that spot with someone else (and no, not Wellwood)?

COMPARATIVE STATS

GOALS PER GAME AVERAGE: Canucks 4th, Kings 6th

GOALS AGAINST PER GAME : Canucks 9th, Kings 21st

5 ON 5: Canucks 3rd, Kings 16th

POWER PLAY: Canucks 2nd, Kings 11th

PK: Canucks 27th, Kings 28th. WTF??

SHOTS PER GAME: Canucks 12th, Kings 22nd

SHOTS AGAINST PER GAME: Kings 4th, Canucks 10th

FACEOFF WINS %: Canucks 11th, Kings 21st

If you are scoreboard watching tonight: The Red Wings play the Coyotes at home tonight. If the Wings win they bump Dallas out of 8th spot. If they lose in OT and the Canucks win, there will be a 3-way tie for 8th with Dallas having played one less game. I want to see a Wings loss in regulation and a Canucks victory to tie us with Dallas. Piss off Bertuzzi!

Kesler Hits "Rock Bottom"

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:33:05 -0000

After the 5-3 loss to Carolina Ryan Kesler told the media:

"When the team loses and you're looked for to provide offence and you're not able to, that makes this loss even tougher for myself," said Kesler, who instantly knew it's been 14 games since he last scored. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't (frustrated). "I think this is rock bottom for me." It's only up from here." I'll keep staying positive and I'll get out of this slump."

Despite his 14-game goal-scoring slump, Kesler still has 5 goals and 20 assists in 29 games, 79 shots on goal and a -1 rating. His 20 assists rank him 17th overall in the NHL. It is fair for him to be a bit hard on himself, but there are others who should perhaps be a little more critical of themselves. Regardless, in his first 10 games of the season, he scored 3 goals and 5 assists. In the next 10 games he registered 1 goal and 8 assists. In his last 10 games he has no goals and 8 assists. While I can understand his desire to score goals, at least he is putting up assists

and decent point totals.

I hate seeing him nearly crucify himself in front of the media when guys like Mikael Samuelsson ( 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 10 games played), Kyle Wellwood (2 goals and 4 assists in his last 10), Steve Bernier (4 goals and 3 assists in his last 10) or Mason Raymond (2 goals and 6 assists in his last 10) are not doing the same. I know it's a contract year for Kesler, but he's not that much worse than several others.

Hang in there, Keslord, you'll bag one soon. Until then, keep up your great efforts.

Vancouver Canucks 2010 Olympic Preview

Yankee Canuck — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:26:58 -0000

Let's flip a coin. [Tenders Lounge]

View full size photo »

We already one great post at Olympic hopefuls for Vancouver but, as you may have seen, the SB Nation Hockey group has been running a series of previews as well, so Sean and I have to run one more least the higher-ups flog us.

We disagree on some of these too but that's the fun part. Here's our take on the Vancouver Canucks who - for the first time ever? - have the easy commute.

Pack Your Bags & Walk To Work

Roberto Luongo

#1 / Goalie / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 205

Born: Apr 04, 1979

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Roberto Luongo	20	1124	10	9			48	2.56	531	483	.910	1

Roberto Luongo (Canada) - Let's get the big one out of the way. The meltdown that was the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino left a bad taste in Lui's mouth. Everyone knows he's been eying these winter games in his own city like a fat kid froths at a cake from 100 yards off. Let the haters hate on him, but he's a lock and we all know it. But the starter? Probably not. Brodeur is still the pony to bet on and his November numbers were ridiculous (8-2-1, 1.67 GAA, .939 S%). Expect Luongo to pass Fleury and be Canada's #2 man between the pipes.

Daniel Sedin

#22 / Left Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Daniel Sedin	8	1	6	7	3	4	0	0	1	0	30	3.3

Daniel Sedin (Sweden) - I don't think any other team can offer what Vancouver offers Sweden: an entire scoring line. Daniel had four points in eight games in 2006. And unlike in Vancouver, Daniel won't necessarily have to shoulder the offensive load with guys like Alfredsson, Backstrom, Eriksson, Zetterberg and Holstrom around. And I didn't even have to mention that Forsberg character either.

Henrik Sedin

#33 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 190

Born: Sep 26, 1980

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Sedin	26	14	14	28	5	18	3	1	3	0	57	24.6

Henrik Sedin (Sweden) - Yeah, see above. Same deal with points from 2006. Creepy.

Mikael Samuelsson

#26 / Right Wing / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 213

Born: Dec 23, 1976

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Mikael Samuelsson (Sweden) - What does Sammy offer? Prior Olympic experience? You betcha: in 2006 he added four points in eight games for team Sweden. Stanley Cup experience? Check. Can sort of tell the Sedins apart? The jury's probably out on that one.

Sami Salo

#6 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 215

Born: Sep 02, 1974

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Sami Salo	19	0	2	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	30	0.0

Sami Salo (Finland) - Great grandma's fragile chinaset Batman...the last thing poor Sami needs is MORE icetime. Finland's blueline isn't too deep as far as the NHL goes (only Timonen, Pitkanen and Koistinen spring to mind) and they can always elect to raid the European elite leagues or the KHL for replacements (Ossi Vaananen!!!). Salo has played in 10 Olympic games and has scored one goal and added three helpers.

Christian Ehrhoff

#5 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 06, 1982

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Christian Ehrhoff	28	6	11	17	9	10	3	0	0	0	59	10.2

Christian Ehrhoff (Germany) - Blastoff is one of the few shining stars for Team Germany. This will actually be his third appearance in international play: he was the second youngest player back in 2002 and had two points in five games back in 2006. He'll join Schuber and Seidenberg on the blueline and get a truck load of work since Germany is, well, awful (they haven't finished higher than sixth in damn near 20 years).

Nearly A Lock

Ryan Kesler

#17 / Center / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Aug 31, 1984

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ryan Kesler	28	5	21	26	2	28	2	0	1	0	72	6.9

Ryan Kesler (USA) - Sean disagrees with me and I can certainly see why. However he wasn't a lock when the roster was first looked at this summer. He needed to go into camp, gel with the linemates and prove his worth. He's had a strong season so far and, though guys like Kane and Parise have past him on the scoresheet, Kesler has more points than both Brown and Backes so chances are he'll make it. He better too since he already went ahead and guaranteed a medal.

Work To Do

Pavol Demitra

#38 / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-0

Weight: 200

Born: Nov 29, 1974

Pavol Demitra (Slovakia) - I'm sure Demo would like nothing more than to join Hossa, Gaborik and Chara representing Slovakia, but obviously he has to be able to play first. It's probable he could be replaced by someone like Nagy or Satan if he can't make it. And, even then, I'm curious how Vancouver would feel letting him go play for the Olympics when he has yet to skate for the team. Demo clearly has the most work to do of all the current roster players.

Alexander Edler

#23 / Defenseman / Vancouver Canucks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 220

Born: Apr 21, 1986

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Alexander Edler	28	3	19	22	2	12	1	0	0	0	51	5.9

Alexander Edler (Sweden) - Edler's slow start coupled with a deep Swedish blueline (Lidstrom, Ericsson, Ohlund, Kronwall and maybe Hedman) probably nixes him from consideration.

Introducing Your New-found Road Warriors: The Vancouver Canucks

Sean Zandberg — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:03:57 -0000

Wow. That is nearly all I can say about this Canucks team. They defied the odds against a well-rested Flyers squad tonight and soundly beat them 3-0 in their own harsh building, leaving Philly with a chorus of boo's as they left the ice. I thought the Canucks looked somewhat sluggish after the first period, but they seemed to gain momentum as the game went on. That was not exactly indicative of a team who was playing the 2nd game in as many nights on the road. Vancouver killed more penalties than the Flyers did, and in the end scored NO powerplay goals but bettered the Flyers 5 on 5 to take this one.

The Flyers are a struggling team that isn't getting any breaks. Hell, how many times did they hit the post or not convert on one-timers in this game? Too many to count. In the end, the Canucks got the game-winning goal from an unlikely source: Willie Mitchell. "Kind of get scared when he wanders off near the other team's net," Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo said with a laugh. "You never know what could happen."

No shit. Luongo was solid in net but the Canucks limited the quality scoring chances against. Where they faltered, Lou was there to stone a helpless Flyers team.

Final shots: Flyers 38 Canucks 29.

Jannik Hansen was promoted to the second line, while Mikael Samuelsson was demoted to the 3rd line to start the game but did not produce. That is unfortunate.

In consecutive nights, the Canucks made the highly touted (or, currently hot goalie) look human. Brian Boucher allowed 3 goals for the first time since October 25th.

The Canucks' top line of Burrows and the Twins combined for 1 goal and 3 assists. So, it really is good having Dank back in the lineup. Burrows is lighting it up since his return no doubt.

Don't look now! The Canucks have won 5 of their last 7 games, including 3 straight wins on the road. I believe they are now 6-8 over all on the road. It just keeps getting better and better. Look at the Western Conference standings. Woo!

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

My 3 Stars:

1. Roberto Luongo

2. Henrik Sedin

3. Kevin Bieksa

OK, Canucks fans...are you stoked yet? I have a few questions for you:

- would you leave the current forward lines intact as they are? Does Hansen get another chance on line 2?

- how do you rate Shane O'Brien's play over the last 2 games? Has he earned another game in a Canucks uni over Mathieu Schneider?

- Raycroft is probably going to play against the Canes on Saturday. How much faith do you have in him and the teams' ability to play in front of him?

My answers:

- YES I AM STOKED. I would leave the current forward lines as is. Shane OB has looked just fine to me. I would leave him in the lineup and old man Schneider can sit. He has earned it. No minor penalties for him?? Nice!

- I have already said that if the Canucks beat the Flyers that they would lose to Carolina on Saturday. I will stand by that. Faith-less aren't I?

How Will the Olympics Affect the Canucks?

nucksandpucks — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:55:13 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Soon to be enemies...

Browse more photos »

It's less than three months until the 2010 Olympics kickoff, and speculation is rampant about the makeup of the Canadian and other national teams. It appears that a number of Canucks will skate on "home" ice in February, as a few players are likely to make their respective national teams. After the jump I give a rundown of what Canucks we can expect to see skating on GM Place ice during the Olympics, and raise some questions about the impact this might have on the latter part of the season.

Canada

Locks: Roberto Luongo

Other possibilities: none (sorry Kyle Wellwood)

United States

Locks: Ryan Kesler

Other possibilities: Mathieu Schneider (a dark horse, but maybe a PP specialist)

Sweden

Locks: Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alexander Edler

Other possibilities: Mikael Samuelsson

Russia

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Sergei Shirokov? Okay, maybe not.

Finland

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Sami Salo (If he's healthy he should be on the team)

Germany

Locks: Christian Ehrhoff

Other possibilities: none

Slovakia

Locks: none

Other possibilities: Pavol Demitra (if he's healthy); Mario Bliznak (I don't know what Slovakia's depth is like, but hopefully they don't need to dip too far into the AHL ranks to ice a team)

If Only They'd Qualified

Locks: Michael Grabner (Austria); Jannik Hansen (Denmark)

So the Canucks could have up to 10 regulars playing in the Olympics. While it will be awesome to see our boys putting it on the line for their country, how will the team fare coming out of the Olympic break? The Sedins, Kesler and Luongo will all potentially be fatigued. Who will step up for Vancouver? We'll need Raycroft to shoulder a bigger burden, which he has demonstrated the ability to do. Secondary scorers like Alex Burrows, Mason Raymond, Kevin Bieksa and Steve Bernier will need to step up. Wellwood will have spent two weeks laying by the pool, so he should be good to... oh, wait, never mind.

It will be an interesting time for the Canucks, as it will for other teams with significant international contingents. Throw in Canucks' epic pre- and post-Olympic road trip, which will rival the journeys of Odysseus, and the new year looks like a giant wildcard for Vancouver. How do you think the Canucks will respond? Will the Olympics help us? Hurt us? Make no difference? Hopefully one of our boys can pull the rare Olympic Gold and Stanley Cup feat in 2010. I'm looking at you, Luongo.

Back-To-Back Is Back! Canucks-Kings Preview

Sean Zandberg — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:15:09 -0000

We know who the real kings are.

View full size photo »

Kings (13-9-2, 6th in West) vs Canucks (12-11-0, 11th in West)

GAME TIME: 7:00 PST

TV: Canucks PPV

The Enemy: Battle of California

UPDATE (2:13 PM): Rick Rypien has a sore hand because Ben Eager's ugly face hit it last game. If he isn't good to go, Darcy Hordichuk will take his spot tonight.

UPDATE (12:00 AM): Sami Salo's ice-time has been reduced lately, but he's not giving up. You may be surprised at what else he has to say.

***********************

"They played a real slow-the-game," Murray said, "five guys back at their own blue line kind of a game, and took a lot of the emotion and speed out of the game. That was a good strategy by them. It was a good plan."

That is what Kings coach Terry Murray said of the Canucks' play the last time these 2 teams faced eachother in late October, where the Canucks won 2-1 in a shootout. Vancouver shut down the Kings' top line and limited L.A.'s prime scoring opportunities. Andrew Raycroft stopped 30 of 31 shots and was the first star of the game. Mikael Samuelsson scored the tying goal and the winning goal in the shootout.

Once again, the Canucks get to play a team that is playing in a back-to-back scenario, and Vancouver is coming off an extended layoff. This really has to play a role in the outcome of this game. There is no reason for the Canucks not to maintain a strong consistent effort against the Kings. The Kings beat

the Oilers 3-1 last night after a 4-day layoff. Their top line (Kopitar-Williams-Brown) was kept off the scoresheet, but guys like Frolov and Simmonds responded. Anze Kopitar played over 23:00 in that game, second only to Jack Jerkson, I mean Johnson.

I read somewhere that after the Kings lost to Flames on Saturday, the Kings had played 24 games in 50 days, and that was the second-most grueling schedule in the NHL this season behind San Jose. Cry me a river. The Canucks have played 23 games in 52 days. STFU. That being said...

Now that the long layoffs are over the Canucks will play 6 games in the next 10 nights and 14 games in the next 27 nights. They will play back-to-back games 3 times between now and January 2nd. The longest layoff will be a 4-day rest at Xmas time. Perfect! We'll be too busy shoving turkey and salad down our throats and putting up with family to care! Yeah, there is going to be a lot of Canucks hockey from now until the Olympic Break. Ole!

No Ryan Smyth in the Kings' lineup tonight and that is a good thing, as he not only is a smaller, feistier version of Dustin Byfuglyen, he also had 24 points in 23 games in the Kings' top line.The Kings are now 1-2 without him.

A bit more about the Kings:

-they are Alyssa Milano's favorite hockey team. Yeah, she told me that on Twitter, yes I'm bragging. Damn she has bad taste.

-the Kings rank just a bit higher than the Canucks in goals per game.

-they allow more goals per game than we do. (rank 25th...are you listening Wellwood?)

-the Canucks are better than the Kings at even strength.

-Vancouver ranks better than the Kings on the powerplay.

-the Kings and Canucks both suck at killing penalties, with Vancouver holding a slight advantage.

-L.A. averages less shots per game than we do.

-The Kings and Canucks both allow a lot of shots per game on average, both in the bottom 10 in the category with the Kings being worse.

-The Kings lick in the faceoff category, where the Canucks don't.

Keep an eye out for updates at the top of this post as game time draws near. Let's see if Bolduc replaces Wellwood or not. You never know. That noose is getting tight around Woody's neck right now.

Are the Kings going to rest Jon Quick and play Erik Ersberg in a back-to-back scenario? Let's hope so!

See? There is no reason why we can't hand these guys their asses tonight. No excuses at all.

Don't forget to add your score prediction in the comments thread. 1 point for guessing the right score, 1 point for guessing the right team, and 1 point for guessing who scores the game winner. Not as easy as it sounds. After 2 games nobody has a single point yet! Somewhere Nostradamus is rolling in his grave.

Canucks-Red Wings Preview

Sean Zandberg — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:46:39 -0000

"ATTACK!"

Canucks (10-9-0)

Red Wings: (8-5-3)

GAME TIME: 4:30 PM PST

TV: Canucks PPV

THE ENEMY: Winging It In Motown

UPDATE: 3:22 PM: I forgot to mention that Mathieu Schneider is in and O'Brien is out. C'mon Schneider! Burn your old team! Do it!

UPDATE: 11:12 AM: We told you the top 2 lines, and now the bottom 2 lines:

Glass-Johnson-Bernier

Pettinger-Rypien Hansen

UPDATE: 11:05 AM PST: Chris Osgood and Kirk Maltby are ill and will not play tonight. The newest Wing, Drew Miller, who was plucked off the waiver wire by Detroit earlier this week, will play. Jimmy Howard, who has a 2-2-1 record and a .893 save percentage, will start in goal.

**********************

Detroit had a few days to think about their 5-1 loss to the lowly Leafs on November 7. On Wednesday they took all that aggression out on Steve Mason and the Blue Jackets, destroying them 9-1. Concerning if you are a Canucks fan who just watched Vancouver lay a rotten egg in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Niklas Kronwall scored 2 goal and 1 assist in the win. Justin Abdelkader scored twice. Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi, Daniel Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg all had 2 points each. Despite the loss to the Leafs, the Wings have won 4 of their last 5. They now return home, where they have a stellar record of 5-1-1. The Canucks, as Mike pointed out in terrific, terrifying and in-depth fashion below, are lousy on the road with a 3-7 record. They have not found a consistency in their game at all away from GM Place. Slow starts are killing them.

On October 27, the Wingnuts beat the Canucks 5-4 in Vancouver. It was a great game despite the loss, from an entertainment perspective. AV's boys blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads. They were outshot 42-26. Generally, the Canucks 'get up' for games against Detroit, and we should see a much better effort from them tonight.

Roberto Luongo returns! Let's see if he has any rust on him after missing several games with a rib injury. The biggest factor is the team. They have a style of play that works. Now they have to, to a man, go out there and play that game.

We'll keep you updated on any roster adjustments. It looks like Darcy Hordichuk will serve his 1-game suspension tonight, even though he feels he is innocent, saying Cam Janssen dropped the gloves first. We could very well see Jannik Hansen make his regular season debut tonight.

The Province reported yesterday that AV was employing the following top 2 lines in practice:

Mason Raymond-Henrik Sedin-Ryan Kesler

Alex Burrows-Kyle Wellwood-Mikael Samuelsson

Burrows and Wellwood are being given a chance to shake their offensive futility. They had better get it going and quick.

Datsyuk: "I gotta...I gotta stop and go to the bathroom!"

Zetterberg: "Just go, man!"

FUN WITH MATH! (Not really, though...)

mpetrella — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:37:29 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

2 months ago: Carolina Hurricanes' Scott Walker (24) is congratulated by Joe Corvo (77) and Tim Gleason (6) after Walkers' goal as Atlanta Thrashers goalie Manny Legace (29) falls to the ice at right during the first period of an NHL preseason hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Browse more photos »

Yesterday, Manny Legace signed a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, and will become the 17th former Red Wing (or Red Wing draft pick) to play for another NHL team this season.

The Canes are one of three teams to have TWO former Red Wings (Legace and Ray Whitney). The others are Chicago (Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa) and Vancouver (Mikael Samuelsson and Mathieu Schneider).

On the other hand, the Red Wings have two former players from each of the following teams:
ANAHEIM (Todd Bertuzzi and Brad May)
CALGARY (Bertuzzi and Brad Stuart)
CHICAGO (Dan Cleary and Jason Williams)
EDMONTON (Cleary and Kirk Maltby)
FLORIDA ( Bertuzzi and Andreas Lilja)
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (Bertuzzi and Chris Osgood)
PHOENIX (Cleary and May)
VANCOUVER (Bertuzzi and May)

The current Red Wings have played for all but FOUR teams. No current member of the squad has played for the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, or Washington Capitals. (Sort of... Doug Janik played for the Stars, Canadiens, and Lightning. Andy Delmore played for the Predators and Flyers. Otherwise, these teams are not represented, either).

The Red Wings have lost 43 man-games to injury. At this point last season, the Wings had lost 34 man-games to injury.

Nicklas Lidstrom leads the team with a +8 rating. Interestingly, his partner, Brian Rafalski, is -1. Funny how that works... Dan Cleary is the low plus/minus man at -7.

Brad Stuart leads the team with 2.9 hits per game. Justin Abdelkader (2.7), Brad May (2.6), Darren Helm (2.4), and Patrick Eaves (2.1) follow. Johan Franzen was averaging 3.7 hits before his knee injury. Ville Leino is at the bottom of this list, averaging 0.21 hits per game.

Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Steve Yzerman became the 7th, 8th, and 9th Red Wings to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this decade. The others are Igor Larionov (08), Paul Coffey (04), Larry Murphy (04), Mike Ilitch (03), Bernie Federko ('memba him?! 02), and Viacheslav Fetisov (01).

And now, onto the Fake Awards Updates:

GOODFELLAS AWARD
Darren Helm
Patrick Eaves
*named by Winging it in Motown's Mr. Norris Trophy, given to the Final Red Wing to be penalized this season. Award will be renamed in honor of one of these two gentlemen, whoever is the last man standing*

LAST RED WING TO SCORE A GOAL (name under advisement...feel free to suggest a name)
Brad May
Derek Meech

MIKAEL SAMUELSSON AWARD
1. Henrik Zetterberg (17)
2. Todd Bertuzzi (15)
3. Jason Williams (14)
4. Ville Leino (13)
5. Tomas Holmstrom (12)

*Given at the year’s end to the Red Wing forward with the most shots to miss the net*

DEREK MEECH AWARD:
1. Derek Meech (10)
2. Patrick Eaves (6)
3. Brad May (4)
4. Brett Lebda (3)
T5. Kirk Maltby (2)
T5. Justin Abdelkader (2)
*Give at the year's end to the Red Wing with the most games spent in the press box*

GREG STEFAN AWARD:
1. Jimmy Howard (1-2-1, 3.42 GAA, .879sv%)
2. Chris Osgood (6-3-2, 2.77 GAA, .902sv%)
*Give to the Red Wings goaltender that makes you question how they're in the NHL and you aren't*

CHRIS CHELIOS AWARD:
T1. Brad Stuart (1 goal, 15 games)
T1. Nicklas Lidstrom (1 goal, 15 games)
3. Brian Rafalski (1 goal, 14 games)
4. Brett Lebda (1 goal, 12 games)
5. Niklas Kronwall (2 goals, 15 games)
NOT QUALIFIED: Derek Meech (0 goals, 5 games)
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings defenseman with the fewest goals scored in the most games played (at least 3/4 of team games played)*

DAN CLEARY "SACRAFICE YOUR FACE" AWARD:
1. Dan Cleary (9). Surprise, surprise
2. Pavel Datsyuk (7)
T3. Todd Bertuzzi (6)
T3. Henrik Zetterberg (6)
T5. Justin Abdelkader (5)
T5. Valtteri Filppula (5)
T5. Darren Helm (5)
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most blocked shots*

Canucks Stay Defensive Course and Beat Rangers 4-1

Sean Zandberg — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:23:44 -0000

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Ref caught in middle of mosh pit: "A little help here!"

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I'll try keep this brief as most of you saw what happened. If you missed the game...well you missed a beauty. There was so much talk about Marian Gaborik pregame and now it's all about Ryan Kesler, Mikael Samuelsson and Andrew Raycroft. Kesler is looking like a modern-day Trevor Linden of sorts, with 3 assists and playing a huge game. He's carrying the team. Word was that Samuelsson was feeling the pressure to score more prior to the game and he responded with 2 goals. He's good in front of the opposing goal. Both tallies came from in close.

Raycroft is turning into quite a story. He made some great saves tonight. He has played in 6 games for the Canucks and started 4 of them (3-1-0).

-He leads the NHL in goals against average with a bright and shiny 1.52

-He is second in save percentage with a .937

Tonight he made some decent saves, yes, but let's call a spade a spade here. Raycroft has been solid. He has not had to be great. The teams' play in front of him has been terrific, limiting odd man rushes and quality chances against. Gaborik, who can take over a game on his own,

played over 22:00 tonight, had ZERO points, 1 shot, and was a -1. If that is not a testament to the Canucks' defence then what is? Frustrations mounted in the 3rd as Kesler gave Gaborik a whack with his stick and melee ensued. Kesler and the Canucks, the injury-riddled Canucks, destroyed the Rangers and it was a beautiful sight.

It could have gone either way until some point in the 3rd. Kesler's disallowed "kick in" goal could have been deflating. Chis Higgins' tying goal 6:24 in the 3rd could have spelled doom. But the Canucks kept pressing. About 2.5 minutes later, Ryan Kesler charges into the Rangers' zone to chase a dump-in, draws about 3 Rangers to him and then feathers a beauty pass to Rick Rypien who roofed the puck over the dethroned King Henrik Lundqvist. Geez Ripper, with hands like that how come you don't score more? From there the Canucks scored a powerplay goal and an empty netter to seal the damned deal.

Guess I couldn't keep this brief after all. It's so bloody exciting watching this team spit in the face of adversity and pull out these wins. Yes folks, defence does win. So does a tenacious forecheck and a backup goalie who is playing solid.

Kevin Bieksa on the wing...not bad. Not bad at all.

BOXSCORE

HIGHLIGHTS

QUOTED: "I got jumped and somehow we were on the penalty-kill," Ryan Kesler said. "He (Marian Gaborik) cross-checked me, so I gave him a little shot and the next thing you know I have got six guys on top of me."

Hold on a sec, let me get out my magic Howie Meeker pen.......

Haha! Woo! Canucks win!

Rangers Recap: Canucks 4, Rangers 1: What the French Just Happened?

Rob Luker — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:31:34 -0000

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I'll take that.

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So much more actually went on in this game than I might relay over the next ten minutes you're reading this; but I'll do my best to cover this latest tango between the last team we beat in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The game started out reasonably ok with end to end action and a crossbar shot by Ales Kotalik that had Ranger fans believing the club would find the back of the net soon. But, as they failed to take their momentum onto the scoreboard, the Canucks eventually woke up and took over the second half of the first period. This eventually led to a goal being scored by Mikael Samuelsson which was assisted by Ryan Kesler to put the Canucks up one going into the second period.

The second period started out the same way as the last two games for the Rangers, in the fact that they actually decided to play to their potential. The Blueshirts outshot the Canucks 14 to 8 in the period that saw them level the game at one going into the third. The Rangers made their statement about six and a half minutes in when Brandon Dubinsky saucered a pass to a somehow open Christopher Higgins right in front of the net who snapped the pass through Andrew Raycrofts five-hold to tie the game (Late night/Labatt Blue's must have gotten to me as this actually occured in the third period). The Rangers could have had the lead going into the third when Shane O'Brien got four minutes for high-sticking Ryan Callahan. The Power-Play was above-average, and in the end set the game up for an interesting third period.

At this point of the re-cap, I want to state that I am going to just repeat what I saw, and leave my opinion to a rant which will come at a later date. The Canucks played great team defense when it came to Marion Gaborik tonight. They crowded him and cut off his shooting lanes, which is very frustrating as a forward. Kevin Bieska and Gaborik were battling all night, and Bieska got Gaborik pretty good one time. Gaborik went back at Bieska as best he could, but in the end received more of the same from the Canuck blueliner. This led to a line-change where Ryan Kesler found himself surrounded by Gaborik and three other Rangers, who had no intentions of asking him for an autograph. Tempers like you don't see that much nowadays were evident, to the point where Sean Avery ripped the stick out of a Canucks hand while both players were on their respective benches. But back to the boring hockey. The Rangers end up with a Power-Play out of all of this, where Christopher Higgins tied the game at one on a one timer from right in front of the net. The Rangers then get caught puck-watching Ryan Kesler skate circles around their zone while Rick Rypien snuck in back-door to put the Canucks up 2-1. Voros takes a penalty, Rozival puts the cherry on top, and the Vancouver Canucks grab the game by the neck with the spirit of the 18,630 at GM place to finish off the Rangers with a Power-Play goal by Mikael Samuelsson. The night was topped off by an Empty-Netter by Henrik Sedin (who took a hard shot to the foot), which finally ended an interesting game for both teams to say the least.

Quick thoughts as more will come:

The Rangers are standing around in the wrong ends of the rink. You're taught as a kid to play zone when you're tired, but to never stand still when you're in the Offensive zone. If you're in the D zone and you're tired, get it out. If you're in the O zone and you're tired, get off the ice. Simple as that.
I will not go into the Gaborik-Bieska situation in full detail at all, but who I am disappointed in is Dane Byers. Not for his role in the first situation, but for his fight at the end of the game. I understand he might have been trying to make a statement, but the Blueshirts tonight stood up for its star player but then couldn't get the job done where it matters; which is on the scoreboard. Just let it go at that point, in my opinion.
Admit it, you thought the Rangers were gonna win when Higgins netted the tying goal. I thought he was going to score two his next shift. Congrats to Mr. Higgins as I really like him as a player and I know he has the talent to riddle the scorehsheet.
Henrik Lundqvist was Vezina-caliber, again.
Finally, do not write this team off for the next two games. I really thought the Rangers were going to win the game after the Gaborik-Bieska situation. This team needs to be tested here early on if they have any hope in getting to an Eastern Conference final unlike any other Ranger team since the lockout. The next two games, to me, could be bigger than any Devil, Penguin, Islander, or Flyer game all year if they manage four points. We will see, though.