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Roberto Luongo Trade Rumour Bonanza: Toronto Maple Leafs Edition

June 8, 2012 Rob 3 Comments Rumours, Trades

Unless you have been avoiding all Canucks news for the last month or so, you’ll know that there have been quite a few Roberto Luongo trade rumours floating around. There’s definitely a lot of teams that could use Luongo, but are they willing to give up the assets necessary to acquire him? And just what are the assets required to acquire him? Even if a team passes those two tests, they still need to be willing to take on his contract. And even if a team is willing and able to do that, Luongo still has to waive his no trade clause to go there.

So how much is Luongo worth? That’s very hard to say. He’s still probably one of the top 10 goalies in the league, and his cap hit isn’t bad at $5.3 million per season. The problem with Luongo is that he’s signed until 2021. But just like how after Wayne Gretzky got traded in his prime, every other player was deemed “tradable”, every contract is tradable after the Rangers successfully traded Scott Gomez a few years ago.

Mitch’s Drunken Trade Rumour: Luongo for Versteeg

June 8, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Rumours

Blogger prodigy Mitch is at it again today. Today he puts himself in Mike Gillis’ shoes and tries to find a new home for Roberto Luongo. Go follow him on Twitter @Mitch_SBMedia.

It seems not a day goes by where there isn’t talk of Roberto Luongo and where he will call home next season. One day you have Twitter’s hockey insiders like @eklund and @samjam99 reporting that Luongo to Toronto is all but done. Then you get reports from TSN saying that Luongo could be headed back to Florida. Well, I’m going to pretend to be Mike Gillis for the rest of this article. In doing that my first order of business is to smoke his cigars and drink most of his expensive wine. Second piece of business, after airing out his Vancouver apartment and sleeping off the most horrible wine hangover of my life is to get on the horn with Dale Tallon and see if we can make something work.

UFA of the Day: Matt Carle

June 7, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Free Agency

I have been a little slow on the UFA of the day segment lately, so I got some help from Mitch. Mitch comes to us from Shockblast Media where he wrote hockey columns. You can follow him on Twitter at @Mitch_SBMedia (go follow him, he is horrendously underfollowed!). Take it away Mitch!

Name: Matt Carle

Age: 27

Size: 6’0, 205lbs

Why the Canucks might want him: Matt Carle has a fantastic jaw, on par with the likes of Jay Leno or even a young Joey Buttafuoco, but that’s not why the Canucks would want to sign the 27 year old UFA defenceman. Carle brings an interesting skill set to the table. Number 2 on the Flyers depth chart last season Carle played in all 82 regular season games, tallying 4 goals and 34 assists for 38 points. Not known for his goal scoring, he still managed to notch 3 power play goals and 9 power play assists. He is capable of playing big minutes, he led all Flyers skaters with 23:01 during the regular season and 25:19 during the playoffs which was second to Braydon Coburn.

UFA of the Day: Barret Jackman

June 5, 2012 Rob 2 Comments Free Agency

It’s been a little while since our last UFA of the day feature, but with less than one month until the start of NHL free agency, I figured this would be a good time to profile some of the best free agents that the Canucks may have their eye on. Today, lets look at Barret Jackman.

Name: Barret Jackman

Age: 31

Size: 6’0″, 205 lbs

Why the Canucks might want him: Barret Jackman is a stay-at-home defenceman who has played his entire career with the St Louis Blues. He’s gritty, tough, and brings an element of the game that the Canucks have been missing. He has been one of the Blues most dependable defencemen for about ten years. He was second in even strength ice time and first in shorthanded ice time this season. He was first on the Blues in blocked shots and second among Blues d-men in hits.

UFA of the Day: Ryan Suter

May 28, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Free Agency

With just over one month until the start of NHL free agency, I figured this would be a good time to start profiling some of the best free agents that the Canucks may have their eye on. Today, lets take a look at Ryan Suter.

Over the last couple of seasons, Canucks nation has been scheming of ways to get their hands on Shea Weber. Maybe the Predators won’t be able to afford him? Maybe he’ll demand that he comes back to his home province. But it’s another all star Nashville Predators defenceman that every Canucks fan should have their eye on.

Unlike Shea Weber, Ryan Suter is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Even if Shea Weber is somehow available, you’ll have to rip your team apart to get him. To get Ryan Suter, all you need to give up is money.

Shea Weber is a better player than Ryan Suter, but not by much. Suter can do it all. He is a shutdown defenceman that can play big minutes and contribute offensively. He may be the #2 defenceman in Nashville, but he would be the #1 defenceman on most teams in the NHL. And he’s only 27 years old.

Alain Vigneault Gets Contract Extension, Another Chance

May 24, 2012 Rob 0 Comments Signing

Alain Vigneault was given a two year contract extension on Wednesday. I’m torn on the decision. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either.

If you were to have a town hall style debate on Alain Vigneault, it would be easy to make a compelling argument on why he should stay. Two straight President’s Trophies and five division titles in six years would suggest he is an outstanding head coach in the regular season. What about the playoffs you say? Well his record in the postseason is impressive as well.

Dissecting the 2011-12 Canucks Carcass – By Vincent

April 27, 2012 Rob 1 Comment Special Feature

Vincent is a mysterious friend of Rob The Hockey Guy. He fights crime by night, so we won’t reveal his last name. He is @stuff99 on Twitter.

Hi everyone, I am writing this blog as I listen to the Game of Thrones theme song in a circular loop. This makes blog writing sound even more epic than it already is. This is my first blog entry so go easy on me. Just pretend you’re AV and I’m your son, Aaron Rome. Now that I’ve got introductions out of the way here is my blog.

It has been a few days since Canuck nation felt the stench of defeat sink in so that we can take a look back and dissect this carcass called the Vancouver Canucks 2011-2012 season. Where did it all go wrong?

Well according to bandwagons the world basically ended during the month of October. They wanted Luongo lynched and fed to the wolves. Everyone’s grandmother started to panic but then they started to win in November. Then everyone became a fan again. While the team did not dominate like they did the year before, they got their wins.

The Rules of Trash Talking

April 26, 2012 Rob 1 Comment Random

About a year ago I began thinking of ‘the rules of trash talking’. It started at a Canucks game at Rogers Arena. It was a game late in the season during the Canucks assault on the National Hockey League. The Canucks were number one in the league, showing no signs of slowing down and were winning the game. And that’s when I heard two people behind me talking. A woman and a man were talking, she was a Kings fan and he was a Flames fan. They were running their mouth about the Canucks and weren’t making much sense. I had to say something, considering the fact that the Canucks had JUST beaten the Kings the year previous. [Rule #1, you can't trash talk a fan of the team that just beat you in the playoffs, you have NOTHING to say]

So the Kings fan says “OHHHH you guys are going to lose in the first round!” [Rule #2, you can't trash talk what you think is going to happen in the future. You can only trash talk what has happened or what is happening]

Luongo will waive his no trade clause

April 25, 2012 Rob 2 Comments Rumours, Trades

The Canucks got great news on Tuesday, as Roberto Luongo revealed that he is willing to waive his no trade clause. Now don’t get me wrong, Roberto Luongo is an excellent goalie and I believe in him, but having the ability to trade him as well as Cory Schneider is huge for the Canucks.

Luongo has handled the goalie controversy with a lot of class. He has often been criticized for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, but in this situation he has shown a great attitude. Luongo sounded humble and aware of the fact that Cory Schneider is an excellent goalie.

Rehashing the Cody Hodgson Trade: He wanted out

April 25, 2012 Rob 2 Comments Rumours, Trades

Interesting news in Canuckland on Tuesday. Mike Gillis held a press conference to address the state of the franchise. Gillis addressed a number of issues, the most intriguing was about the Cody Hodgson trade.

Mike Gillis confirmed what was speculated a lot at the time of the trade, Cody Hodgson wanted out. Gillis then offered up this tid bit: “I spent more time on Cody’s issues than every other player combined on our team the last three years”. Gillis also indicated that the plan was essentially to showcase Hodgson this year, giving him favourable ice time (time on the power play, starting shifts in the offensive zone, etc).