The NHL announced the starters for this year’s All Star Game today. They are Erik Karlsson, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Dion Phaneuf and Tim Thomas. Wait, what?? Obviously, Sens fans stuffed the ballot boxes. Of the four Senators named to the All Star game, only Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson deserve to be in the game, and only Erik Karlsson deserves to be a starter. The fact that four Sens are not only in the game, but named as starters, is a joke. But that’s not what bothers me most.

What is bothering me the most is the fan voting results. Daniel and Henrik Sedin finished 19th and 21st in voting among forwards! Yes, the reigning Art Ross Trophy winner from last year and the Hart Trophy winner from the year before had fewer votes than players like Jordan Eberle and James Neal. Did I also mention that both players are having yet another remarkable season? Henrik is leading the league in scoring while Daniel is in second. They don’t play in a small market, they had lots of exposure on a team that went to the Stanley Cup Final last season and they just keep on doing it.

I understand that some fans will stuff the ballot box, which is the reason why Milan Michalek received more than double the votes of Henrik and Daniel combined. Leafs fans were also doing a pretty good job of stuffing the ballot box, as evidenced by the votes for Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf and James Reimer. But not every group of fans is stuffing the ballot box. That’s why the only conclusion I can come to is that the Sedins are STILL underrated! Despite three straight amazing seasons, people simply just don’t give them their due.

When you go to a Canucks game at Rogers Arena, take a look around the crowd. How many Sedin jerseys do you see? I think there might be fewer Sedin jerseys in the crowd than Kesler, Burrows or Luongo jerseys. And I just don’t get it. Personally, I own a Trevor Linden jersey, but if I had to buy a new jersey tomorrow, I would get a Henrik jersey. These players are going to end up being the top two all-time leading scorers in franchise history and still people don’t appreciate them enough! Hell, I bet you there are still a few people out there saying “they’re not first line players, they would make a very good second line…”

The Team 1040 was asking callers all day today: who is the MVP of the Canucks to this point in the season? Keep in mind that the Sedins are #1 & 2 in the league in scoring! Instead of hearing 90% Daniel or Henrik responses, the responses were all over the map. The Canucks have other good players, but do you think anyone in Philadelphia is saying their MVP is anyone other than Claude Giroux? Were there a lot of different suggestions for the Canucks MVP when Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi were lighting the league on fire? Of course not

To suggest that the Canucks’ best players this season are anyone other than Daniel and Henrik Sedin is not only lunacy, it’s taking them for granted. They’re remarkable players, and it would be remarkably stupid to forget it.

Like it or not, the book on how to beat the Vancouver Canucks is to push them around, to smack them around. The NHL is a copycat league, and when the spotlight was on the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final, the Boston Bruins beat the Canucks on the scoreboard while beating them in the alley. Here’s what Henrik Sedin has to say about that:

You know what? I’m pretty tired of that question. We won the President’s Trophy last year, we went to the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. We didn’t lose the final because we were pushed around, we lost because we couldn’t score.

While I agree the main reason that the Canucks lost in the Stanley Cup Final (I watched game 7 again a couple of weeks ago) was because they couldn’t score, not that they got pushed around, it certainly contributed to it. The book on beating the Canucks right now is to push them around and beat them up, and that’s probably the most effective way of beating them (if you can do that while staying out of the penalty box). The book on the Canucks used to be to get in Luongo’s face and bump him (something that the Canucks mitigated last season by playing Luongo further back in his net).

The question is, does trying to beat up the Canucks actually result in winning/losing games?

The Canucks are getting hit and smacked around more than ever this year, with limited power play opportunities. The result? They’re 2 points away from being first in the NHL. The players that teams try to push around the most are Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Henrik is the current NHL scoring leader and Daniel is in fourth place. So I’m not sure the strategy is working as much as everyone thinks.

I think a lot of people are forgetting what actually took place in last year’s playoffs. The Canucks got beat up by the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Final, sure. But the Bruins do that to everyone. I think everyone has forgotten how the Canucks absolutely dominated the Chicago Blackhawks with their physical play in round 1. They were not outmatched physically by the Predators in round 2 and in round 3, they outhit the Sharks.

The Canucks could certainly use some more toughness in their lineup, but not much more in my opinion. I think it would be nice to have a warrior like Chris Neil on their fourth line, and maybe a gritty winger like Andrew Ladd on their second line. But this is nitpicking. The Canucks are not a physically imposing team to play against, but they’re not creampuffs either. They’re currently ranked 11th in the league in hits and have a lot of players with underrated grit like Jannik Hansen, Chris Higgins and the Sedin twins.

The Canucks can win the Stanley Cup with their current roster, but they’re not without warts. And that’s a distinction they share with every other elite team in the National Hockey League.

I’m not sure when exactly this began, but it’s pretty clear that the Vancouver Canucks are the most hated team in the NHL. We got more evidence of this when the recently retired Mark Recchi decided to offer this up:

(In) 22 years they are the most arrogant team I played against and the most hated team I’ve ever played against. I couldn’t believe their antics, their falling and diving. It was very frustrating, but at the same time as the series wore on we knew we were getting to them and we knew our physical play and our skating, I think it caught them off guard a little bit.

Mark Recchi is open to his opinion of course, and he certainly isn’t alone in his hatred for the Vancouver Canucks. But what I don’t understand is how the entire hockey world seems to be in agreement that the Canucks are a bunch of jerks while the Bruins get off Scott free.

Recchi cites the diving the Canucks were doing, which I believe is grossly exaggerated. What never seems to get brought up is the amount of cheap antics the Bruins employ. We’re all familiar with Brad Marchand’s punching bag job on Daniel Sedin in game 6 last year, but apparently that’s honourable. The latest example of a cheap shot by the Bruins came from Milan Lucic:

Amazingly, this didn’t receive any kind of a suspension. It’s a clear cheap shot on a defenseless player that resulted in an injury. Wait, isn’t that how they described Aaron Rome’s hit on Nathan Horton?

Has anyone in the NHL noticed that Nathan Horton is back playing hockey this season and hasn’t missed a single game? That’s interesting because his concussion was described as being ‘severe‘ last June. It’s also interesting because Horton himself admitted that he was symptom free on June 20, only 14 days after the Rome hit. Sounds like the Bruins may have embellished the injury to Horton in an effort to get Aaron Rome suspended (on a related note, read this article from March 23rd titled “Mark Recchi Says Canadiens Embellished Max Pacioretty’s Concussion in Effort to get Zdeno Chara Suspended).

Oh hey, Zdeno Chara was in the news recently. Here is his hit on Max Pacioretty last season in case you forgot about it.

If you noticed that Nathan Horton is back playing, you probably also noticed that Mason Raymond still isn’t. Raymond is still recovering from a fractured vertebrae. I think the entire hockey world has forgotten that Johnny Boychuk was the guy that delivered the crushing blow on a late hit.

But above every cheap hit by the Bruins that has resulted in a lot of injuries with few consequences, it’s the chirping they do that makes it worse. Mark Recchi has his Stanley Cup ring, but refused to take the high road this week. He also said that Max Pacioretty was embellishing an injury while he was out with a fractured vertebrae and a concussion. Milan Lucic was pretty unapologetic after giving Ryan Miller a concussion, and he basically called the Sabres a bunch of wimps in the process. And what about Nathan Horton? He voiced his displeasure about Aaron Rome sending him a text message, rather than phoning him, after his hit last June. You know how Johnny Boychuk apologized to Mason Raymond? Through text message!

I get that the Canucks are not the most liked team in the NHL, and that’s fine, but sooner or later logic has to prevail here. I don’t like the cheap shots the Bruins deliver, and I don’t like that they’ve gone unpunished. But enough with the whining that goes along with it!

Something that hasn’t received enough attention until only recently is how poor the Canucks have been at 5-on-5 play. Sure their power play is fantastic at a league best 26.7% and their penalty killing is respectable, ranking 12th in the league at 84.4%. But it is their play at even strength that is concerning. Currently Vancouver ranks 22nd in 5-on-5 play, not good enough for a team that prides itself on its skill level and depth.

This was not the case last regular season, when the Canucks finished the regular season second best in 5-on-5 play, behind those f***ing the Boston Bruins. But in the playoffs, the Canucks struggled at 5-on-5 play, and ran into trouble in the final when the referees whistles went missing.

Poor play at 5-on-5 is an indication to me that the team isn’t working hard enough. Scoring on the power play isn’t easy, but it doesn’t take nearly enough grit to do as scoring 5-on-5.

Looking at their roster, there’s no reason that they ought to be poor at even strength. It’s still early in the season, but there ought to be more production.

When I look at the team’s even strength goal scoring leaders, alarm bells go off for me. Jannik Hansen and Chris Higgins, each with 5 even strength goals, lead the team. Those two players have combined for more even strength goals this year than their top four forwards: Henrik Sedin (3), Daniel Sedin (2), Alex Burrows (3) and Ryan Kesler (0).

The NHL season is still early, but it’s not THAT early. Nineteen games have passed and it’s time for the Canucks’ best players to get going.

Earlier this week we took a look at the Canucks goaltenders and defencemen, deciding who is likely to return and who is likely to move on. Today, we look at the Canucks’ forwards.

Mike Gillis doesn’t have a lot of work to do with his forwards, but he does have options. His most important forwards are already under contract for next year, so it’ll be just a matter of tinkering with his depth forwards. Given the lack of production from his second line at even strength, he may want to find a better winger to play with Ryan Kesler.

Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows

They’re all part of the core of this team and all locked up long term. They’re not going anywhere.

Mikael Samuelsson

Samuelsson had no shortage of critics this season but I wasn’t one of them. He is a smart, versatile player with a good shot and can get on some nice scoring streaks at times. He was playing hurt for a while this year which hurt his production, but I think he can regain his old form. He’s also a Stanley Cup winner and has underrated grit. He stays.

Mason Raymond

The time for Mason Raymond to prove that he is a legitimate second line winger is almost upon us. He turns 26 before next season and in my mind the jury is out on him. He might have been a prime candidate to be trade bait this offseason, but given his current injury, he won’t be. The Canucks will hope that he can show more grit and more finish, especially if he is going to be playing alongside Ryan Kesler for long periods of time. He stays.

Manny Malhotra

He’s a leader, does a lot of the intangibles and assuming his eye recovers 100%, he will be back for another season. He stays.

Chris Higgins

Chris Higgins is an unrestricted free agent and had a very impressive playoffs. There’s probably not enough money for him here and he will sign elsewhere. He goes.

Maxim Lapierre

Lapierre probably exceeded everyone’s expectations in the playoffs this year and that should earn the restricted free agent a raise. He’s earned probably $1.3-1.5 million. The question is if the Canucks can afford to pay him and play him on the fourth line. The other question is if they need to make space for Cody Hodgson. I think Lapierre is trade bait. He goes.

Cody Hodgson

Cody Hodgson didn’t get a lot of playing time with the big club this season, but that may change next year. The organization’s top prospect is now 21 years old and needs to play. Is more AHL time in his future or do the Canucks play him out of position on their 2nd or 3rd line? In the end I think the Canucks play him on the wing. He stays.

Jannik Hansen

Hansen had a breakout year, and will return to the team, but at what price? He’s a restricted free agent and could get more than $1.5 million. They’ll find a way to do it though. He stays.

Raffi Torres

Torres signed a bargain basement $1 million deal last summer, and I don’t think he intends to be a bargain this time around. I think he brought an important element to the Canucks this year but I think he will sign elsewhere for more money. He goes.

Tanner Glass

I think Tanner Glass’ time with the Canucks is over. He seems to be well liked in the dressing room but he’s kind of a “tweener”. He can do a little of everything, but doesn’t do any one thing particularly well. I think they will replace him with a bigger, more physical player. He goes.

Jeff Tambellini

I thought Tambellini was a nice insurance policy this season, a speedy player that can fill-in at times, but I don’t think the Canucks will want to give him another chance given younger players like Cody Hodgson and Sergei Shirokov should be able to do that as well. He goes.

Victor Oreskovich

Oreskovich had a real nice finish to the season. His combination of size, speed and youth are perfect for the fourth line. He stays.

I’m not one to use Canucks marketing campaign slogans on a regular basis (I’ve never said that ‘we are all Canucks’), but never has ‘this is what we live for‘ been more true. Game 7, Stanley Cup Final, at home. This IS what we live for. It’s what the players live for, it’s what the fans live for. Quite simply stated, it’s the biggest game in Canucks history. It’s bigger than 1994. There will probably never be a bigger game for this franchise. This is their time. They will become legends if they win, or be labeled as chokers should they come up short.

Making Sense of Game 6

If you’re like me, you were angry at the Canucks performance in game 6, then went into a deep depression for over 24 hours and it’s only now that you’re getting excited for game 7. So just what happened in game 6? As funny as it sounds, I don’t think the Canucks were that bad in game 6. Obviously they weren’t spectacular, but they needed a save from Roberto Luongo. With each goal let in, the Bruins received an enormous surge of momentum. The Canucks couldn’t weather the storm, and it became 4-0 very quick. In game 7, the Canucks will need their goaltending to be air tight, especially early.

Injuries

By now you’ve probably heard about Mason Raymond’s injury. He won’t be in the lineup for game 7, and the health of Andrew Alberts and Alex Edler are uncertain also (though I expect both to play). Ryan Kesler is banged up, as is Henrik Sedin, Chris Higgins and a whole host of others. I expect Jeff Tambellini to spot in for Mason Raymond, but the rest of the walking wounded will likely play, and will need to dig down deep for the game of their lives.

What worries me most about these injuries is that maybe the Canucks are no longer the better team on paper. With Dan Hamhuis injured and Christian Ehrhoff hobbled with a bad shoulder, their defense is in shambles. Their high end talent up front is severely banged up. Who is the better team right now?

Keys to Victory

1. Roberto Luongo. He has been spectacular at home and terrible on the road. He needs that to continue. Momentum has been so huge in this series, Luongo has to play the game of his life.

2. Goals. The Canucks haven’t scored enough in this series, and they need that to change (duh). The Canucks power play has to get it together. They need to solve Tim Thomas. I think the way to do that is to throw a whole lot of pucks on goal and hope they get a good bounce. If they get too picky, they will shoot themselves in the foot.

3. Sedins must show up. They’re the Canucks best players and it’s time for them to step up. I feel like the key for them is to quicken up their cycle. Because Hudson Bay rules seem to be in play during this series, if the Sedins spend too much time on the cycle, they will get crosschecked off the puck. Daniel Sedin predicted that the Canucks will win game 7, and now it’s time to back it up.

4. Don’t anger the hockey gods. Before game 6, the poll question on Team 1040 was “who will Henrik Sedin give the Cup to first?”. They can’t afford to think along those lines. The team that deals with the distraction of being one win away from the Stanley Cup the best will be best suited to actually winning it.

5. Heart. There’s not likely to be a lot of power plays and scoring chances, as is the case in most game 7s, so the Canucks will probably have to win this in the trenches. Who has more heart? We will find out.

As a longtime Canucks fan I just feel like ONLY the Canucks could put us on such an emotional roller coaster, such as this. To do what they did against Chicago in the first round and then have such a bizarre series against the Bruins, who’d have thunk it? But in a way, isn’t this how you knew it would be? If the Canucks were to lose this year, you know they would do it in absolutely the most painful way possible, just when you think they’ve got it won. But on the flip side, if they were to win the Stanley Cup, you just knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. One of two scenarios will play out on Wednesday night. This is what we live for.

The Vancouver Canucks will get a chance to scratch a 40 year itch if they can find a way to win game 6 in Boston tonight. The Stanley Cup is in the building, and for only the second time in franchise history, the Canucks have a chance to carry it home.

This journey the Canucks are on has been long and hard, proving once again that the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy in all of sports to win. They have played 106 games over eight months, including over two months of grueling playoff hockey. They dealt with adversity against the Blackhawks, injuries to Mikael Samuelsson and Manny Malhotra, and had Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler play through pain. They’ve had a great ride, but there’s still one more hill to climb.

To win the Cup, they need one more win, and it won’t be easy. Vancouver has been down right terrible in both games in Boston this series, and that will need to change. Boston has been a different team on home ice, they’ve been faster and have hit harder and more often than in Vancouver. The challenge for Alain Vigneault’s men will be to match that intensity, and not allow the Bruins to dominate physically. Their passes will need to be crisp and quick, in order to nullify the Boston forecheck.

Keys to the game:

1. Move the puck. You always hear how teams want mobile ‘puck moving’ defencemen, and this is why. Chris Tanev showed how valuable that asset can be in game 5. He was so calm and cool with the puck, as Kevin Bieksa said, he looked like he could play with a cigarette in his mouth. If the Canucks can move the puck out of their zone onto the tape of their forwards instead of losing the puck off the Boston forecheck and/or dumping the puck out of the zone, it will go a long way to helping win the game. This is true in any game of course, but particularly with the Bruins, and particularly in Boston.

2. Another great game from Luongo. Roberto Luongo has been spectacular at home and terrible on the road in this series. That will need to change tonight, as the Bruins will be desperate and bound to throw a lot of pucks on net.

3. The power play. The Sedins and Ryan Kesler will need to find a way to get the power play working tonight. It hasn’t looked very good in this series, and there would be no better time for it to wake up than tonight.

Those are the three keys to the game, but of course there are many more. They’ll need to throw lots of pucks on Tim Thomas with traffic. They’ll need to clear rebounds for Luongo. They’ll need to play with desperation. They’ll need to want it more. In short, they’ll need to give it their all to win it all. And if they do, they’ll go down in Vancouver sports history, and will be legends forever.

Manny Malhotra was back on the ice practicing with the Canucks on Friday, doing line rushes with Victor Oreskovich and Jeff Tambellini. He has been cleared to play, so presumably he will play in game 2. We have seen this movie before of course, when Malhotra was cleared to play, but didn’t in game 1. But assuming that Malhotra doesn’t experience a setback between now and the pre-game skate, we will see him in the lineup for game 2.

The other lineup change for the Canucks will be the insertion of Andrew Alberts (not Keith Ballard) for the injured Dan Hamhuis. I can’t say that I’m shocked by this decision, but I completely disagree with it. I’m sure that Alain Vigneault wants to go with a more conservative defenceman, that can deal with the big Bruins forwards in front of the net. I think that’s the wrong approach, as Keith Ballard can move the puck out of the zone with more ease. In any case, Andrew Alberts isn’t a bad player, and they should be ok either way.

5 Questions before game 2:

Will Zdeno Chara be in front of the net on the Bruins power play?

I sure hope so. It appears that Bruins head coach Claude Julien is the only one that thinks this is a good idea right now. Chara has one of the hardest shots in the league, yet they have him parked in front of Roberto Luongo. I’m confused as to why they don’t put big Milan Lucic in front of the net and have Chara pound shots from the point.

Will game 2 be another goaltending duel?

It will be interesting to see if Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas will both be able to keep up their stellar play. Lost in the euphoria of the Canucks win in game 1 was the fact that Tim Thomas made a number of amazing saves to keep the Bruins in it. If he plays like that again, he is bound to steal games for Boston.

How will the Bruins deal with the team speed of the Canucks?

I think the most telling part of game 1 was how much faster the Canucks were than the Bruins. And the Canucks know it. It’s likely the reason that Jeff Tambellini has drawn into the lineup ahead of Tanner Glass.

How much will the Canucks fourth line play?

Speaking of Tambellini, he lead all Canucks fourth liners in ice time with 2:30. The Bruins, on the other hand, played their fourth line a lot more. Campbell, Seguin and Paille each played between 5 and 8 minutes each. That will likely change if Manny Malhotra plays. That will be a huge benefit to the Canucks, especially if the game goes into overtime.

Will the Sedins break out?

There seemed to be some suggestion by the media that the Sedins had a sub par game in game 1. While they didn’t score, and didn’t look lethal with the man advantage, I thought they were very strong at 5-on-5. Daniel Sedin had 8 shots on goal. My question is if they can solve Tim Thomas. His unorthodox style seems to match up well with their Sedin trickery. If the Sedins break out, this could be a very short series.

…I can’t get enough of that guy.

It wasn’t a picture perfect win, but it was a win nonetheless Monday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The Canucks limited the Predators chances, en route to a gritty 2-1 win.

Usually I’m not a big fan of sitting on a one goal lead for long periods of time, but if there ever was a time to do it, it was game 6 in Nashville. The ice surface was so poor that it was very difficult to make complete passes and hold pucks in the offensive zone. The puck looked like a bouncy ball out there, hopping and skipping around all over the place.

Game 6 was a story of the Canucks getting some slump busting performances from Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond. Daniel Sedin hadn’t had a goal since game 6 versus Chicago, while Mason Raymond got his first of the playoffs. Game 6 was also a nice bounce back game for Alex Edler, who had been slumping of late as well.

Roberto Luongo let in one goofy goal, but that was it. He’s still getting criticized in this city, but if you look at his numbers in this series, they’re sparkling.

Two players that haven’t had a lot of press lately are Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis. They’ve flown under the radar, but they’ve been outstanding in these playoffs. They have been so steady, and game 6 was no exception.

And how about Ryan Kesler? I’m not sure what else can be said that hasn’t already been said, but he’s simply a man possessed out there. His will to win is outstanding and he put the team on his back numerous times during this series.

The plucky Preds put up a great fight and worked hard, but the Canucks’ talent was hard working too. It’s now onto the third round, with game 1 expected to start on Saturday or Sunday against either San Jose or Detroit.

Detroit or San Jose?

So who do you want to play? I think the Canucks match up better against the Red Wings than the Sharks, but if Detroit is the opponent, they will have just rattled off 4 wins in a row and will have great momentum on their side. Detroit is also more banged up than the Sharks, with Johan Franzen and Pavel Datsyuk banged up. In any case, I’m sure all Canucks fans want it to go to a seventh game, preferably with lots of physical play!

I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Henrik Sedin has 1 goal (an empty netter) in his last 18 games. Daniel Sedin has not scored since the Chicago series. Their plus-minus is a combined -14 in the postseason. Mason Raymond has zero goals.

There are a lot of uneasy stats making Canucks fans queezy right now, and they are  a little concerning. But remember stats can be misleading. For one, Henrik Sedin has only 1 goal in his last 18 games, but he often has stretches of 10+ games without a goal. You know why? Because he is a playmaker. When he’s not getting assists, that’s when alarm bells will go off for me.

You know what else is misleading? Plus-minus in small sample sizes. The Sedins have been a victim of this lately. Is it their fault that Alex Edler has been playing like he’s drunk in this series? He’s coughed the puck up more than a few times resulting in goals. And combining their plus-minus is just plain stupid. If they’re on for two goals in a game, they’re “a combined -4″. Sounds impressive but it’s misleading.

These aren’t great stat lines, but things can change very quickly. Remember when Ryan Kesler had 0 goals in the playoffs? Where was the offense from this 40 goal scorer people wondered. Kesler had no goals in 9 playoff games, that was 6 days ago. Now he’s tied for the league lead in points.

What about Roberto Luongo? Remember his save percentage and goals against average after game 5 and 6 versus Chicago? All of a sudden, if you take a look at Luongo’s stats (2.35 GAA, .914 SV% and 2 shutouts) they’re pretty good.

My point is not to suggest that the Sedins are doing great, clearly they’re not. I thought Daniel and Henrik had some great shifts in game 5, but ultimately they didn’t produce. But all of that can change in an instant. If Daniel Sedin scores 2 goals in game 6, he will move into a tie for first in league goal scoring.

The Canucks lost game 5 because of a few bad breakdowns. If they tidy that up, they should win. Every game in this series has been so tight, that just one bad bounce can decide the hockey game. If they play hard and smart, they should earn their bounces and the stats will follow.

Lineup Changes

Mikael Samuelsson injured himself in game 5 and didn’t take the trip to Nashville. That means he’s not close to returning, and could mean it’s a very serious injury. I would be very surprised if he’s not out longer than a week at minimum. That means that either Victor Oreskovich or Jeff Tambellini are likely to take his place. Personally, I would like to see Jeff Tambellini inserted into the lineup. Tamby hasn’t played a playoff game yet, and I think he would be thrive given the chance. He would be so pumped up to play, he would play like he was shot out of a canon. He’s gritty enough, and they could use a fourth line goal.