The Canucks have traded Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm to the Florida Panthers in exchange for David Booth, Steven Reinprecht and a third round draft pick. Amazing that these same two teams have come together on yet another trade. As you might recall, Florida and Vancouver have teamed up on the Bure-Jovanovski, Bertuzzi-Luongo, Grabner-Ballard trades among others.

This trade is interesting on a number of fronts. In getting rid of Samuelsson (34) and Sturm (33), the Canucks will get younger up front. Samuelsson had been facing a lot of criticism by media and fans last year and early this year. I’m in the minority in that I didn’t mind his overall play. I think he has a lot to give still, especially in the playoffs given his experience. I never understood why the Canucks decided to go after Marco Sturm this offseason, and after six uninspiring games, Mike Gillis now agrees.

The key to the deal for the Canucks is David Booth. Three years ago Booth looked destined to be a front line player for many years when he broke out with a 31 goal season at age 23. The following season he suffered a concussion on a vicious hit from Mike Richards and hasn’t been the same player since. Still, Booth was able to score 23 goals last year and played in all 82 games. Booth has good speed, grit and scoring ability. Sounds like he might be a good fit with Ryan Kesler, doesn’t he?

Steven Reinprecht is a key to the deal as well, but not in the way you might think. The cash strapped Panthers were paying Reinprecht $2.05 million to play in the AHL this season. The Canucks will likely do the same, so don’t run out to the Canucks Team Store just yet to get “Reinprecht” printed on the back of your jersey (unless it’s a Chicago Wolves jersey of course).

The Canucks will win this trade if David Booth plays up to his potential and becomes a fixture with Ryan Kesler on the second line. He has shown the ability to score 30+ goals in the NHL which is no small feat. Of course, this trade will blow up in Mike Gillis’ face if Booth struggles. Booth’s contract pays him $4.25 million for four more years.

This trade will also alleviate the logjam of wingers the Canucks had. With the impressive showing by Cody Hodgson early this season as well as impending return of Mason Raymond in a few months, the Canucks will simply have too many 2nd/3rd line wingers.

The Canucks lose Samuelsson’s valuable experience and I am  loathed to see him go, but I think the David Booth is worth the price.

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 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.

There are a couple of ways to look at the Canucks 4-3 win over the Blackhawks on Friday night. On one hand, the Blackhawks finally found a way to get pucks past Roberto Luongo. Ben Smith and Viktor Stalberg scored on Luongo, and they weren’t great goals. If the Blackhawks can get goals from their depth players on a regular basis, they will climb back in this series. Another way to look at it is that the Canucks were able to win game when they let the likes of Ben Smith and Viktor Stalberg score and get an average game from Roberto Luongo.

And that’s the way I see it. In game 1 the Canucks got great goaltending and secondary scoring. Game 2 was about the Sedins stepping up. In both games the Canucks have been able to shutdown the Blackhawks top guns. Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Keith and Seabrook have combined for 1 point in the series.

Lineup changes

Raffi Torres is back from his two game suspension, as is Mikael Samuelsson, who sat out game 2 because he was sick (or at least that’s what the team was reporting). Samuelsson will play with Kesler and Higgins on the 2nd line, while Torres will play with Hansen and Raymond on the 3rd. That means that defenceman turned winger Aaron Rome will draw out of the lineup (thank god). Cody Hodgson will sit out as well.

For Chicago, John Scott draws into the lineup for the injured Bryan Bickell. It looks as though Tomas Kopecky and Dave Bolland still aren’t ready to return to the lineup either.

What to look for

Look for the 6’8″, 258 lbs of John Scott. He’ll likely be running around, trying to hit Canucks defencemen and bumping Roberto Luongo. He’s also said that he will be challenging Canucks players to fight. Kevin Bieksa doesn’t sound too concerned:

When a guy is 6-foot-8 that challenges you who can’t skate? Usually, you say no and go around him and score

Also look for some emotion from the Blackhawks who will undoubtedly be spurned on by the ‘Madhouse on Madison’. Hopefully we won’t hear too much of this song.

What the Canucks need to do

The Canucks will need to keep their composure and weather the storm early. The Blackhawks will probably be running around, and will get out of position and take dumb penalties. The Canucks need to let them do this, protect Luongo and capitalize on the power play. If the Blackhawks have any hopes of getting back in the series, it goes without saying that it will need to start with a win in game 3.

Yet another Canucks song

There are a million Canucks songs being produced lately, some good, some terrible. I’m not sure where this song fits in, but it’s worth a listen:

Sami Salo is back, well, almost. He’s been skating for a long time now, and has been practicing and traveling with the team for a couple of weeks also. So when is he set to return? The Canucks are keeping this somewhat secretive, but it looks to be soon.

The reason is of course the salary cap. The Canucks are very close to the cap right now and will be over it when Salo returns. According to CapGeek, the Canucks would need to get rid of $1.8 million of annual salary if Salo returned today.

If the Canucks are smart, they’ll keep Salo on long term injury reserve as long as possible. I expect this to happen because the longer he stays on IR, the more that $1.8 million number goes down. They’ll also have the option of putting him in Manitoba on a conditioning stint to stall for more time before returning. But with that said, they’ll make a mockery of the NHL if he practices with the team for four months while staying on IR.

Who goes?

So what will happen? Personally, I expect him back sometime next month. I also expect Mike Gillis to have a plan in place. Recent speculation has everyone from Keith Ballard ($4.2 million), Raffi Torres ($1 million) and Mikael Samuelsson (2.5 million) being traded. Personally, I find that speculation ridiculous. Those are playoff-type players that the Canucks would loathe to lose. The more likely scenario would have Andrew Alberts ($1.05 million) and Aaron Rome ($0.75 million) being sent away, assuming they both return from injury not long from now. Notice I’m not mentioning Kevin Bieksa anymore? In case you missed it, a lot of things have changed since the summer and now we are all Bieksa.

What Salo means to the team

Not a lot of people are talking about what Sami Salo is likely to bring to the team. Everyone jokes about his injury troubles, but over the last few seasons Salo has been one of their most valuable defensemen. My worry (and his worry too apparently) is that he comes back and is a shadow of his former self. To recover from his injury and missing more than half a season is not easy to come back from. It’s even more difficult to do at age 36. Of course, if he is able to regain his form he’ll be a huge boost to an already impressive defense corps.

What about Raymond?

Nobody ever seems to mention Mason Raymond’s name in trade rumours and I find this curious. He’s got some value given his age, contract and production, but he’s also somewhat dispensable for this team. Jeff Tambellini has stepped in and pretty much matched Raymond this year. They’re a similar age (Tambellini is 26, Raymond 24) too. I don’t want to see Raymond go, but the possibility should at least be in the discussion. He should be able to fetch a decent draft pick (the Canucks will need to restock given the amount of picks they’ve traded away recently) or perhaps get a guy like Tyler Kennedy ($0.725 million) out of Pittsburgh, though the Penguins would need to do some salary cap shuffling of their own to make that work.

Whatever happens, it’s sure to be interesting. Of course, should another high priced player get injured before Salo returns and gets moved to the IR, the problem with solve itself.

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Game 5 was the first one sided game of this entertaining series. For the first time in the series, Roberto Luongo clearly outplayed Jonathan Quick, who was chased in the second period. For the second game in a row, the Canucks power play equaled the Kings power play, perhaps indicating that this penalty killing jinx is at least close to ending.

While the Kings have silenced Alex Burrows in this series (I believe he must be injured, he hasn’t looked himself at all), they haven’t found an answer for Mikael Samuelsson. Samuelsson had two goals in game 5 and is red hot, netting seven goals already in this series. That ties him with none other than Pavel Bure for the franchise record of most goals in a playoff series.

Encouraging for the Canucks was the play of their defense. Alex Edler continues to be a beast on the back end, with Ehrhoff and Sami Salo also leading the way. The problem in recent weeks has been the play of their bottom three d-men: Kevin Bieksa, Shane O’Brien and Andrew Alberts. While the three of them weren’t superstars by any means, Bieksa looked steady, O’Brien got in a fight and the fans were chanting “Lets Go Alberts!” late in the game. Alberts looked steady defensively, but is still incapable of making an outlet pass, which reminded me of possibly the best tweet in the history of twitter: “Saw Alberts play a bit in Carolina. Hits like a truck. Handles the puck like a truck, too”.

Speaking of O’Brien, he appears to have not learned his lesson yet. I think he’s an underrated player, but giving the #1 motion with his finger after his fight was not the brightest move. If you’re in a one-off game in the regular season I don’t have much of a problem with it, but doing it in a playoff series is showing up the other team and essentially works the same as giving the other team “bulletin board material”. Kings head coach Terry Murray called him a “clown” which was probably a little bit harsh, to which Alain Vigneault responded with “I don’t care” (you got to love Vigneault).

Here’s another example of why you’ve got to love Vigneault:

Now the bad news. The Canucks ran away with game 5 and looked good doing it. I believe a lot of Canuck nation is getting a little cocky after it though and we shouldn’t be surprised if the Kings take game 6 to set-up a dramatic seventh game at GM Place. Teams often rebound from blowouts to win the next game, presumably because the losing team makes a lot of adjustments while the winning team gets a little overconfident. Game 6 will also be played at the Staples Center where the Kings have looked great and the Canucks (save for the 1st period in game 3 and the 3rd period in game 4) have looked overwhelmed. Once again, special teams will be of the utmost importance. If you stop the Kings power play you should win the game.

And now something to keep you entertained until game 6, one of the better Canucks songs I’ve heard in a while (with apologies to Ivan Hrvatska and Ink Operated) :

After calling the Canucks “Cup pretenders” last Friday, I must admit that I was starting to believe they were contenders with one of the most impressive outings of the season against the Senators on Saturday followed up by a 1st period knockout of the Calgary Flames the next day. But then came the Islanders game on Tuesday night. Now I’m not suggesting that Canucks fans should begin panicking about this team because of it, but it certainly didn’t help. Another thing that didn’t help was losing first star of the week, Mikael Samuelsson. He’ll be gone 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury or so we’re told (and we’ve been lied to before, see Dan Cloutier). With that said, here are a few random thoughts going through my head as the playoffs loom:

Wonder how John Tavares had such a productive night against the Canucks Tuesday night? Maybe cause he put up two of his points either with Aaron Rome or Andrew Alberts on the ice. How do those two players end up matched up against Tavares when they only have one decent scoring line and you have the last change at home?

They could have sure used Willie Mitchell last night.

Can we please end the Andrew Alberts experiment? I put Shane O’Brien, Aaron Rome and even Nolan Baumgartner ahead of him. Especially O’Brien. He’s had a good season as far as I’m concerned, and brings everything Alberts brings, and more.

Luongo didn’t look great against the Islanders but I’m sick of the Luongo bashers. He’s having a good (not great) season, but stop freaking out. He’s human. He’s also still putting up a better save percentage than Brodeur, Thomas, Ward, Turco, C. Mason, Quick, Fleury, Backstrom, Rinne, and more. Ease up.

A potential blessing in disguise with Samuelsson’s injury is that it made room for Michael Grabner to be called up. I say this with emphasis on “potential” because his success with the Canucks earlier this season has been exaggerated a bit. Grabner put up five points in nine games, all of which came on the power play. Seems not far off what Jannik Hansen would produce with a similar chance. So lets see what happens.

If the Canucks win their division, I’m VERY worried that the Detroit Red Wings finish in 6th place and face them in the first round. If that happens, that would likely mean the Wings will be healthy and on a roll.

I’m going to be the only person defending Matt Cooke. Everyone is appalled at him not receiving a suspension, but they’re calling for a rule change to call head shots. Excuse me, but if there’s no rule against head shots, then you can’t suspend him for a head shot. His hit wasn’t late, it was with his shoulder and he didn’t jump. It might have been a hit made in bad taste, but it’s not against the rules.

I can’t believe that people are defending Alex Ovechkin’s hit on Brian Campbell. He pushed him from behind into the boards at high speed in the danger zone. That is against the rules and it’s dangerous as well as dirty.

The defending Olympic champions, Team Sweden, announced their 23 man roster on Sunday. The Swedes are flying a bit under radar at the moment, as a lot of their top players from years past are now retired or nearing retirement: Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg and Nicklas Lidstrom. Speaking of Forsberg, he’s playing in the Swedish Elite League this season. Apparently he’s playing pretty well too. His 15 points in 9 games were enough to warrant a spot on the Olympic team. In case you were wondering about Markus Naslund, he has 8 points in 8 games but was not selected.

So who made the team? Take a look:

King Henrik will be in between the pipes as the clear starter for the Swedes once again in 2010. Look for Gustavsson to be his backup. If Sweden is to win gold, it will need to come with some spectacular goaltending from Lundqvist.

Goalies:

Jonas Gustavsson (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Stefan Liv (HV 71), Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers/NHL)

Sweden’s defense will once again feature six-time Norris trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom. Niklas Kronwall and Mattias Ohlund will also be leaned on heavily, but their blueliners are a little thin after that. All the more surprising that Alex Edler was not named to the team, while NHL castaway Magnus Johansson was.

Defenders:
Tobias Enstrom (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Magnus Johansson (Linkopings HC), Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Douglas Murray (San Jose Sharks/NHL), Johnny Oduya (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Henrik Tallinder (Buffalo Sabres/NHL), Mattias Ohlund (Tampa Bay Lightning/NHL)

Assuming his foot holds up long enough, Peter Forsberg will certainly provide an unexpected boost to Sweden’s forward group. A healthy Forsberg gives Sweden three potent centres, joined with Nicklas Backstrom and Henrik Sedin. After Daniel Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg and maybe Loui Eriksson, their wingers don’t have a whole lot to offer. This didn’t escape Mikael Samuelsson, who is PISSED! When asked for his reaction, Samuelsson had this to offer:

“I pretty much have one comment and maybe I’ll regret it,” Samulesson said. “But they can go f*** themselves. That’s what I really think.”

This rare moment of candidness from an NHLer was probably in bad taste, but it’s hard not to agree with him. In 2006, Samuelsson played well on the team that eventually won gold in Torino. He’s having a pretty decent season and can play in an offensive and defensive role. He’s put up better numbers and has a better resume than Patric Hornqvist. Fredrik Modin hasn’t had a decent season in a few years, yet was named to the team. Mattias Weinhandl had trouble cracking the Minnesota Wild lineup just three years ago, but is playing well in the KHL and made the team.

Forwards:
Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals/NHL), Loui Eriksson (Dallas Stars/NHL), Peter Forsberg (MODO Hockey), Tomas Holmstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Patric Hornqvist (Nashville Predators/NHL), Fredrik Modin (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Samuel Pahlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Henrik Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow/RUS), Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings/NHL)

Also NOT selected to the team was Tommy Salo (who is still having nightmares at last report):

They’re 0-3 and in less than one week have gone from cup contenders to talentless bums (according to the bandwagon douchebags anyways). Well, the fact of the matter is that this team isn’t as good as those early season predictions (loyal Canuckz.com readers already knew this after reading this post) and they’re not as bad as their 0-3 record suggests. I think what’s wrong with the Canucks is a combination of them getting cocky, believing their own preseason hype, and being out of sync. Being out of sync can be attributed to them not icing a single game in the preseason with their full line-up. I believe they kept too many prospects right to the final game of the preseason. So that’s the bad news.

The good news is, they’ve actually played pretty well in large portions of all three games. The Canucks have outplayed their opponents in about 70% of their games, but haven’t been able to score. Conversely, their opponents have capitalized on their chances, putting Luongo and company in a big hole.

Random Thoughts

More good news: Luongo won’t be this bad for long and the Canucks won’t be this snake-bit for long.

When the Canucks have played with urgency, they’ve been very good. The problem is that by the time they decided to play with urgency on Monday night, they were down by three goals. Same thing against Calgary.

The Canucks penalty kill needs to get better. Their opponents have absolutely lit them up on the man advantage: Columbus was 1-3, Colorado was 2-6, and Calgary was 2-3. You can’t expect to win with penalty killing like that.

Ryan Johnson has been on the ice for all six goals against while shorthanded! Not good for someone who is supposed to be a penalty killing specialist. Rick Rypien has been on for three of them. Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows haven’t been on for a goal against while on the penalty kill.

Five of the six power play goals against have been scored by the other team’s second unit.

Maybe they ought to keep one of Burrows or Kesler on the ice at all times while on the penalty kill.

The Sergei Shirokov experiment may be over. Alain Vigneault juggled his lines after they were down 4-1 against Columbus and Shirokov ended up on the 4th line with Ryan Johnson and Rick Rypien. Shirokov’s old linemates, Ryan Kesler and Mikael Samuelsson, were much more effective playing with Mason Raymond in the 3rd period. Look for Tanner Glass to be inserted into the lineup against Montreal.

What are the game presentation people doing at GM Place? The Canucks are now hitting the ice to some mellow song by Cold Play after a sappy intro on the big screen. Not surprisingly, this put the home crowd a bit to sleep to start the game. I know it was Columbus on a Monday night, but I have never seen a quieter home opener to start the game, and the game presentation certainly contributed to it.

Anybody notice that there were an awful lot of tickets available for the home opener? It’s become abundantly clear that the sellout streak has ended (unless you count giving away hundreds of tickets) and it’s not because of a lack of fan support. Simply put, the Aquilinis have now priced people right out of the building. Seriously, how many people can afford to spend over $200 on a mediocre corner seat in the lower bowl, for Columbus on a Monday night no less? The entire city of Vancouver is crazy about this team right now and for the Canucks to price tickets so high that they can’t sell them is just plain greedy.

And now, something to help cheer us cheer up…