Canucks have to put aside distraction and beat the Hawks tonight

I know I would be distracted, having Sundin in the back of my mind. You can tell that Roberto Luongo was aware of the possibility when he was interviewed about Sundin. He said basically that the signing is great but the Canucks have to focus right now and win some games before Mats arrives.
I hope the Sundin-signing fuels this team.
Curtis Sanford will start again tonight, and he and the team need to get on a roll. The biggest reason is that the Canucks are now 2nd in the Northwest Division because the Flames got a point in their OT loss last night. This drops the Canucks to 5th in the West, 5 points ahead of 8th place Phoenix, 6 points ahead of 9th and 10th placed Nashville and Colorado. Ah the pressure is on. Look at the records of these teams in their past 10 games. Yeesh. It's a dog fight.
I had mentioned that the Canucks needed to play 500 hockey in Luongo's absence and they are close. 5 wins in 11 games. A win tonight obviously then puts them at 500. I think Luongo could be out about another month. Thank god there is a Christmas and Allstar break in there PLUS a Sundin entrance. There is reason to be positive. There is also reason for concern. We play the Hawks, Ducks and Sharks in our next 3 games. Tough stuff.
Let's take a quick look at Chicago in point form.
-make no mistake, I have liked the Hawks since the early 80's (big Tony Esposito-Denis Savard fan), but tonight they are the enemy. And this enemy is rolling.
-Chicago has won 6 straight, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 28-9 margin in the process. They are now tops in the NHL in goals for per game.
-the Hawks have also won 7 of their last 8 and gained at least a point in 8 straight
-they have 11 power play goals in the past 8 games (now 4th best in the NHL). They have only allowed 3 power play goals against in those games. And you wonder why they're rolling...
-Patrick Kane: 15 goals and 38 points in 30 games. Look at how spread out their scoring is past Kane. Impressive.
-Nikolai Khabibulin: once trade bait...no longer. He has played 16 games and has compiled a 10-1-4 record with a 2.44 GAA and a .922 save percentage. Huet? Not so good.
Having said that, over the past 8 games Huet has won 4 games and Khabibulin 3.
-while the Canucks are near the League basement in shots per game, the Hawks are 6th best.

Am I scaring you yet?
It is going to take a well-disciplined game from the Canucks and a steal of a game by Curtis Sanford to stop this Hawks team. A character win over the Hawks would be such a boost to Vancouver, let alone Sanford.

T Tags: Canucks+Blackhawks+game+preview December+20+2008

Kris Versteeg: Great hockey player, lousy rapper

I have to admit, Fergie's "Fergalicious" and "London Bridges" were songs that I got hooked on. But it didn't take me long to get sick of her and her tunes. I don't think Versteeg is going to tire of Fergie any time soon though...

T Tags: Kris+Versteeg+rapping Fergie Glamorous video Blackhawks

Blackhawks 4 Canucks 2: Semi-live coverage

I'm not sure if Alain Vigneault wants the Canucks to be this aggressive in the Hawks zone, especially regarding defencemen pinching in. The Hawks look much faster than us.
Good to see Demitra cash in and Pyatt be the aggressor to help out. But the Hawks tied the game right away and then went ahead on a flukey one off Ohlund's stick.
Bieksa returns to the lineup and then Glass Joe Salo gets hurt. The injury curse on our back end lives. Damn it.
Be interesting to see if the Canucks can show more composure in period 2.

PERIOD 2

What John Garrett just said is right: the Canucks can draw some positives out of period 2. They killed the penalties against better in the 2nd frame. They also played a little tighter defensively and limited Chicago's chances. Towards the end of the period the Canucks' passing got a little crisper and Bernier almost scored on a breakway but was thwarted by Huet.

- Ooo, a Demitra Special in between period 2 and 3. How unfitting. Did I pay for this?
To Demitra's credit he is playing a little more gritty tonight rather than being perimeter. I want to see him shoot more sometimes.

PERIOD 3

- confirmed: Salo has a groin injury
Hordichuk has a knee injury
Demitra broke the nail on his pinky and hasn't returned.
A better effort did ensue from the Canucks in the 3rd but there were still too many problems.
- defencemen getting caught pinching up the ice
-defensive zone coverage was inconsistent.
- Luongo was not very sharp and has been inconsistent lately
- too many penalties taken. Many needless ones.
If Patrick Kane misses Denis Savard he has a funny way of showing it. Is that 5 points since the firing?

That's the 2nd time I've paid for a Canucks game and it was lousy. Huh.

Canucks - Blackhawks preview

So today's game has a couple of interesting twists. The Canucks could win tonight because they are doing the win one-lose one-win one inconsistent thing. The Hawks lost in a shootout last night night and will be hard-pressed by new coach Joel Quenneville after a loss in the shootout last night. Patrick Kane scored 3 points in a losing cause.
This is a young and quick Hawks team. But they don't seem as big as our previous opponents. I bring this up because I think that if there was ever a chance for the Canucks' 2nd line of Raymond-Demitra-Pyatt to get it going it would be against a team like the Hawks.
The Canucks will have to shut down Sharp, Kane, Havlat and Campbell in order to be successful. Jonathan Toews has been quiet so far with only 2 assists. Or, we can outscore them, because you never know with this new Vancouver squad. They allow a lot more goals than last year. Chicago's scoring really falls off after those 4 guys.
The Canucks can roll with more offensive punch than Chicago, in my opinion.
So I got Vancouver winning this one 5-3.
Can the Canucks play more disciplined?
Will Bieksa make his return?
Anyone else not liking Luongo's stats? (3.21 GAA and a .895 save percentage)
Blame it on Gillis. He's the one that wanted more wide open hockey.

More game preview here.

Game Time: 4:00 PST
TV: Canucks PPV

T Tags: Canucks+Blackhawks+game+preview October+19+2008

Why did the Blackhawks fire Savard now?

"This was an extremely hard day for this organization and for me personally," said general manager Dale Tallon in a statement on Thursday. "Denis is forever a part of our organization. We made a tough decision that we strongly feel is the right one as we continue to evaluate our team and create a championship-calibre organization that can sustain success. Joel brings us a wealth of experience and a winning track record that will have an immediate and lasting impact," explained Tallon in the statement.

Cue the word "immediate". Savard achieved a 65-66-16 record in 147 games as Chicago coach. The Hawks had just won 4-1 last night, their first win in 4 starts. Was Savard a bad coach? How?

"The only thing I can say is that last year I thought I did a heck of a job with our young kids," added Savard. "Eight to 10 rookies in our lineup. We had a bit of a slow start this year but I thought the team was on the right track. I guess it goes with the territory. As a coach you're judged on wins and losses."

Savard was good with the rookies and youth. And there was and is a lot of them. But as far as the "wins and losses" part goes, the Blackhawks had a record of 40-34-8 last season and barely missed the playoffs. The year before they were in fubar land and had a 31-42-9 record finishing at basement level in the West.
So the Hawks were a little slow out of the gate this season. It was only 4 games in! Jeezus. This reeks of a higher-quality coach applying for the job, or being available and Savard getting canned because of his lesser experience. Scott Bowman alluded to that in the press conference today.
Unwarranted in my opinion. But as a pundit maybe I don't know the whole story. From afar it smells like bullshit though.
Before the season started I had my questions about the Hawks making the playoffs this year. The biggest reasons for that were:
1. Kane and Toews were no longer under the radar and would be checked a lot closer.
2. They kept getting rid of their veteran players like Lang, Kevin Adams, Yannic Perreault, etc.
Now the 2 oldest players on this team are the 2 goalies, Huet and Khabibulin at 33 and 35 years old respectively. The other "oldies" would be:
1. Brent Sopel (31 years old. A leader? Not sure.)
2. Craig Adams (31 years old.)
The rest are all under 30. Is it too much to ask for Kane (19 years old) and Toews (20 years old) to carry this team? I think so. This group still needs more time. Obviously the organization wants to win right bloody now. Joel Quenneville will do just as good as Savard would have. Once again, that is just my opinion.

Quenneville press conference video here.

T Tags: Blackhawks+fire+coach+Denis+Savard Joel+Quenneville+new+coach

The Bulin Wall isn't toast yet

The deadline teams have to pick up Khabibulin on waivers (and at his whopping salary) has come and gone (12:00 EST). Unless a late report comes out, no one has taken the former Cup winner.
Too much dough. And obviously teams are not willing to pay it. I can't imagine what Chicago was trying to get for him before they put him on waivers....but no one bit.
Now The Bulin Wall will most likely get demoted and then put on re-entry waivers, where most people believe he will be claimed at half of his $6.75 million salary. That makes Khabibulin cheap for the taker and knocks just over $3 million off the Hawks' cap spending.
So who is going to gamble on the netminder?
Rumors persist that Ottawa will trade for him. I say bunk to that. Gerber is getting his chance.
It seems that the Kings is his best fit. Sure, they are rebuilding, but when was the last time the Kings actually had a bonafide starting goalie?
It's all going to go down in the next several hours.

Speaking of waivers: Is anybody going to claim Michel Ouellet, who was put on waivers yesterday by the overloaded Lightning?

Tags: Khabibulin+clears+waivers? Kings Senators Blackhawks

Canadiens acquire Lang

Lang to Montreal in exchange for a 2nd round pick in 2010 going back to Chicago. What can the 37 year old Lang bring to the Habs? I would say about 20-25 goals and about 50-60 points. Lang scored 21 goals and 54 points in 76 games with the Blackhawks last year. But he could put up more points with a higher talent base in Montreal. 2 years ago in Detroit he scored 20 goals and 62 points in 72 games. The year before that (2003-04) he scored 29 goals and 74 points in 63 games with the Capitals. His career stats can be found here.
The Habs also resigned Patrice Brisebois today. I don't know how much Brisebois will make, but I do know he was making $700,000 last season. Lang will make $4 million this season and then become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Tack about $4.7 million onto the Canadiens' cap spending and that should put them around the $54.8 million mark.
What does that say about what Bob Gainey thinks about the chances of landing Sundin? He made his move NOW and is moving on. Of course, Lang could always be traded later on, but I doubt it.
Lang is a natural center, so Montreal is deep down the middle: Koivu, Plekanec, Higgins, Lang, Lapierre..pretty solid. Is Lang the #3 center then? Yeesh.
Lang is another one of those guys though.....great Olympic success for his Czech homeland, but no Stanley Cup. Playoff numbers aren't that spectacular either. But hey, who's to say, right?
Montreal is looking really good as a contender right now. Can they handle that label? We shall see. Kudos to Bob Gainey for being aggressive.

T Tags: Blackhawks+trade+Robert+Lang+to+Canadiens