Just call him King Midas.

Alain Vigneault was the biggest of many question marks going in to the 06/07 season for the Vancouver Canucks, but it seems that almost every move he makes turns to gold.

Vancouver fans were so used to the always slick styled hair of Marc Crawford who coached the Canucks for the last 7 seasons which is why they were a bit ancey when GM Dave Nonis named the ex-Habs bench boss to be the new coach of the Canucks, especially since bigger names were on the market.

And this year, Vigneault has got my vote for the Jack Adams, and it seems to be catching on around the league that this guy is really a great coach, since the talk is that the award is between Vigneault and Islander’s coach Ted Nolan.

Vigneault hasn’t just been riding on the pure skill of MVP candidate Roberto Luongo and the recent success of the Sedins, he has been the brains behind the whole operation.

At the beginning of the season, when everyone was predicting what the Canucks’ line combinations would be, nobody thought of throwing Naslund with the Carter-less Sedins, but Vigneault did it, and it was magic.

The “Ikea” line was producing, the Sedin’s were two of the top 10 scorers in the league, but the only problem was that the rest of the team couldn’t produce and the Canucks were losing games.

So I guess Vigneault was listening to the Team 1040 post-game radio show that I called in to and told the host that Taylor Pyatt should play with the Sedins if the Ikea line HAD to be seperated, that idea got completely shot down by the host.

But wouldn’t you know it, the next game Vigneault put Pyatt and the Sedins together to form the top line, Pyatt popped home the first goal of the game, and has since been one of the best players on the Canucks, putting up career highs in goals and points, doing much more then the Canucks wanted from him at the beginning of the season.

On the defensive side, Vigneault threw youngster Kevin Bieksa with the defensive minded shutdown man Willie Mitchell, and Bieksa bursted out offensively, which is suprising since he is usually only known for his grit. This tandem has been the teams top two defencemen since the first game they were put together.

Then there’s the recent success of Jeff Cowan, who was rewarded by Vigneault with more ice time for his hard work (and Josh Green going down), and scored a goal, then  was promoted to the 2nd line the next game and scored 2 goals, let’s hope this pattern continues.

The best part of Vigneault’s coaching style is his rewards for hard work, and punishment for a lackluster performance. Marc Chouinard knows that first hand since he was sent to waivers after scoringjust two goals this season.

Vigneault’s Canucks are tops in the Northwest division and are the holders of the best record in the league since Christmas, and in my mind should be a lock for the Coach of the year award.

Two points is two points.

The Canucks played in their 40th one goal game of the season against Phoenix Thursday and come out on top for the 37th time this season, winning 4-3.

The ‘Nucks came out flying, knowing that they couldn’t give up another loss to a non-playoff contending team, like they have done so often over this season.

Early on Alex Burrows laid a big hit on Coyotes’ d-man Nick Boynton, which led to a scrap with Jeff Cowan.

But that was it for entertainment until much later, as the two teams exchanged goals, with Cowan scoring a shorthanded goal for his first ever as a Canuck, ultimately leading tobeing selected for the 1st star of the game. Cowan was an assist away from the ol’ Gordie Howe hat-trick.

Shane Doan put the desert dogs ahead with a beauty one-timer five-hole in Luongo early in the third, although it was a shot that 10 games ago, Luongo most likely would have had.

This finally woke up the vintage clad Canucks who started to put some serious pressure on as the puck hardly left the Phoenix zone, leading to a Canucks powerplay.

About half-way through the man advantage, with the crowd buzzing and the home team all over the visitors, Henrik Sedin fed his borther Daniel with that patent-pending slap-pass that Danny made no mistake on, putting it past Curtis Joseph for his 2nd goal of the game to tie it up at 3.

The Coyotes sloppy play then led to another powerplay and the with Canucks still all over their opponents, Markus Naslund took a Jan Bulis pass and slid the game winner past CuJo.

It may be another one-goal game against a team that the Canucks should have run over, but as the old cliche says, two points in two points.

“We knew that we had to win to stay on top and…we found a way to win,” said Naslund.

The Canucks next game is a pay-per-view game against the Minnesota Wild, a huge game as the two teams are in that tight battle for the coveted top spot in the Northwest division. 

Don’t worry about the Lions

British Columbia football fans were pulling their perverbial hair out when it was announced that Lion’s head coach and general manager Wally Buono decided not to offer star linebacker Carl Kidd and star reciever Ryan Thelwell contracts.

Carl Kidd is basically the trashtalking voice of the team and has been a defensive standout during his stay in B.C.

Ryan Thelwell has always been the number two option for quarterbacks Dave Dickensen and Buck Pierce, but that’s not too bad when you realize that the number one option, Geroy Simon, was the leagues most outstanding player in 2006.

So how can Buono not at least try and get a deal done with these two guys? Think about it. Buono was the 2006 coach of the year. He is obviously the best talent scout in the league. My reasoning for that? Dave Dickensen is the best quarterback in the league, thats almost a given and credit Buono for bringing him back from the NFL and getting rid of the aging Damon Allen, but the best part about that is that any team in the league would be happy to have our 2nd string quarterback Pierce as their starter.

Oh yeah, Buono is also the guy who found Casey Printers, 2004’s Most Outstanding Player. He as also orchestrated a great offensive line headed by Lineman of the year Rob Murphy, and was able to put together this great line by having two great Canadian recievers in 2004 Rookie of the Year Jason Claremont and hometown standout Paris Jackson, who caught a highlight reel touchdown pass in the Western Finals.

Buono also realized that runningback Antonio Warren just wasn’t getting it done on the ground a few games into last season, so he went out and signed NFL Europe MVP Joe Smith. In Smith’s first game he rambled on for three touchdowns, and then achieved the same feat again in his next game.

And don’t forget that the Lions have the best Defence in the CFL, and if Buono doesn’t want to sign Kidd, you know that’s gotta mean that Buono has a great player ready to fill the Linebacker position, maybe even better then Kidd could.

As for Thelwell being gone, he’ll be replaced by Tony Simmons, a great, fast receiver who will be able to outrun most DB’s in the league. The only problem with Simmons is that he has been prone to injury as he has been permanently sidelined in both of the last two seasons due to knee injuries.

If Simmons does re-injure that knee, Buono has either Gilles Colon or Kendrick Jones ready to fill the void, both of whom got in some solid playing time with the Lion’s last season.

Coach Buono has already come out and told the media that this is the best returning nucleus from a Grey Cup winning team that he has ever coached.

The Trevor Linden Theory

You probably won’t believe me on this one, but at the begginning of the NHL season, I asked myself the question that most other Canuck fans had been asking for the last 3 or 4 years and that question was, “why can’t Trevor Linden score anymore?”

I thought long and hard to myself and figured it out. The Vancouver media, the coaches, the players, and even Linden himself had basically beaten it into the 1988 2nd overall draft pick that he was flat out not out there for scoring.

Fans were complaining on sports radio shows that we should trade our former captain because he is only putting up seven goals in a season, the radio hosts would reply that it doesn’t matter if he’s not scoring, he’s there for leadership.

When a guy is being told by everyone around him that he’s not supposed to score and he should just mentor the younger players on the team and be a leader, it’s bound to hurt his confidence, and ultimately his game.

So that was the Crawford era. Canucks miss playoffs, fire the coach, unload Bertuzzi, Jovo, and Cloutier, and hire a new coach– a new coach who finally let Linden play his game.

He put him on the powerplay and on the ice in key situations, and above all else showed confidence in him. Linden still wasn’t putting up the points and had 2 goals at Christmas time, but Coach Vigneault stuck with him.

Playing with the twins on the number one powerplay on the Canucks, Linden bursted out and has since already topped his goal total of last year, the bulk of which have come since Christmas.

The goal he scored last Thursday against the Kings reminded me of the Trevor Linden of old as he streaked down the left wing and snapped one home glove side just inside the right post on Mathieu Garon. He looked like the same Trevor Linden the lead the Canucks to the 1994 finals.

And oh yeah, he’s basically the unofficial captain of the team. So if you want Linden to put up points, put some confidence in him. Throw him in the powerplay and high pressure situations and it will pay dividends to the outcome of the game.

No Nickname for Brodeur

Great goalies have always had great nicknames. From the “Dominator” Dominik Hasek to Curtis “Cujo” Joseph. From Nikolas Khabibulin, a.k.a. the “Bulin’ Wall” to “Godzilla” Olaf Kolzig and Eddy “The Eagle” Belfour.

When I tried to think of a nickname for Martin Brodeur, a 32-year-old who is one of the greatest goalies of all time, has the 3rd most shutouts in NHL history, soon to be 2nd most, and leads every signifigant goaltending category in the NHL this season, I couldn’t think of any nickname for him.

I decided to look it up, thinking maybe it would be some sort of eastern thing that I’ve never heard since we hardly see him here in Vancouver, and the best that I could find is “the man” and “the wall.”

Are you serious? Brodeur is a sure-fire hall-of-famer and is going to end up being mentioned with the likes of Patrick roy, Terry Sawchuk and Ken Dryden (who are all Canadian, might I add for my own personal pleasure).

So someone in New Jersey better pull it together and find this guy a nickname before he retires. Maybe when I’m a bit for famous I’ll get into the Devil’s dressing room and see what they have to say about it.

Beginning of the Season.

Well it looked like it last night. Those games where the Canucks just can’t score. Hopefully it’s not because of the old face back in the lineup in Brent Sopel.

No work effort, no scoring, no win. And the thing that reminded me most of last season, they lost to St. Louis. The same horrible bottomdwelling team that beat the ‘Nucks four times last season, being the difference in whether or not Vancouver made the playoffs.

Luongo was..average. Three goals on 18 shots, albeit having one of them on a 5-on-3 and deflecting off Willie Mitchell, who is normally a defensive specialist. Luongo played like he did at the beggining of the season: average.

There is always critics complaining that “Bobby Lu” gets too many shots and that he’s going to ware out, but he isn’t one of those goalies that can just stand in net and make a save every two or three minutes. He needs 25-35 shots every night to stay sharp and play his game. He loves getting lots of shots and that’s when he’s at his best.

Let’s hope this is just another occurance of the trend where the Canucks just can’t get up to play bad games.

Newcomer Bryan Smolinsky commented on how the conditioning wasn’t where it needs to be on the team. I really hope he was only talking about that one game since it wouldn’t be the best idea to come on a new team and tell them that they’re out of shape.

It will, however, help out to have Taylor Pyatt back in the lineup, as the Sedins were doing there best and giving Tommy Santala, the newest top liner, chances, but chances he just couldn’t bury. Most of the decisions Vigneault has made this year have “turned to gold” as Don Taylor puts it, but putting Santala on the top line just isn’t working out. He’s too weak on the puck and his balance isn’t where it needs to be to cycle the puck along the boards with the twins.

If this game isn’t a wake up call to the Canucks that they need to take every game seriously no matter how bad the opposition is, the Canucks are going to end up losing another one in Phoenix Thursday, and are going to be hard-pressed to win the Northwest.

Sid the Kid or Alexander the Great?

Not since Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux has there as much hype for two players coming into the NHL at the same time as there is for Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.

 

The two players stormed on to the scene last year in the best rookie class in NHL history in a neck and neck race for the Calder Trophy for the league’s most valuable rookie.

 

Although Ovechkin won the Calder Trophy and finished the year with 106 points opposed to Crosby’s 102, the ideal player and the one that will in the end be classified as the best player, maybe in NHL history, is Crosby.

 

As a 19-year-old, Crosby is now leading the league with 72 points in only 43 games, when the 22-year-old Ovechkin has played 5 more games then Crosby but has 7 points less then him.

 

The one edge that Ovechkin has over Crosby is that Ovechkin has the ability to flat out produce goals, as he put up 56 last season.

 

But Ovechkin scoring goals won’t ever win a team a championship.
 
To win a championship you need a player that can consistently put up points, and make the rest of the team better, which Crosby can do with his impeccable vision of the ice, which is where is 63 assists came from last season.
 
And Although Ovechkin is consistently filling the highlight reels with high profile goals, he is actually hurting his team when he steps on the ice as he has a plus/minus rating of –6.
 
Crosby’s defensive ability has been questioned throughout his career so far, but his plus/minus rating this season is a +13.
 
One of the most astonishing aspects of Crosby’s career is the pressure that has been put on him since he was a 5-year-old playing tyke hockey.
 
“I’ve never seen a five-year-old kid skate like that,” said Paul Gallagher, Crosby’s first ever coach.
 
When Crosby was a 16-year-old and everyone in his hometown of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia was talking about him, Wayne Gretzky, who Crosby will always be compared to, came out and publicly said that Crosby is going to be the next “great one.”
 
That is a lot of pressure to be placed on a 16-year-old, many of which would have crumbled under the pressure. Not Crosby.
 
After being selected first overall in the 2003 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Crosby racked up 135 points in 59 games, and in his second year of junior put up 169 points in just 62 points.
 
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michael Therien offered Crosby the title of team captain, but Crosby refused because he knows he is too young for the job, so Therien simply decided not to name a captain at all, showing that even though he doesn’t have the official title, it’s Crosby’s team.
 
Barring injury Crosby is going to be the one to talk about in the next 20 years of hockey, and is the future of Team Canada hockey.
 
 Sidney Crosby is the next Wayne Gretzky. Welcome to the Crosby show.

Justin Morneau

Who are the Minnesota Twins kidding?? and What is wrong with Justin Morneau’s agent??

I’ll consider myself a bit more then an average fan of baseball but I’m not a die-hard as I think the sport is for pansies, but hey, it’s the only sport on in the summer.

So in the NHL, which I am much more familiar with, and can consider myself a die-hard fan of, winning the Hart Trophy as MVP of the league would basically warrant about a $6.5 million dollar contract.

So I see the news today that Justin Morneau has agreed to terms with the Twins on a $4.5 million dollar contract. Are you serious?! And to make it even wierder, he only gets a one year contract!! Usually being the league’s most valuable player can warrant some stability a guy’s life, at least for the next 4 or 5 years.

This isn’t hockey, this is baseball for god’s sake. The USA’s “national past-time.” A sport where guys who aren’t even in the MVP race are playing with $100 million dollar contracts.

A sport where there are DOUBLE the games as an NHL season, and almost double the attendance, with ticket prices basically the same per-game as hockey.

Let’s take Alex ‘ARod’ Rodriguez for an example. The guy took critisism all year long for inconsistant play, and let’s face it, even when his play was consistant, it was horrible, and he’s making $22 million a year.

Then there’s Derek Jeter, the face of the Yankees, some say the face of the league, and he’s pulling down $18 million per year. Ok, at least he was actually in the MVP race, but does that make any sence for him to be making $13.5 million more than the guy who actually won the AL MVP?

And those two aforemetnioned players are on the same team!

Yes, I know the argument is that the Twin’s gave him a contract to see if he can do it again and then they’ll give him the big contract. But I guarentee some team in the MLB would give him that big contract.

So as a word to Justin Morneau, find yourself a new agent.

Deadline Day.

Four hours past the deadline and I’ve been able to rekindle my thoughts about the zoo of trades that happened within the last week or so. Let’s break it down team by team.

Anaheim…Picked up Brad May, got rid of two young goalies. As for “Mayday,” did Burke really need another tough guy? Usually he is known for picking up scorers at the deadline and with George Parros, Francois Beauchemin and Shawn Thornton, among others who are willing to drop the mits, did the Ducks have to get more “mighty?” It probably would have benefited them more to have picked up some more defensive depth seeing as they have the worst goals against total among the western conference teams holding down playoff spots. Remember the old cliche: offence wins games, defence wins championships.  As for the goalies they lost, they should be careful because they may not be able to afford Giguere next season and are going to need a solid backup for Bryzgalov.

Atlanta…did what they needed to do. Picked up a season NHL vet in Keith Tkachuk who can bring experience and leadership into a young dressingroom with offensive studs Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk. Atlanta is currently heading downwards in the East going 3-5-2 in their last 10, so hopefully Tkachuk can help there, other then that the Thrashers were dormant on deadline day.

Boston..was basically dormant. Got rid of Aaron Ward to Broadway for another defenceman in Paul Mara, a smiliar one at that. They also picked up Dennis Wideman. Nothing to write home about. Myabe if they really wanted to bolster their future they could have started dealing Glenn Murray or Tim Thomas for draft picks and prospects, both of whom would be great assets to teams making a playoff push.

Buffalo…did what a Stanley Cup contender needed to to. They knew they owed it to Martin Biron to send him to a team where he can be the number one goalie, and unloaded his big salary which they didn’t need, while also picking up a solid back-up in Ty Conklin who can play 3 or 4 games down the stretch. Oh yeah, they picked up Dainus Zubrus, a top line player in Washington, probably a 3rd liner in Buffalo, which isn’t a bad thing at all. Zubrus has 20 goals and 39 assists..albeit playing beside a guy named Ovechkin.

Calgary…Looks like they’ll make the playoffs, and are maybe the most dangerous Canadian team. Quiet at the deadline picking up bruising d-man David Hale, but other then that  they didn’t really need to do much. They did what Iglinla wanted and grabbed Conroy a couple weeks ago and already have Tanguay. And a top 5 goalie in Kiprusoff always helps. My playoff prediction is that they won’t get past the first round if they don’t win the Northwest.

Carolina…Should have done more. Picked up Anson Carter over the weekend, a VERY overrated Anson Carter at that. Was it the Sedins who made Carter or Carter who made the Sedins? I think we’ve all figured out the answer to that one. With the Islanders nipping at the heels of the Hurricanes who are currrently holding down the 8th spot in the east, its doubtful the ‘Canes will get in with Ryan Smyth in Long Island.

Chicago…a seriously underachieving team with what should be great goaltending and great scoring..I guess that can be partly blamed on injury. They did beat out Detroit in picking up Jason Williams in exchange for Kyle Calder, so next season they could make the playoffs if Havlat and Khabibulin get going. Sorry boys, no playoffs this year..again.

Colorado…not looking like the playoffs are realistic for them either. 13 points out of a playoff spot with less then 20 games to go doesn’t bode well for the Denverites. They did grab Scottie Parker in exchange for a 2008 6th round pick from San Jose…yawn..

Columbus…another team that didn’t do much, picked up a couple draft picks which should hopefully help out their young team with Rick Nash, Bilbert Brule and goalie Pascal Leclaire.

Dallas…now has a pretty solid team since they grabbed the semi-coveted Ladislav Nagy and a very good defenseman in Matthias Normstrom, the now former captain of the Kings. They also grabbed a couple 3rd and 4th liners in Shane Endicott and Konstatin Pushkarov. Not quite an elite team, but knoicking on the door for sure.

Detroit…was involved in one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the day. Todd Bertuzzi is headed to the Motor City and in three weeks or so when he is fully recovered he’ll throw on a Red Wings jersey, and be on the same team as Chris Chelios. The same Chris Chelios that Bertuzzi had some amazing battles with. So ether they respect eachother, or dispise eachother. Knowing Bertuzzi, it’s probably the latter, and could potentially lead to the demise of any chemistry in that room, smimilar to that of what happened last year in Vancouver. Only time will tell on this one, and who knows, “The Big Watoozi” could be hurt within his first two games knowing his history.

Edmonton…Edmonton, Edmonton, Edmonton. So much speculation and it finally happened. No more Ryan Smyth. The face of the franchise and a great player in last year’s run to the finals…gone to the Islanders. Although it probably had to be done since the Oil most likely won’t be able to re-sign the unrestricted Smyth next season, I wish Kevin Lowe good luck in regaining the fan-base there, since I can’t see them making the playoffs for a couple years unless Roloson’s play is absolutely STELLAR.

Florida…can basically be described in one word: Seller. But I’ll go a bit deeper. Sent Bertuzzi to mo-town, Roberts to play with Sid the Kid in Pittsburgh, but that’s about it. Everyone was expecting Nathon Horton and Jokinen to head out, but it just didn’t happen. The price for Horton was too high, as speculation was that they wanted Cooke, Scjneider and a 2nd rounder from the Canucks.

Los Angeles…grabbed Washington’s Jamie Heward late, actually about two hours past the deadline, but were sellers. Got rid or Normstrom and Johan Fransson from Dallas but in my opinion got rid of some better players.

Minnesota…another quiet team. Dave Pratt’s pick for the darkhorse of the playoffs but hey that’s Pratt. Grabbed Dominic Moore for a 3rd round pick from Pittsburgh, page 9 news in the sports section at best.

Montreal…Fighting for a playoff spot with their number one golaie out for the year, got rid of Craig Rivet for Josh Gorges and a 1st rounder some odd reason. Normally a team in 7th place would be trying to add those pieces to their team that would help them make that push for the cup, but no. They did nothing.

Nashville….Forsberg. Got rid of Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent and two picks. If the Preds don;t win the cu, this was a horrible trade. Upshall and Parent are great Canadian kids that are going to be stars in the league in the next five years, and they just gotta ask themselves: Will it be worth it? Nashville is the top team in the west and added a full-blown star, but some say he is washed up and injury prone. So far he has 2 points with the Preds, doesn’t seem to be worth it yet, but if he can make it through the playoffs without injury, he’s got the playoff experience and grit to take the Preds to the cup. The only question mark on that team may be goaltending, sinc evokoun has never done anything in the playoffs.

New Jersey….was dormant. gave Calgary David Hle for a 3rd round pic..but that’s it. Brodeur is there whole team anyways so why change anything when they are 2nd in the east?

New York Islanders…Currently trying to get in to the playoffs and out of no where a deal falls into the lap of GM Garth Snow to have a trade in place for Ryan Smyth. Smyth’s got the experience to get the into the playoffs, but with that team I can’t see them getting farther then the 1st round. Ted Nolan has done a good job with that team though, and if they do make the playoffs, the Jack Adam’s award is between him and Vancouver’s Alain Vigneault.

New York Rangers…Another dormant..bad team. Picked up Sean Avery about a week ago for some grit, but no chance for the playoffs for them.

Ottawa…I thought they would be more active. They grabbed Lawrence Nicholat from Washington, but that’s it. In 4th place and no chance of catching their now fierce rival Sabres for the lead in the division, all they need to worry about is holding on to that 4th spot.

Philadelphia…Picked up Marty Biron from Buffalo in hopes of finally settling their goaltending woes that they haven’t been able to fix sine Ron Hextall. They did pick up Lasse Kukkonen and David Cobourn but nobody really expected the league’s worst team to pull any big trades.

Pheonix…another bad team that didn’t do much. Gave up all-star Yannick Perrault to Toronto for Brenden Bell, who will basically play the 6th spot in Phoenix. Another yawn.

Pittsburgh…One of my new favourites. They have the best player in the league in Crosby and some great young talent. So what do you do? Give them experienced leaders and guys to protect them. The answer for those, is Gary Roberts and George Laraque. Pittsburgh si now a serious cup contender and has been one of the best teams in the league since Christmas. If they can’t get it done this year, watch out for the 20-year-old Crosby and Malkin. They’ve got it all. Talent, grit, goaltending, defence, and youth.

San Jose…is looking pretty scary. They didn’t do much but they did pick up the number one player on the market this year in Billy Guerin, a great, experience power forward. Thornton, Marleau, Cheechoo, Guerin, Goc…this has gotta be one of the top offences in the league right now.

St. Louis…Basically unloaded their entire roster. Tkachuk gone, Guerin gone, there goes their scoring. Their goes yet another year in the hockey hotbed or St Louis. (Any sarcasm there?)

Toronto…is quite possibly the most boring team in the league and they proved that again on deadline day. They will be hard pressed to make the playoffs and only picked up Yannick Perrault.

Vancouver…Did what they needed to do. They needed somebody to really get Naslund going and they picked up Smolinski, a real pro who can set them up with the best of em. They needed to fill the noticeably lacking 6th spot on defence with Lukas Krajicek not playing anywhere near where he was at the beggining of the season, so we grabbed fan favourite Brent Sopel. Sopel, in his words, is “jacked” to come back to Vancouver. Even his family is jacked. And so is the rest of the team, as “Sopes” was a very popular guy in  the room, and had great chemistry with Ohlund. So the Canucks still don’t have the greatest offence. They do have the best goalie in the league, and we’ve all seen great goalies steal series in the playoffs before

Tampa Bay…didn’t have to do much. Lecalvier, St Luis and Richards are back scoring like they can, with the first two being the number two and three scorers in the league. They did pick up some defence and grit in Jason Ward and Hullier, but that’s about it.

Washington…unloaded some salary…no chance for them this year..sorry Alex.