HELLO! I am: David Booth

On Saturday, right after the Canucks beat the Wild 3-2 in OT, the Canucks made a big trade, trading Mikael Samuelsson and Marco Sturm to Florida for David Booth, Steven Reinprecht and Vancouvers 2013 3rd round pick they sent to Florida at last years trade deadline for Higgins. Booth is the real prize for the Canucks and their fans in this deal; Reinprecht was a throw in and Vancouver wanted their 3rd round pick to have the ability to offer offer-sheets to RFA's. Being in Florida, it's surprising that so many Canucks fans knew who Booth is. If you don't know who Booth is, he's most famous for being decapitated by Mike Richards as shown here:

Ugly. This hit, which sidelined Booth for pretty much the rest of the season due to a concussion (duh), has raised a lot of fears among Canucks fans that the Canucks have received damaged goods to the tune of $4.25 million over 4 years (this year and 3 years after). However these same people also overlook the fact that Booth did play a full season last year and posted respectable numbers, 23 goals and 40 points, while playing on a terrible team. There are some concerns about his +/- as his +/- last year was -31. To me +/- is an overrated stat as many things out of a players control can influence a players plus minus such as playing on a terrible team that let in 34 more goals then they scored. Oh hey, that's the Florida Panthers that Booth played on last year. Fact is, he'll be playing on a much better team and will be playing on the same line as a Selke winner, so his +/- should improve drastically and to the hope of the Canucks and their fans, his points should improve drastically as well.

Now for all that has been made about Samuelsson and Sturm getting off to slow starts, Booth hasn't exactly been setting the booth on fire either. Get it? I'm sorry, won't happen again. Anyways, Booth has only one assist and is a -6 to start the season. So temper immediate expectations Canucks fans, it may take a little bit of time before Booth gets his game going.

For all that we've talked about the trade, we haven't talked a whole lot about Booth himself and what he brings to the table. Booth is what I like to call a throwback power forward; he doesn't drop the gloves and doesn't take the body like the power forwards of yore, but he's built like a throwback power forward in the sense that he's not that tall (6'0), but is very solidly built, tipping the scales at about 215lbs. He's a good skater for his build and isn't super fast, but has good speed; probably just below Kesler if not at Kesler's skating level. Even though he's not the most physical guy in the world, he will take the body and at his best will drive hard towards the net. He has a good scoring touch, as evidence of his 30 goal season, and playing on a better team with an All-Star, Selke winner, should boost his overall numbers. Booth is also familiar with Kesler and Higgins, having played with the former when they were in the US development program at age 12 and on the 2004 gold medal, US junior squad and having played with the latter in Florida. Already dubbed the AmEx line, big things are expected from that line.

WE HAVE A TRADE!!!!!

 We have a trade! And it's from our little brother, the Florida Panthers. Why are they are little brother? Because in a family, when the older brother wants something that the little brother has, he takes it while leaving little to nothing in return. Pretty much is exactley the way the Florida-Vancouver trades have gone over the years. Anyways on to the trades:

Vancouver Receives:
LW David Booth
C Steve Reinprecht
2013 3rd round pick

In Booth, the Canucks get what they have been looking for a while now; a top 6 forward to play with Kesler. Booth had a decent year last year, putting up 23 goals and 40 points in 82 games. He was also a -31, but I`ll get into that and more information about Booth here. Reinprecht is just a throw in, as his $2.05 million is just sitting in the minors and Panthers ownership did not want to foot that bill any longer. The Aquilini`s should not be overlooked in this trade. Without their financial support and willingness to pay a player $2.05 million in the minors, this trade would not go through. The 3rd round pick we received is the Canucks 3rd round pick that they sent to Florida for Higgins (another trade with Florida where we pretty much took the player we wanted and left very little in return).

Florida Receives:
RW Mikael Samuelsson
LW Marco Sturm

In Samuelsson and Sturm, Florida receive two veteran forwards, who still have the capacity to produce offensively. The problem is that both players are coming off major surgery and neither has looked good at all this season. The bonus to this deal for Florida however is that both players are in the last years of their deal. Dale Tallon will insist that this move was not money motivated and he points to the fact that the Panthers took on $250K in salary. However Booth still has 3 more years at $4.25 million after this season, while, as stated before, Sturm and Samuelsson are both free agents after this season. Plus the fact that they gave up a young top 6 forward for two aging, pending UFA's, this deal screams money for Florida.

Winner:

Whenever a trade happens, the short-term winner is whoever gets the best player player in the deal. The long-term winner can't be decided until a year or two down the road. However we are talking short term and in this deal the Canucks got the best player. Some may argue that Samuelsson is the best player in the deal, but that's just their stupid talking. Booth, like Samuelsson, is also a former 30 goal scorer and he did it on a very bad team, while Samuelsson did it while playing with Kesler and the Sedins. Booth is also 8 years younger then Samuelsson and is also much more mobile then Samuelsson, who, along with Sturm, showed the kind of speed you would expect out of the Roger Neilson statue outside of Rogers Arena. So the short-term winner is the Vancouver Canucks

Time For: Season Preview

Yes, opening night is just a little more then a day away, so lets get prepared for the season ahead of us shall we?
The Canucks

Can the Canucks go back to the Stanley Cup Finals and win?
Yes they can, however one could argue that this team is not as talented as the team from last year. Ehrhoff's absence leaves a considerable hole on the back end as the Canucks do not posses another defenseman of Ehrhoff's offensive prowess. Edler could become that defenseman, but that is a big "if." There are still questions about the second line and if Hodgson and Sturm are the answers to the problem. However this is still a very talented team and as long as the team is healthy heading into the playoffs, another shot at the Cup is definitely not out of the question.

Can Alex Edler take that next step and become an elite defenseman?
The last couple of years, Canucks fans and management have seen glimpses of dominance from Edler, however those moments are too few and far between. Not to say every time he's not dominant he's been brutal, but he's been average far too many times. At his best Edler is the Canucks best defenseman and it's not even close. He has all the tools to become an elite defenseman in this league, he just has to be more consistent and we could have the elite defenseman we have been longing so long for.

Can Luongo solve his post season issues?
The golden question for every Canucks fan is "Can Luongo be the goalie he is in the regular season in the post season?" Now I have long been a Luongo supporter, but even I will admit that Luongo is too inconsistent in the post season (however I am no where even near to those who blame everything on him). For whatever reason he has too many lapses in concentration that lead to untimely goals and it sometimes costs the team. For the Canucks to win the Cup, Luongo needs to be at the top of his game the entire playoffs; he needs to be great. No pressure bro.

NHL Awards Predictions
Art Ross: Evgeni Malkin
Hart: Evgeni Malkin
Ted Lindsey: Evgeni Malkin
Vezina: Henrik Lundqvist
Norris: Shea Weber
Calder: Brandon Saad
Lady Byng: Who cares...... fine, Datsyuk
Selke: Pavel Datsyuk
Jack Adams: Dan Bylsma
Rocket Richard: Steven Stamkos

NHL Team Predictions
Presidents Trophy: San Jose Sharks
Western Champions: Vancouver Canucks
Eastern Champions: Washington Captials
Stanley Cup Champions: Vancouver Canucks (who else am I really going to pick?)

Random Stuff
Overachieving Team: Ottawa Senators
Underachieving Team: Detroit Red Wings
Biggest Free Agent Bust: Ilya Bryzgalov
First Coach Fired: Joe Sacco

HELLO! I am: Dale Weise

On Tuesday, the Canucks claimed winger Dale Weise off of waivers from the New York Rangers. Weise was New Yorks 4th round pick in the 2008 NHL entry draft and has played in 10 NHL games, accumulating 0 points and 19 PIM. Coming into training camp, Weise was expected to fight for a 4th line job on the Rangers and was apparently putting up a very good fight. That's why many around the Rangers organization were surprised when the Rangers put Weise on waivers because many thought he would stick with the big club and many also knew that there was no way Weise was going to make it through waivers. Larry Brooks, he of the New York Post and main guy who covers the Rangers, was also very confused at the move and went to his twitter account to express his confusion:

      NYP_Brooksie Larry Brooks

      "Can't make sense of the Weise move following a very good camp...."

 

Weise is advertised as a good fighter who can skate and has good hockey sense. In his brief stint with the big club last season, he had 3 fights, one of which was with Dan Carcillo who at the time was playing for Philadelphia, but now resides in Chicago which should make that rivalry all the more juicier. However Weise's biggest claim to fame is his infamous incident with a Gatorade bottle:

Good stuff. Almost at the same time that the Canucks picked Weise off of waivers, they placed Victor Oreskivich on waivers. Oreskivich was a frusturating player in the sense that he always appeared to be doing a lot, but in reality was doing very little. He would take big runs at guys and make a loud noise when he hit the boards, but 8 out of 10 times, he would miss the guy. He was also at the ire of many Canucks fans and Tony Gallagher when he did nothing about the Bruins manhandling of the Sedins during the Cup Finals. Throw in a not so good pre-season, and Oreskivich is now heading to the Wolves. 

The Romer Award: Alain Vigneault

Two blog posts in two days!? I know, it's a little odd. However this is a very important blog post as its is the first time I am going to be introducing the Romer Award. The Romer Award is dedicated to Aaron Rome and is awarded to those every once in a while I deem to have exhibited enough stupidy and overall plug-ness to win this award. The award this time is going to Alain Vigneault who will probably be win this award again. Now those who know me know I am not a very big Vigneault supporter however I will admit he is a competent coach (barely). however I am here today to rip him for what he did to Cody Hodgson in the first pre-season game. Now the Canucks and Flames split their pre-season squads, each team keeping half their teams at home and sending half of them on the road. Cody Hodgson was sent to Calgary which isn't that big of a deal, but it was who he was sent with to play with the really pissed me (and Tony Gallagher apparently) off. Hodgson played on the "first line" in Calgary, but his "first line" wingers consisted of career AHLer Mike Duco and tough guy Todd Fedoruk who did not play hockey last season, as he sucked too much for any team to take a chance on him. Like WTF is Vigneault thinking. Here is your organizations top prospect who will be seriously challenging for the currently vacant 2nd line center job, as Kesler recovers from off season surgery, and you have him playing with plug A and plug B. Why wouldn't you play him with Marco Sturm and Anton Rodin or other guys who will be vying for a 2nd line job and see how Hodgson would look with those guys rather then pairing him with two guys who will be lucky to see 4th line time in Chicago. And I know the argument has been thrown out there that "this is just the first pre-season game, AV just wanted Cody to play well positionally and didn't care if he put up points," and to that I say bullshit. That's what Cody was doing last year when he was misused as the Canucks 4th line center near the end of the season. I know Cody is feeling confident coming into this season as he had his first healthy off season in a long time, but who knows how fragile that confidence is. A quick way to destroy it is tell the kid he has a shot at making the team as the 2nd line center and then play him with Dan Cloutier and Brett Lebda the whole pre-season and never give him a chance to exhibit his offensive prowess. Also , if this continues the whole pre-season and Mike Gillis does nothing about it, Gillis could very well be on the receiving end of a Romer Award. Vigneault better not screw this up because if Cody gets pissed, demands a trade and flourishes else where, I want Vigneaults head on a stick (not that I don't already after he got out coached two years in a row by Joel Quinville, almost a third, and then out coached by Claude Julien). 

Pre-Season Time: People to watch for

So it's that time of year again where the NHL pre-season (and it is literally a pre-SEASON. Like players in the NFL bitch and complain about having 4 games for their pre-season. The NHL has 8 pretty much meaningless games to "warm up" for the season, which in fact that all it does is create pre-season superstars whom fans orgasm over touting as the next big thing (see Shirokov, Sergei) only to see them fall flat on their face come the regular system. Or if a team goes 8-0 or 7-1 or 6-2 and fans of those teams are all like "ZOMG, WE DA BEST, CUP IS OURS!!!!!!! *drool*" until they realize come regular season that their team is still the Florida Panthers and proceed to go and cry in a corner, but then that would imply that fans in Florida care and that's just wrong. So basically the NHL pre-season is a place where NHL fan's dreams are crushed unless your a Florida Panthers fans in which they do not have dreams because they still do not realize they have a hockey team.) gets started up and we get to see which new players are trying to make our beloved Canucks. Here are some players you should keep your eye on as the pre-season rolls along.


Cody Hodgson: Duh. The 2008 draft pick has yet to make an impact in the NHL due to a variety of reasons most notably his infamous back injury, the glut of centers on the big club and the fact that Alain Vigneault aka "Crusher of rookies and Keith Ballard's hopes and dreams" still "coaches" the Canucks. However Hodgson has a real chance to shine this pre-season as Ryan Kesler is unfortunately still recovering from off season hip surgery and the second line center position is up for grabs. If Hodgson can show he can produce with no wingers like Kesler did last year; and seriously, have you seen the line Hodgson will be playing on in the first pre-season game? Duco and Fedoruk? Like WTF? Anyways, fact is, Hodgson is on a short leash when it comes to Canucks fans and there is going to be no better chance for him then now and he has to seize it.

Keith Ballard: I know he's not really "new" but he basically is considering how little Vigneault played him and every time Vigneault did play him, a little part of Vigneault died inside; true story bro. Anyways the initial report from camp is that Ballard looks very good, which is good considering someone is going to have to step in the wake of Christian Ehrhoff leaving for, what he considers, his "best chance of winning the cup" which apparently resides in Buffalo. Insert your choice of "rofl," "lmao," or "WTF is dat boy smoking" here. Like Hodgson, this is going to be as good of a chance that Ballard has to prove to the coaching staff that he can handle the vigour's of top 6 defensemen in the Western Conference. I expect big things out of Ballard and lets just hope his confidence isn't as fragile as Sami Salo's body.

Jordan Schroeder: Like Hodgson, Schroeder, the Canucks 2009 1st round draft pick, hasn't made any kind of impact on the big club. After his collegian career ended, he had a short stint with the Moose in which he played very well and put up almost a point per game during the regular and post season. However last season was a rough one for Schroeds as he struggled through an injury plagued season with the Moose putting up 10 goals and 18 assists in 61 games while throwing up a -7 rating. By all accounts, Schroeder was not all that impressive during the prospect tournament in Penticton which is a little alarming considering he should be one of the players dominating that tournament due to his pro experience. However he has looked very good during the main camp so far, so the pre-season should give us a good understanding of where he is. If he does very well, don't be surprised if he's given a spot on the second line to start the season.

Darren Archibald: Here's one guy many Canucks fans (including myself) hope pans out. Signed last season as an undrafted free agent, Archibald was a man amongst boys last season in the OHL putting up 41 goals and 66 points in 61 games while splitting time between the Barrie Colts and Niagara Ice Dogs. At 6'3 210lbs, Archibald could be the power forward the Canucks have been searching for since Todd Bertuzzi. For a big man he has soft hands, is a decent skater and is not afraid to use his body and just be a prick out there (that's a good thing). He has been known to have a couple of discipline issues, but if he has a really good pre-season, we could be seeing him as a bottom 6 forward to start the season on the big club.

Mark Mancari: One of many Gillis signings this off season (yes bandwaggoners, Gillis was signing players much to your bewilderment) Mancari is also an intriguing guy to follow. At 6'4 225lbs, Mancari is a big guy who has a very hard shot (one the AHL hardest shot competition with a shot that registered at just over 102 mph), toughness and offensive skill as he put up 32 goals and 64 points with the Buffalo Sabres AHLMancari never got a shot with the big club. However he should get every shot this pre-season to crack the bottom 6 of the Canucks and at just 26 years of age, still has time to prove himself as an everyday NHLer.

Steve Pinizzotto: Another one of Gillis's free agent signings, Pinizzotto is a career AHLer who's a tough guy/grinder who's not offensively incompetent. Pinizzotto put up 17 goals, 42 points and 178 PIMs in 68 games for the Washington Captials AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. He's a scrappy agitator who can chip in on offense and is pretty good at penalty killing. Had something like 7 short handed goals last season and I don't care if that's against AHL competition, that's damn impressive. It'll be interesting to see if he gets a shot at a 4th line job because as much as the Canucks brass will put on the front that they think their toughness is just fine, you know that they'll still be looking for more grit on that 4th line and Pinizzotto could fit that bill.

RIP Ryp

It is unfortunate that my first entry is such a sobering one. On Monday August 15, 2011, the world learned that Winnipeg Jets forward and former Vancouver Canucks tough guy Rick Rypien, had committed suicide. This came as a shock to many people as they did not know why Rypien had done this, however those who follow the Canucks closely and those in and close to the Canucks organization knew this was always a possibility. Rypien apparently suffered from depression and lost the battle Monday. It is very sad though because many of those close to Rypien believed that he was making progress in battling his illness as he was quoted as recently as the weekend before his death as to being very excited to start the season in Winnipeg where he spent the majority of his Canuck career, as a member of the Canucks AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. However those who are familiar with depression, know that even if a person seems to be on the road to recovery, one real bad day can put them in, and that's what seems to happened with Ryp.

Rypien will always be remembered as the pit bull liked fighter who always took on any comer, regardless of how big they were. He quickly established himself as a fan favourite wherever he went as his never-back-down style of play quickly endeared himself to fans everywhere. Rypien was also regarded as a great teammate and leader as everywhere you read, former teammates always had something good to say about Rypiens character and the type of person he was. Rypien was 27 years old.

RIP Ryp. You will be missed