Benched Whale - A Vancouver Canucks Blog
So the season starts on Saturday, and since I used Game Center last year, I was looking into whether I should get it again this year. I reviewed it here if you want some info on it. It's great if you like a team not in your local area, if you travel a lot or if you are a die hard hockey fan who doesn't get Center Ice.
But what about the local games for Canucks games you say?
Well Canucks.com now has all the Sportsnet and Sportsnet One games available for purchase through Game Center. Each game is just $2.99 CAD and can be purchased on a per game basis.
Pretty fantastic eh? Well I think it is since I'm one of those people who still have regular cable and don't get Sportsnet One. So even if I purchase all 13 games on Sportsnet One through the Canucks website that only sets me back $38.87, which is a lot cheaper than hitting the bar for 13 nights.
Thumbs up to the Canucks for offering this service.
no commentsIn what The Province calls one of the worst kept secrets, The Canucks are expected to announce signing former Canuck Peter Schaefer to a contract tomorrow. It's such a bad secret that they already have what the numbers on his contract are, which is a one year two way deal paying him $600,000 for NHL time and $105,000 for his AHL time. And don't forget he's still getting paid $767,000 by the Boston Bruins for not playing for them.
He's expected to start on the 3rd line on opening night on Saturday.
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The trade yesterday that got Canuck fans talking saw Shane O'Brien and Dan Gendur go to Nashville in exchange for Ryan Parent and Jonas Andersson. What this trade really was about was saving the Aquilini's some money. Since Parent still needs to clear waivers before he can be assigned to the Moose, there is no certainty that Parent will not be picked up off of waivers and become some other team's property. Shane O'Brien was supposed to make $1.6 million in the minors whereas Parent makes $925,000. So in the end result, regardless if Parent makes it through waivers, is that Parent saves the Canucks money on a player that will only play in the minors this year.
Parent was drafted in the first round in the 2005 entry draft by Nashville Predators, 18th overall. He was traded to the Flyers in 2007 along with Upshall and was traded back to Nashville this summer with a conditional draft pick for the rights to sign Dan Hamhuuis. Now both of them, Hamhuis and Parent (until something changes) are both Canucks. Life can be funny like that.
Shane O'Brien was traded to the Canucks from the Lightning in the beginning of the 2008-2009 season and in two short years he has been able to get the town talking about their bottom six defenceman on multiple occasions. Whether it was his allegations that he sounded off on to the media that the Canucks scratched him because he didn't fight enough, or the time showed up to practice late because he was out late the night before which was addressed by Vigneault in the media or the 14 pounds he put on during the Olympic break, Shane O'Brien has certainly made a name for himself in Vancouver. We may not remember his name in a few years, but it was certainly amusing while he was here.
Sometimes you have players on your team that have so much 'potential' to be good. Like they have the physical disposition and the opportunity to be great, but they don't seem to be able to ever play as well as you think they should. Taylor Pyatt was the player we had pre-O'Brien. It was frustrating to watch because you feel that the player just doesn't 'get it'. And eventually they move on to another team where they get a fresh start, but will yet again play mediocrily and yet again not live up to their potential.
no commentsYou know when you've had one of those days where it's so busy at your work that you don't even have time for lunch? By the time you realize you haven't had anything to eat you are already three-quarters the way done your day and you end up scarfing your lunch in between finishing off a report. Today was one of those days. And by the time I come home to the internet, I find out that Morrison is a Flame?
- Yesterday, The Province was already speculating that Morrison might sign a contract with Calgary but was questioning he didn't make the Canucks
- The team will go with Alex Bolduc as their fourth line center who will play with Tanner Glass and Guillaume Desbiens as his wingers
- Bieksa will be paired with Hamhuis as the first defence pairing with his right handed shot. Ehrhoff will switch to the right side and be paired with Alex Edler and Keith Ballard will be on the third pairing with Andrew Alberts
- O'Brien and Hordichuk both cleared waivers
- Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun riddles his reader to try to figure out what Gilman has up his sleeve to get the Canucks under the cap for the opening game
As per The Province, Shane O'Brien and Darcy Hordichuk has been put on waivers. The Canucks were $3.1 million over the cap before putting the players on waivers not including any LTIR and this moves puts them still just a bit over the cap.
The Canucks management are meeting today to discuss final roster cuts today.
I'll update as I get more details
no commentsShirkov is the new Wellwood and here are your links for today:
- Sergei Shirokov was held out of practice today because his conditioning was not up to an acceptable level. "
- Cody Hodgson felt fine after playing last night in Edmonton
- Luongo will not play the next two games as he's tweaked his groin. No worries though since he's got lots of time before the season starts
- Ballard is frustrated that he's hasn't regained his timing or conditioning yet after recovering from surgery
- The Canucks have cut their roster by 10 players sending down Baumgartner, Bliznak, Connauton, Oberg, Rai, Schroeder, Tanev, Volpatti, Zimmerman and Ramsey
- Matt Sekeres of the Globe and Mail thinks Brendan Morrison is getting closer to signing a contract with the Canucks. I'll be a bit surprised if he does sign a contract with the Canucks because if he does it's going to be a serious pay cut
- Schroeder is told he must dominate at the AHL level before he can expect to play in the NHL
- And from a couple weeks ago, a story in the Globe and Mail about Surrey-born Prab Rai and the Indo-Canadian community
Here are you links for this Saturday:
- GMMG confirms that Cody Hodgson is medically cleared to play but it's his choice as to when he wants to play his first game
- According to Botchford, Hodgson will play tomorrow against the Oilers
- Luongo to start and play the full 60 minutes tonight as per the Canucks twitter
- Jeff Tambellini is skating alongside the Sedins tonight, here is the lineup according to the Vancouver Sun
- Article about Tambellini growing up a Canucks fan by Iain McIntyre
- Photos from the Jake Milford Golf Tournament on Canucks.com
Pre-Season game tonight is in Vancouver against Anaheim at 7pm on CBC. Game tomorrow night is in Edmonton at 5pm on Sportsnet.
no commentsHere is Pierre LeBrun interviewing Kesler out at UBC:
He touches on the new season, the Olympics and being a coverboy of a video game. Since we're all starved for hockey stuff, it's worth a watch, but it really doesn't compare to a beaming Joe Thornton talking about his new baby girl
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If you ask me who the new captain of the Canucks should be I'd have to say Ryan Kesler. I like how hard he works, his style of play and there's just something about him that to me would make a good captain. I imagine he'd give a great motivational speech in the locker room when it comes down to the most important game of the season next year.
Two years before the Olympics if you said that Kesler would make Team USA, he would have been considered a long shot. But his defensive style of play won him a spot on the roster, and when he played against Team Canada, he drove me up the wall with his grinding style. I guess that's how other fans view him when the Canucks play their team. So many other bloggers of other teams that I know think that Kesler should be captain because they were swayed by his performance in the Olympics.
In Vancouver, we know that Kes doesn't like losing, he's often vocal about his dislike for it. You can see his annoyance of it when he speaks to the media but yet he's good with the media. It's a good thing he works well with the attention since he plays for a team in a city where the media is sometimes quite crazy.
During the summer his workout routine sounded similar to what Gary Roberts puts players like Stamkos through:
