March 30th, 2018 June 26, 1999, was a day that changed the fortunes of the Vancouver Canucks for more than the next decade. This of course being the day of the NHL Draft that saw Henrik and Daniel Sedin join the Vancouver Canucks. While there are some cynics who think the team’s...
January 30th, 2018With the Vancouver Canucks in the basement of the Western Conference and looking to be sellers at the trade deadline, fans will soon be turning their heads towards the NHL Draft. The fact is, it's likely that the Canucks will be picking high for the third consecutive season...
January 6th, 2018This is the second in a series of articles in which I explore a significant trade for each Vancouver Canucks season, starting with their inaugural season of 1970-71. Without a doubt, the most significant trade the Canucks made during their first season was acquiring future...
January 5th, 2018Today marks the two year anniversary of the suicide of Vancouver Canucks' enforcer Rick Rypien. This may be one of the hardest articles I've ever had to write because Rypien's death hit very close to home for me. You see, I, like Rick Rypien, suffer from depression.
My...
December 28th, 2017As is the case every year for the World Junior Hockey Championship, NHL teams have a keen collective eye on which players' draft stocks are affected by their performances at the tournament. However, teams are also eager to see how some of the prospects already in the system...
December 18th, 2017This is the first in a series of articles where I’ll revisit a significant trade the Vancouver Canucks made during their 48 NHL seasons to date. The Canucks were awarded an expansion team for the 1970-71 season and inaugural general manager Bud Poile set forth to build...
November 13th, 2017Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure played on the same line in the former Soviet Union. Mogilny was the first to make the jump to the NHL, with Fedorov and Bure following. Bure and Fedorov were both elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame and their linemate Mogilny...
August 30th, 2017This article was originally written in December, 2015. During the dead puck era in the years leading to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the Canucks' trio of Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison far from followed the pattern of declining offense in the...
August 25th, 2017The NHL game is evolving. Gone are your typical fourth-line bruisers, and many teams promote speed and skill throughout all four lines. Adding more speed and skill improves the pace of the game, but hockey is losing some of those heart-and-soul players of old. Whether...
August 24th, 2017Too often in hockey, we idolize the best players on the ice. It's not without merit, but why do we always forget about the little guy? Or in this case, the big guy. Sometimes the guys on the fourth-line are just as impactful as the top scorer. Whether they create energy...
April 6th, 2017With only 69 points heading into tonight’s contest against the Arizona Coyotes, it’s almost guaranteed that the Vancouver Canucks will finish the 2016-17 campaign with their worst regular season record since 1998-99. Even if the Canucks win their three remaining...
March 28th, 2016The recent addition of Nikita Tryamkin on the Vancouver Canucks blue line has been heavily anticipated, and with fellow countryman Andrey Pedan also on the team's active roster, there's a bit of Russian flavor that the Canucks haven't had in many years (and have never truly...
January 31st, 2016The NHL All-Star weekend is a fun time for players in the league, and the same rules can often apply for team writers - something I thought I'd take advantage of. 35-year-old Daniel Sedin is the lone Vancouver Canucks player who is an All-Star this year. It's the third...
December 17th, 2015The Franchise Four. The Mount Rushmore. Four players who tell the story of an organization. In this series, I’ll be taking a look at the history of all 30 NHL squads. For criteria, I’m choosing one forward, defenceman, goaltender and a wild card from any...
October 30th, 2015“Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States…” That melodious greeting from Canada’s original and most famous hockey broadcaster has signalled the beginning of Foster Hewitt’s radio accounts of Toronto Maple Leafs games for many years. Hewitt, who...