Canucks Place Lukowich on Re-Entry Waiver; Kesler Selected to U.S. Olympic Team

Brad Lukowich with the San Jose Sharks

After deciding to permanently part ways with Mathieu Schneider, the Canucks have placed Brad Lukowich on re-entry waivers with the intention of calling him up to the Canucks.  Lukowich would serve as the Canucks seventh defenseman behind the newly promoted Aaron Rome, after Kevin Bieksa was cut above the ankle and will miss the significant amount of time.  There is an outside chance that Lukowich could be claimed for half price by another team before the 24 hour claim period is over, but in all likelihood, Lukowich will be joining the Canucks on their road trip.  If Lukowich does indeed clear, he won’t have far to go to meet up with the Canucks as he’s been playing for the AHL’s Texas Stars this season.  In 29 games this season, Lukowich has 3 goals, 15 assists and 10 penalty minutes for the AHL’s Stars.

It seems like quite a while ago now, but for those with a short memory, Lukowich played fairly well in the pre-season for the Canucks this year.  He didn’t exactly set the world on fire offensively because that’s not his game, but he was a solid and physical presence on the blue line.  In my opinion he played well enough in September to be an NHL player but unfortunately for Lukowich, guys like Aaron Rome slightly outplayed him.  Rome has since come back to reality and played fairly inconsistent when he’s been inserted into the line-up.  In all honesty though, it is difficult to play well on a consistent basis when you’re only playing a few games a month.

Brad Lukowich in the 2009 Preseason with Vancouver

The rumours in the Schneider situation appear to be picking up by the day.  I always saw Schneider as a team guy and I was really surprised that he walked out on the team.  What’s even weirder is that Mike Gillis has refused to comment on the situation which only allows more and more rumours to go around.

Tony Gallagher was on the Team1040 prior to Thursday’s game in St. Louis.  He speculated that Schneider was saying things around the dressing room out of frustration to his diminished role in the line-up and pissed off the wrong person.  Whether that was a coach or a player from the leadership group like Luongo is anyone’s guess.  There is also some suggestion that Schneider wasn’t ready to play when he was called upon by Vigneault.  That would certainly be understandable since he was far from impressive when he did get into the line-up.  He wasn’t helping the power play at all which is basically the entire reason he was brought in.  Then there was also the speculation that he misrepresented his health to the Canucks regarding his off-season shoulder surgery.  That might explain why Mike Gillis is hesitant to comment on the situation.  The bottom line, however, is that Schneider is not welcome back to the team at things currently stand.

2010 Winter Classic

Just to make a note on the Winter Classic, I was thinking to myself when it was 1-0 heading into the late stages of the third period that it wasn’t looking like the game would be much of a classic.  While the game wasn’t really that entertaining all the way through, the ending did provide quite a bit of drama.  Mark Recchi’s tip in was a perfect veteran play when the Bruins needed it the most.  It was so important for the home crowd to finally get something to cheer about.  If he hadn’t scored, the Bruins losing on Tim Thomas’ blunder, while trying to get back at Scott Hartnell for bumping him, would have been a terrible way to lose.

Marco Sturm scores the OT winner in the 2010 Winter Classic

The overtime was equally dramatic as both team had quite a few chances to win the game.  The Flyers had quite a few chances to put the game away in both regulation and overtime before Sturm made a sweet tip in to win it.  The celebration will go down in the Winter Classic archives along with Sidney Crosby scoring the shootout winner.  People are calling for this year’s Winter Classic as the best one yet, but I don’t think it quite beats out the original from Buffalo three years ago.

Kesler Selected for Team USA

One of the other things I was looking forward to during the broadcast was to see the U.S. Olympic team announced just so I could see Ryan Kesler get his due.  He was really a lock so there was no surprise that he was selected but to make it official was nice.  The United States are really going with a young roster this time through.  I can’t see them winning a medal over the likes of Canada, Russia and Sweden but they’ll get plenty of valuable experience if the NHL goes to Russia in 2014.

The Right Man for the Job?

Is Alain Vigneault in it for the long haul?

Mike Gillis has made it no secret that the Canucks are interested in renewing the contract of head coach Alian Vigneault.  When asked about the ongoing contract negotiations at the beginning of training camp on Saturday, Vigneault refused to answer questions about it.  Although he did say, while smirking, that if management wants to extend his contract then he would “consider it”.

The deal is rumoured to be a three-year extension to his current contract which still has the 2009-2010 season left on it.  In a league where coaches are hired and then fired faster than Mick McGeough can inhale a hot dog, a three-year deal is essentially an eternity.  That, however, is not my main concern because I don’t really care about Aquilini’s bank account should the Canucks fire Vigneault in the first year of his contract.  I’m still not convinced that Vigneault is the right man to lead the team to the Stanley Cup.  With that being said, I wouldn’t necessarily complain if the new deal gets done, but I would have my doubts in his ability to take the team to the next level.  One thing that would be impressive if Vigneault could last through a three-year extension, would be that he will have coached 5 years for a general manager that did not hire him; a rare feat in professional sports these days.

Vigneault does have a lot going for him that would suggest that he is the right man for the job.  The Canucks played their way to game 6 of the second round last season.  It was their longest season since Marc Crawford led the Canucks to game 7 of the same round against the Wild in 2003.  Vigneault also won the Jack Adams award as the leagues top coach in 2007 when he led the Canucks to a 7 game first round win.  Many will argue that he wasn’t the leagues top coach that year, but either way, being nominated alone is impressive.  With all that being said, it doesn’t seem as if he can command the best out of his players each and every night.

Despite getting to the second round last year, the Canucks were prone to stretches where they didn’t play well at all, including an 8 game losing streak in January.  A coach needs to lead and provide an example for his players to follow.  Obviously none of us know what goes on in the dressing room, but I don’t feel as if Vigneault projects the idea of a leader onto his players.  Instead he’s much more content to be laid back and crack jokes on the bench and with the media.  Obviously being confrontational is not the only way to coach but I would much prefer someone who is more intense.

Then there is tendency to sometimes sit back and play defense in order to protect a one goal lead instead of trying to continue to push the pace offensively.  The game in San Jose last January immediately comes to mind.  The Canucks sat back and tried to protect a one goal, third period lead only to end up losing in overtime.  Now that Mike Gillis has given him more talent to work with, Vigenault sits back on leads less often but I feel it was still a too common occurrence last year.

For me personally, I look at a team like Calgary and see Brent Sutter behind the bench.  He’s been coaching in the NHL for significantly less time than Vigneault, but I’d be much more confident in him getting the most of his players and winning games than I would Vigneault.  Perhaps it’s because Sutter has been shoved down our throats by the media, such as TSN, for his dominant teams at the World Juniors that I would feel more comfortable in him.  Either way the man is a proven winner and was in such high demand that the Flames were willing to go to down a questionable path to get him.  There are of course other examples.  I can’t put Vigneault on the same level as Ken Hitchcock, Mike Babcock or Pat Quinn.  Instead he’s more in a tier with the likes of Joel Quenneville, Ron Wilson, and Andy Murray who are great coaches that have never really won anything.  Of course Vigneault and any of the other coaches on that list could be considered one of the best in the game with just one cup win.

Demitra Rumors Make My Head Explode; Also Updated Cap Info

How injured is Pavol Demitra?

Rumors that Pavol Demitra may be out until mid December are picking up a lot of steam across the internet.  It is unclear to me right now where these rumors started, but it seems that it can be traced back to late July on the Canucks.com message boards.  Whether or not they go further back than that is unknown.  If you know where the speculation started then by all means leave a comment and let me know.

If we look at the facts, the Canucks announced that Demitra was to have surgery in early May to repair a torn labrum alongside Taylor Pyatt and Alex Burrows in early May.  Those comments were made during the Canucks end of the season press conference and appear to be the last official comments about Demitra’s rehab.  Demitra’s rehab at that point was expected to last four months.  I searched for any kind of updates on his status but was unable to find them, so, if you have a legitimate source on his progress, again post a comment.

According to the timeline given back in May, Demitra should be ready in time for Canucks training camp, although with such a serious shoulder injury it would not be surprising to see him miss camp or skate on his own in order to avoid contact.  It would also not be unexpected if he sat out the pre-season.  There would be no use in re-aggravating the injury in a meaningless game.  Of course there is also the chance that he won’t be ready for the start of the season just because his injury isn’t healing as quickly as expected, but to say that a December return for that reason would be irresponsible.

What’s sparking the debate over Demitra’s health is the Canucks salary cap situation.  Mike Gillis boldly stated that he wouldn’t have to move anyone in order to get under the cap for the season.  That could mean that there is something that he isn’t telling us because the Canucks clearly do need to make a move to get under the cap if everyone is healthy.  Perhaps there is another trade in the works as I tried to predict earlier.

With all that being said, I did over estimate the amount that the Canucks are over the cap at the moment.  It serves me right for only looking at the bottom like instead of the components of it.  If Schneider signed at the rumored 1.55 million, the Canucks would be 1.735 over the cap.  That would be roughly Demitra’s worth if he was out until mid December, but again his return date is pure speculation.  Keep in mind that cap hit does not include Cody Hodgson who could easily make the big club.   The team is also unlikely to carry 8 defensemen on their roster and as a result one of the veterans is going to be the odd man out.  Based on all of this it appears a move must be coming.  Operating above the cap and counting on LTIR relief is a poor way to do business and I can’t see Gillis banking on that no matter what he says in his comments.