Hockey NHL Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

Thanks again. Do you know if any of them have an auto/patch card?

Lastly who was the best Goalie for the Mighty Ducks ?
 
Goalie, probably Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Conn Smyth winner and was the #1 tender during their Cup run .

You might have an easier time finding patch/autos of Selanne or Giguere than Kariya. Giguere definitely has a few.
 
With all the focus on a possible Kesler trade, Vancouver quietly deal Luongo back to the Panthers for center Shawn Matthias and goalie Jacob Markstrom.

He'll still cost them $800,000 a year, but it puts to bed the long running goalie saga, that reignited this week when Torts opted for Lack to play the Heritage Classic.

Not sure about the pieces we got. Kesler is an unhappy center that's played wing all year, so another center only compounds his grievances. But Matthias is 26 which is that experienced youth sweet spot they're looking for. Markstrom... well he was tending for the Panthers AHL affiliate so it appear they're looking to Lack as the future, which I'm totally fine with.
 
What's everyone's pick or playoff matchup they would like to see... I'm biased but I'm hoping this is the year the Sharks have a red hot crack at the Stanley Cup!
 
So the Stanley Cup came and went, would've preferred Rangers, but don't mind Kings again.

Vancouver has since made a few coaching and front office changes.

Torts got the boot and after a long application process comes Willie Desjardins, who has a promising resume, having coached Medicine Hat to two WHL Championships, and the Texas Stars to an AHL Calder Cup last year.
Much maligned GM Mike Gillis was also given the boot and in his place comes Bruins Assistant GM Jim Benning. Also of note was the hiring of club legend Trevor Linden as the President of Hockey Operations, a role that was also previously held by Gillis.

And now it's draft time. With a new coach, new management, and a fresh outlook to the future, the Canucks made a few moves in the first round.

- Ryan Kesler was traded to the Ducks for Nick Bonino, Luca Sbisa, a 1st and 3rd pick
- That 3rd round pick was traded to the Rangers for Derek Dorsett
- Jason Garrison with the rights to Jeff Costello and a 7th round pick in 2015 traded to Tampa Bay for a 2nd round pick.
- Pick #50 to LA for Linden Vey

Kesler has wanted out for most of last season, but a deal never got done. Obviously none of the coaching and front office recruitments changed his mind. With his trade restrictions he picked Anaheim and Chicago as his preferred destinations, with Anaheim as the front runner. After a lot of haggling an 11th hour deal was made, that many see the Ducks as being the winner. I don't. Kes, while great, is getting old and injury prone. Being back in the US with quality players around might boost his production, but won't help his fragility. On the other had we got Nick Bonino, who is coming off a career season, third in the Ducks scoring and with six more points than Kesler.

Garrison deal looks like a salary dump. He was set to get $4.6mil next season, so this with Kesler ($5mil), frees up some cap space for free agency.

So far their draft selections are:
#6 Jake Virtanen - RW (ranked 6th overall in North American skaters)
#24 Jared McCann - C (ranked 10th overall in North American skaters)
#36 Thatcher Demko - G (ranked 1st overall in North American goalies)
#66 Nikita Tryamkin - D (19 year old 6'7" beast from the KHL)
#126 Gustav Forsling - D (18 year old who's represented Sweden at all junior levels)
#156 Kyle Pettit - C (18 year old, left hander)

Question marks over Virtanen and Tryamkin. Virtanen had surgery for a torn labrum recently, and won't be ready for contact until last this year. Despite that it didn't affect his scouting report. And Tryamkin apparently has 2 years left on his deal with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.

Ultimately it all feels promising, and its showing in the attitudes of the fans. Sure some weren't happy Kesler was dealt, but it was inevitable, and no matter what they traded for some are always going to complain. But with all this change, there's are sense of promise.
 
Last edited:
Hi there .

Well well , let's see what happens this year to the Canucks but I feel that as long as they have the twins they will be held back , love the twins but they can't play playoff hockey , was really disappointed this year and did not watch much Canuck hockey watched more preds and shea weber as he is my fav player .
Go Canucks , go preds lol
 
tbf to the Sedins, Torts ground them into paste. He had them playing crazy minutes and his defensive minded gameplan had them playing out of their element.

In news today they signed Ryan Miller to a 3yr $18mil deal. Hopefully he can recapture the form he had at Buffalo when he was damn near impenetrable. Lost his mojo at St Louis. There's history with Jim Benning being the head scout at Buffalo when they drafted Miller. Its a solid move as Miller provides the experience that Vancouver currently lacks between the pipes, but its not a huge long term deal, which shows that Lack is still the future of the club.
 
Radim Vrbata has followed the money and taken a 2 year, $10mil deal at Vancouver. Fantastic deal if he provides the 30-40 goals he promises. If not... well its only a short term deal. Fills the scoring hole left by Kesler, nicely.
 
So we're heading to the final month of Panini's Hockey products before Upper Deck's exclusivity kicks in. Prime is out now, and later in the month we'll see National Treasures for the first and last time in Hockey format.

That said Upper Deck have release pics of their first 2014-15 release, and they're bringing back MVP.

Yeah I read that and groaned. But to my surprise I liked what I saw

http://upperdeckblog.com/2014/07/get-a-first-look-at-upper-decks-2014-15-nhl-mvp/

I've generally preferred Panini over Upper Deck for card designs these last few years, but UD seems to have upped their game. And its the little things I like, such as the framing around the swatch area.

And the Colours & Contours inserts definitely have a Prizm feel about them.
 
New season is a couple of weeks old and the Canucks are cruising along just nicely :D

I was skeptical with some early games against weaker teams, but recently coming back from 0-2 to beat the Av's at home 5-2, then following that with a horrible 3-2 win against the Sharks in San Jose, this team is finding ways to win.

Miller has found some form again and is on a hot streak right now, and Bonino has gelled really well with Burrows and Higgins to form a really potent 2nd line. Sbisa has chipped in a couple himself, so the Kesler trade has paid off, as Kesler's insistence on shouldering the load will ultimately result in him breaking down before playoffs. Happy so see Burrows get the monkey off his back with some early season goals too. Desjardins has got this team back to playing the best, rather than grinding them into paste as was Tortorella's preference.

About the only dour notes would be Sesito losing his spot, coming back in with Burrows' suspension, only to get injured; Bieksa taking a puck to the eye, that fortunately didn't do any serious damage; and Lack seems to have lost a little touch, and has definitely returned to a certain back up role. But some career stability could be good for his development. Just don't lose too many otherwise he'll be trading places with Markstrom.

I'll note that Markstrom is way to good to be toiling away at Utica, and would be a good trade piece come the deadline.
 
Sharks tried to blow things up in the offseason and still couldn't do that properly. Another year of being "there abouts" and not making a deep run yet not bottoming out either. *sigh*
 
Hey there ,

Well Canucks have surprised me so far was not expecting much from them this season but I must say the preds and shea weber are doing well and I've watched all there games so far and they have been fun to watch , I hope they go far this year , go Canucks and the preds would be a cool west conference final .

Jason
 
to Carolina for a 3rd round pick and a 7th round pick in next years draft.

CHUMP CHANGE!

All because Benning's ego won't let him put Miller and his remaining two years on the table.

This team better hope to hell Markstrom's AHL form finally carries over, and that Miller can stay healthy.
 
Back
Top Bottom