All Entries Tagged With: "Willie Mitchell"
Luongo Steps Down; Why Kesler is Right Captain for Canucks’ Cup Chase
After a summer’s worth of speculation, pushed back meetings and enough twitter debate to make your fingers ache, the “Captain in the Crease” era is over in Vancouver.
Salary Cap Reality Sends Mitchell Packing, Finds Tough Torres a Home with Canucks
In the salary cap era, a player’s loyalty to an organization, and the inverse fan/organizational loyalty to a player can often fall victim to the dollars and sense of signing a certain player to contract. Willie Mitchell, Raffi Torres and the Vancouver Canucks fan base now know well of the business side of the NHL. [...]
Dog Days of a Canucks Summer: Questions Surround Mitchell, Bieksa
While time has flown by over the last year, the dog days of summer are upon us and the hockey calendar has drifted into the slowest time of year for hockey fans. If Brian Burke had his way, resurrecting hockey’s World Cup would spice up hockey’s summer slumber. For now, Twitter will have to entertain [...]
DAILY RUMORS: Canadiens Interest in Mitchell and Carey Price Only Seeking a Two-Year Contract
We at HockeyIndependent.com want to be your resource and filter for what is going on in the NHL. We try to disseminate the noise in the blogosphere. We don’t look to to attack those sources, but to question the veracity of the rumor with cold logic, hockey smarts and knowledge. To do that… we have [...]
DAILY RUMORS: A Look at the Rumored Suitors for Tomas Kaberle… In a Market that is, Well, Lacking
We at HockeyIndependent.com want to be your resource and filter for what is going on in the NHL. We try to disseminate the noise in the blogosphere. We don’t look to to attack those sources, but to question the veracity of the rumor with cold logic, hockey smarts and knowledge. To do that… we have [...]
“We’re Not Done Yet” Gillis Eager After Adding Ballard, Oreskovich, Draftees
Mike Gillis sure is a man of action isn’t he? While Gillis may not have the style and swagger of notorious past Canuck GM Brian Burke, however Gillis proved he is not afraid to make a move on draft day. Minutes before the draft began, a deal had been made (contingent on Jarred Tinordi and [...]
Happy Canada Day and FreeAgentmas!
Recent research by Canadian historians has revealed that the Fathers of Confederation made one other landmark decision after signing the British North American Act in 1867, the document which gave Canada official status as a nation. Nobody knows for sure which Father came up with the idea, but on July 1, 1867 in Prince Edward Island, one wag [...]
What Now – Canucks Look Towards NHL Draft, Free Agency, Award Hardware
Now that the evil Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup, leaving all of Vancouver with the “at least we lost to the Cup winners” excuse, it is time for the Canucks, specifically GM Mike Gillis to evaluate and improve the Canucks roster in order to elevate the team to the later rounds of the [...]
What Went Wrong: Analyzing Luongo, Questioning Character and What Needs to Change
IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. The Vancouver Canucks 2010 season has been a tale of two teams, and unfortunately for the Canucks their regular season performance was far superior in comparison to their playoff success.
Never Say Die – Canucks Set to Battle Blackhawks; Extend Series at GM Place
The Canucks had no choice but to step up and prove their critics wrong, after talking about all the right things throughout the playoff series against the Blackhawks, the Vancouver Canucks executed their game plan to perfection, jumping on the favoured Blackhawks early and often on Sunday. After Brent Seabrook’s early wrist shot surprised Roberto [...]
De Ja Vu; Canucks Look to Avoid Elimination at Hands of Blackhawks Inside the Madhouse on Madison
The Canucks’ have shot themselves in the foot so many times this series, it is simply not possible for them to collectively harm themselves again, their metaphorical feet have already been blown right the [Gretzky] off.
Luongo, Kesler Lead Confident Canucks into War with the Blackhawks
After Vancouver’s impressive game one performance, the Canucks and Blackhawk’s continued the series trend of dominating visiting team victories as the Blackhawks manhandled the Canucks on Wednesday night at GM Place. The Blackhawks used their playoff specific game plan to simply outwork, outhustle and outwit the Canucks in game three. Chicago’s ability to force pucks [...]
Get Your Towels Ready; Canucks and ‘Hawks Take the Series to Vancouver
There comes a time in every young man’s life when he must make a very important decision, free tickets or day to day responsibilities? As hockey fans, you will all understand that the right choice is of course, the tickets. With that in mind, I apologize for the light article today; I’m busy racing to [...]
Canucks Look to Build on “Embarrassing” Game Two for Blackhawks
With a bad taste in their mouth that has lasted with them for a whole season, The Vancouver Canucks returned to the Madhouse on Madison determined to silence the crowd after being run out of the building in last year’s crushing season ending defeat. After a tense opening ten minutes, the Canucks got to work [...]
A Fight for Revenge; Canucks and Blackhawks Set for Battle in Conference Semi-Final Rematch
After a frustrating and at times scary series against the Los Angeles Kings, the Vancouver Canucks have once again emerged out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with hopes of making the next step by advancing to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 1994. While the young and talented [...]
THE NARROW MARGIN: BLACKHAWKS-CANUCKS’ GRUDGE MATCH 2010
“Whenever you can win a playoff series, it feels good. I don’t know who said it was going to be an easy series or we were going to get upset. It was two teams that played hard going back to the regular season. It was a very tough series. I give them a lot of credit. It could have really gone either way.”
This was Patrick Sharp’s summary of the series against the Predators, but it could have been a preview of the rematch between the Blackhawks and the Vancouver Canucks. The ingredients for a classic combat are there. Two talented teams with a history of hate; two teams who match up in a variety of areas; two teams who have been anointed as legitimate contenders for the Stanley Cup.
Sedins, Luongo lead Canucks Cup Campaign; The Vancouver Canucks 2010 Playoff Preview
82 Games played, 103 points. Another regular season has come and gone, and once again the Canucks stand atop the Northwest Division poised for a lengthy playoff run. Unlike years past, this season’s playoff optimism is accompanied by a sense of expectation, and in some minds a certain sense of confidence in this year’s edition [...]
Canucks Best Ducks; Go Shark Hunting in Cali
It was an unfamiliar sight for the 18,000+ in attendance at GM Place Wednesday night; a healthy Roberto Luongo sat on the bench to start the game in GM Place for the first time ever as a Canuck. In net, Andrew Raycroft looked as though he had been making all those consecutive home starts over [...]
On the Road Again: Canucks overcome Olympic Hangover against BJ’s and ‘Wings
After one of the most exciting and memorable hockey games of all time on Sunday, it’s not surprising that Roberto Luongo was given the night off against Columbus on Tuesday, allowing Andrew Raycroft to get a rare start. Luongo looked almost comfortable and at peace on the bench for a change, I guess a gold [...]
Trade Deadline 2010: Canucks add depth and size, ship off Veteran Schneider.
It was a generally quiet deadline day for the Canucks, who have never been known to make a huge splash during the Canadian half holiday. No blockbuster deals were made almost cross the NHL today; it seems Brian Burke took all the excitement out of the day earlier when he acquired names like Phaneuf and [...]