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The Vancouver Canucks traveling roadshow is in Minnesota tonight as the battle the Wild for Northwest Division superiority.

The Wild’s season so far has been a tale of two teams. At home, they look like an unstoppable powerhouse and hold a 4-1 record at the Xcel Energy Center. On the road, well, their game has been a whole different story. Lucky for the Wild this game is at home.

Vancouver on the other hand has plugged along with all-star goalie leading the way. In a lot of ways Vancouver’s season has mirrored Luongo’s last year. People want put the old race horse to pasture and say the window has closed, but just when you start leading him that way, he shows he’s still got lots of race in him.

If I were most teams, the Canucks would be the team to keep an eye on. With a 5-2-2 record they sit middle of the pack, but if you ask most who follow the Canucks, they haven’t played anywhere near as good as they are capable of playing. To date, I would say at least 50 per cent of the Vancouver roster has been injured or has under achieved. Once they are healthy and playing the way the can this team will be one to watch.

For this game, Cory Schneider gets the task of beating the Wild. With the extra day the Canucks have had to get their legs back and prepare I think we will see a good game out of them. But at the same time, I can’t default what the Wild have done at home. I think we see a good, up-tempo, nasty game from these two team. (which will be nice since it has been a long time since Wild/Canucks games mattered). Watch for Schneider to steal two points and the power-play to make the Wild pay when they get a chance.

4-2 Vancouver


Respect Your Rival

Zach Parise
One player is living up to his big contract and one player is not; that one player that is Zach Parise. Through nine games, Parise has led the way with six goals and 10 points. At that clip, Parise has been in on nearly 50 per cent of the Wild’s goals. That is outstanding production from a player faced huge pressure after signing for big money in the off-season. Vancouver will need to limit Parise’s chances if they want to win tonight.


Mock Draft- Feb 6

1- Washington- Seth Jones, D, Portland, 6”3 208
2- Calgary- Nathan MacKinnon, C, Halifax, 6”0 185
3- Columbus- Jonathan Drouin, LW, Halifax, 5”11 185
4- Buffalo- Valeri Nichushkin, LW, Chelijabinsk, 6”4 200
5- Florida- Sean Monahan, C, Ottawa, 6”2 190
6- Philadelphia- Aleksander Barkov, C, Tappara, 6”3 205
7- Columbus (from NYR)- Hunter Shinkaruk, RW/C, Medicine Hat 5”11, 175
8- Colorado- Elias Lindholm, C, Brynas, 5”11 180
9- Columbus (from LA)- Rasmus Ristolainen, D, TPS Turku, 6”3 205
10- Carolina- Anthony Mantha, LW, Val d’Or, 6”4 190
11- Dallas- Ryan Pulock, D, Brandon, 6”0 210
12- Detroit- Nikita Zadorov, D, London, 6”5 230
13- Minnesota- Nicolas Petan, C, Portland, 5”9 165
14- Winnipeg- Darnell Nurse, D, Sault Ste. Marie, 6”4 190
15- NY Islanders- Curtis Lazar, C, Edmonton, 6”0 195
16- Phoenix- Max Domi, C/LW, London, 5”9 195
17- Toronto- Alexander Wennberg, C, Djurgardens, 6”1 185
18- Edmonton- Zachary Fucale, G, Halifax, 6”1 195
19- Nashville- Josh Morrissey, D, Prince Albert, 5”11 185
20- Vancouver- Mirco Mueller, D, Everett, 6”3 185
21- St. Louis- Frederik Gauthier, C, Rimouski, 6”5 210
22- Montreal- Valentin Zykov, RW, Baie Comeau, 6”0 210
23- Tampa Bay- Morgan Klimchuk, C/LW, Regina, 5”11 180
24- Ottawa- Bo Horvat, C, London, 6”0 200
25- New Jersey- Robert Hagg, D, Modo, 6”2 205
26- Anaheim- Ryan Hartman, C/RW, Plymouth, 5”11 187
27- Pittsburgh- Jacob De La Rose, RW, Leksand, 6”2 190
28- San Jose- Adam Erne, RW, Qubec, 6”0 205
29- Boston- Kerby Rychel, LW, Windsor, 6”1 200
30- Chicago- Shea Theodore, D, Seattle, 6”2 180


That’s a wrap.

Ian



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