Should we worry about this pic that Kevin Bieksa Tweeted out yesterday?
It's just a flesh wound, right?
Bieksa's back in Southern Ontario for the summer. Brad Ziemer of the
Vancouver Sun spoke with him last week, talking mostly about golf. I like the part where he throws shade on David Booth:
Nobody ever actually saw David Booth play golf and nobody actually attested his scorecard. So much like a lot of other things with him, we’re not sure if he’s as good as he said he was. I know I am better than the (Sedin) twins. I know that for sure. But I know Brad Richardson is a pretty good golfer. So there’s some competition, for sure.
Bieksa also mentions that he'll be back in Vancouver to participate in the Raise It 4 Ryp golf tournament later this month:
It’s Aug. 28 at Mayfair Lakes. Tanner Glass is playing and when I get back in town I am going to talk to some of the other guys and I’m sure a couple of them will show up at the last minute. There’s more information at raiseit4ryp.com.
NHL Owners Get $5 Million Payout
An
interesting article from David Shoalts at
The Globe and Mail, talking about the extra money the NHL pulled in during the 2013-14 season.
The success of the Stadium Series and the new Canadian TV deal with Rogers allow the league to share $150 million in revenue with its owners. Each team will be getting a cash injection of $5 million.
Shoalts says the NHL likes to keep its financial estimates conservative, so the money will be counted as shared revenue in the 2014-15 season. "And it should also play into a nice jump in the salary cap from $69-million to something around $75-million for 2015-16."
While the league and the team owners are happy with the Rogers deal, it sounds there's a case of buyer's remorse on the other side:
The word out of Rogers Communications Inc., is that the board of directors has everyone below them sweating to wring every cent of revenue out of the NHL broadcast rights on every platform the company owns or controls.
There is much fear the company overpaid for the deal, as the Rogers-BCE Inc., consortium did several years ago for the Olympic rights and wasn’t able to turn a profit. Cost-cutting is the management mantra, which led to a steady stream of layoffs and firings.
We've seen the axe fall on Don Taylor and Craig MacEwen here in Vancouver.
The national TV schedule is live on
NHL.com. It's going to be very different, navigating the Rogers platforms this year!
Who Wore It Best?
As expected, Geoff Courtnall got the nod from
Canucks.com at No. 14. Their Courtnall trivia:
Only once in Geoff Courtnall’s 17-year-NHL career did the team he played for not make the post-season. We’re sure that’s some sort of almost record and an impressive one at that. Courtnall was a monster part of Vancouver’s run in 1994 and his two playoff hat tricks still stands as a team record.
No slight was intended against Chris Oddleifson. Because he was featured at No. 11, I thought it was redundant to go into detail about him again.
So, at No. 15:
Harold Druken: The pride of St. John's, Newfoundland, Druken was chosen by Vancouver in the second round of the 1997 draft. A center with decent size and good hands, Druken lacked consistency. He joined the Canucks in 1999 but was bounced back and forth to the minors throughout his four years in Vancouver.
The highlight of Druken's time with the Canucks was an overtime game-winner over the Los Angeles Kings late in the 2000-01 season, which secured Vancouver's first playoff appearance in five years. Fans were thrilled to have the team back in the playoff picture, though the Canucks were swept in the first round by the eventual Cup winners, the Colorado Avalanche.
Druken was traded to Carolina in 2002, then picked up on waivers by Toronto. He continued to spend some time in the minors and finished his North American hockey career with the St. John's Maple Leafs in the 2004-05 lockout season.
In 118 games with the Canucks, Druken scored 27 goals and 56 points.
Rosaire Paiement: One of the Canucks' first offensive stars, Rosaire Paiement had been a part-time NHLer with the Philadelphia Flyers before he was claimed by Vancouver in the 1970 expansion draft. Seemingly out of nowhere, the 5'11", 170-pounder scored 34 goals and 62 points in the Canucks' first season, finishing third in team scoring behind Andre Boudrias and Wayne Maki.
Paiement spent just two seasons in Vancouver before jumping to the newly-formed World Hockey Association.
Peter Schaefer: I think of Schaefer as being cut from the same cloth as Mason Raymond, though Schaefer had more of a reputation as a two-way forward.
Schaefer was drafted in the third round in 1995, but didn't make the Canucks until the 1998-99 season, when he played 25 games. He became a regular over the subsequent two years, scoring 16 goals both times, before being traded to Ottawa for Sami Salo before the 2002-03 season.
Schaefer peaked with Ottawa in 2005-06 and was part of the team that reached the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, but found himself back in the minors as part of the Boston Bruins organization in 2008-09. In 2010, the Canucks gave him a tryout contract. He scored one goal and one assist in 16 games in 2010-11 before being released from the team.
All told, Schaefer scored 37 goals and 77 points in 194 games with Vancouver. His greatest value to the team was probably as the trade chip that brought Salo to the Canucks for a decade.
Other notable players who wore No. 15 include Brent Ashton, Drake Berehowsky, J.J. Daigneault, Tom Fergus, Dave Gagner, Tanner Glass, John McIntyre, Adrien Plavsic, Sean Pronger, Rich Sutter and Aaron Volpatti. Rick Rypien also wore 15, but switched to 37 later in his tenure with Vancouver.
Most No. 15s spent relatively short amounts of time in Vancouver. I think I'll throw my support behind Paiement here.
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