Let's start here. It was 35 years ago today that the winds of towel power eased to calm as the New York Islanders swept the Vancouver Canucks to win the 1982 Stanley Cup.
The Canucks' no-expectations run to the Final in 1982 was a blast. There wasn't much disappointment in losing to that powerhouse New York Islanders dynasty team.
A number of members from that 1982 club are still involved with the organization:
• Thomas Gradin - associate chief amateur scout
• Stan Smyl - senior advisor to GM and director of player development
• Lars Lindgren - professional scout
• Ron Delorme - chief amateur scout
• Harold Snepts - amateur scout
Darcy Rota, Blair "BJ" MacDonald and Garth Butcher are also around the team a lot as active alumni. Other prominent members of that '82 club that are still in hockey include Marc Crawford - still preparing for games in his first year as an associate coach with the Ottawa Senators - and Jim Nill, GM of the Dallas Stars.
Ivan Hlinka passed away in a car crash in 2004 but was such an important figure in Czech hockey history, their annual summer U18 tournament is named after him.
Also on the local front, two Ryans with Vancouver connections have set themselves up to be the primary characters in the Western Conference final between Anaheim and Nashville.
Kesler, of course, is a Selke trophy finalist for the fifth time this year after winning that award with the Canucks in 2011. Johansen, 24, grew up in Port Moody and is experiencing his first Conference Final.
Ironically, both players share the same agent, Kurt Overhardt. I wonder how he feels, seeing his clients go head-to-head like this?
Game 3 goes down in Nashville tonight, with the series tied 1-1.
Here in Paris, We're about two hours away from the final games of the preliminary round, which will determine the seeding for Thursday's quarterfinal games.
Canada bounced back after their overtime loss to Switzerland on Saturday with a 5-0 shutout against Norway on Monday night—going 4-for-5 on the power play and not allowing a single shot against Chad Johnson during the third period. The Canadians have now locked down first place in Group B as they head into their last preliminary-round game against Finland tonight.
The other three teams that will be advancing from Group B are the Czechs, Swiss and Finns, but the ranking is still unclear. Switzerland has taken second place with a win over the Czechs on Tuesday. Finland can still move up to third place, but would need a regulation win over Canada.
In Group A, Team USA has grabbed first place with a 5-3 win over Russia in a game that's just complete. Just getting four goals on Andrei Vasilevskiy (and an empty-netter) is fantastic for the Americans—Russia came into the game after logging shutouts in its last three games, against Latvia, Slovakia and Denmark.
The U.S. win pushes Russia down to second place, and Sweden to third. So Alex Edler and Sweden will come to Paris to play Switzerland: that much we know so far.
Canada's quarterfinal opponent will be determined by the late game in Group A, between Germany and Latvia. The two teams are currently tied for fourth place with nine points each, so the winner will advance while the loser goes home.
The Latvian team got off to a great start under their new coach, Bob Hartley, winning their first three games, but they've lost their last three.
The Germans have had a very mixed tournament on their home ice in Cologne. They're the only team to beat the Americans, but their other wins came against Slovakia and Italy; they've lost to Russia, Sweden and Denmark.
If Germany does win tonight, Canada will travel to Cologne for its quarterfinal game on Thursday. It Latvia wins, Canada stays put, and so do I, while the Latvians travel here to Paris for Thursday's quarterfinal.
Both semifinals will take place on Saturday in Cologne, then the bronze and gold-medal games happen on Sunday.
It's a bit unsettling, not knowing if I'm staying in Paris for two more days, or travelling tomorrow. I've had to make some contingency plans, so hopefully everything works out.
Back on the North American side of the pond, I was intrigued to read this article from Ben Kuzma, exploring whether or not Ryan Miller might return to Vancouver next season.
With the idea of the rebuild now official, I assumed that the Canucks' future plans would not be including another expensive 36-year-old. I'm resigned to the fact that we've got one more year with the Sedins, who will turn 37 in September.
Miller was one of the Canucks' steadier players last season. His agent, Mike Liut, tells Kuzma that his client doesn't want to bounce around and does feel like he has developed an affinity with Vancouver.
If the Canucks and their fans truly accept the idea that the priority is the future, it could make sense for Jim Benning to explore the idea of acquiring either Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi from Dallas now that the Stars have signed Ben Bishop. The Stars could bundle one of their extra goalies with a tempting draft pick or prospect to get him off their books.
Read Kuzma's article, then answer this poll question:
bike tracks
Another veteran UFA also wants to come back next year—Jack Skille.
Skille turns 30 on Wednesday. He ended up with five goals and nine points in 55 games in Vancouver, and missed the last eight games of the season with an ankle injury.
I liked Skille's attitude last year, and he was a player who brought a little bit of a physical presence. He was in the middle of the pack with an average of 1.3 hits per game—sandwiched right between Jayson Megna and Michael Chaput on the stat sheet for that category.
When you look at what Mark Letestu brought to the Edmonton Oilers this season, you can see that there's a way for fourth-line guys to step up and play important roles on their teams when the planets align correctly, but those situations are few and far between. The Canucks will need to have some muckers in their dressing room next season. We'll have to wait and see whether Skille gets a chance to return.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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