Home from their successful road trip, the Vancouver Canucks are practicing at Rogers Arena this morning ahead of Friday's game against Phoenix. Alex Edler is not on the ice.
Edler spotted limping into gym with a wrap around right knee. #canucks
— Ben Kuzma (@benkuzma) December 5, 2013The upcoming five-game homestand features a mixed bag of opponents: Vancouver should be able to pick off wins from Carolina and Edmonton and emotions will run high against Boston—though the B's are disappointed they won't be seeing injured Alex Burrows. The success of this run will hinge on the games against Phoenix and Colorado. Both teams have come back down to earth a bit after their strong starts and sit just ahead of the Canucks in the standings.
Phoenix *did* lose 4-1 in Calgary on Wednesday so a win on Friday could push the Canucks into eighth place in the West. Colorado is currently three points up on Vancouver—but has FIVE games in hand.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the Avalanche for the first time on Sunday and looking at what has changed from the last few seasons.
The NHL is holding a Heritage Classic press conference at B.C. Place Thursday at 12:45, as tickets for the big event go on sale today. Is it just me, or is it hard to get excited about an "outdoor" game that's not really being held outdoors?
Grading the Forwards: Round 2 - December Report Card
Back on October 28, I issued my first round of grades to the forwards, after 14 games. The Canucks are now 30 games into their season—let's see what's changed:
Henrik Sedin: 7-21-28 plus-3
Henrik got off to a very hot start under John Tortorella. He has continued to be one of Vancouver's most important players but has now dropped out of the NHL's top 10 scorers. He's still third in ice time among NHL forwards at 21:59 per game—but has played less in recent games. Henrik is an important part of the power play, which is now clicking, but he and his brother have suffered some defensive lapses in recent games. That, plus his decreased production, drop his grade a bit for this segment.
Previous Grade: A New Grade: B
Daniel Sedin: 10-16-28 plus-3
As always, Daniel's play mirrors his brother's quite closely. He's fourth in the NHL in average ice time, at 21:49 a game, but his minutes have also been lower in recent games. Daniel went through a long cold streak in the first half of November, logging six games without a point, but broke out against Columbus and has been back to his usual self for the past couple of weeks. At his current pace, Daniel's on track to score 27 goals this year—he'll need to pick up the pace if he hopes to get back to his usual levels.
Previous Grade: A- New Grade: B
Ryan Kesler: 14-8-22 minus-3
Kesler's four goals in his past two games have him playing some of his best hockey in recent memory. His goal-scoring has actually tapered off since his hot start in October, but he has made up for it in the assist column and has contributed to the Canucks' six-game power-play streak. It has taken a long time for Kesler to put all his injuries behind him, but he's back to being one of Vancouver's most important players. He's second only to Sidney Crosby in ice time among NHL forwards, averaging 22:12 per game.
Previous Grade: A New Grade: A
Mike Santorelli: 6-12-18 plus-8
Three months into the new season, Mike Santorelli continues to be a great surprise. The utility forward moves up and down the lineup with ease, is Vancouver's top faceoff man, and has the best plus-minus among the forwards by a mile. He hasn't been scoring the big goals like he did early in the season, but his offensive production has been consistent. Santorelli plays in all situations, though he has yet to log his first power-play point with the Canucks.
His grade drops slightly because his contribution is now expected rather than extraordinary.
Previous Grade: A+ New Grade: A Chris Higgins: 7-7-14 minus-1
Another one of coach Tortorella's favourites, Higgins has logged big minutes among the top six this season. I suggested in October that Higgins wasn't up for the role he's been asked to play. Since then, his production has been steady and he's starting to make a believer out of me. Still not great around the net but could get to 20 goals this season if he keeps getting so much quality ice time.
His grade improves slightly for being up to the challenge.
Previous Grade: B- New Grade: B
Brad Richardson: 6-6-12 plus-2
The top six forwards sit in the same order in the team standings as they did back in October. Like the others above him, Brad Richardson has remained consistent after a strong early start. He's second in team faceoff percentage behind Santorelli, has been a big part of the Canucks' league-leading penalty kill and has continued to chip in offensively. Richardson holds steady.
Previous Grade: A- New Grade: A-
Dale Weise: 2-6-8 plus-1
Don't look now, but Vancouver's breakout player through this segment is Dale Weise! Since returning from injury on November 19, Weise's ice time has climbed from five minutes a game up to over 11 in the last two games. He has played well defensively on the third line beside Richardson and has points in five of eight games since his return.
Weise has now tied his career high in point production—in just 20 games. He's doing more and becoming an important part of Vancouver's bottom six.
Previous Grade: C New Grade: B
Jannik Hansen: 3-4-7 minus-3
Like Weise, Hansen has also missed 10 games with an injury this season. Unlike Weise, Hansen has not returned to the lineup with guns a-blazin'. Despite lots of quality ice time in the top six, Hansen has struggled to put points on the board. Hansen does have points in his last two games—in Carolina, it was on a line with Kesler and Higgins, while in Nashville it was with Richardson and Weise. Torts is still searching for the right spot for Hansen on this team.
Previous Grade: C New Grade: C
Zack Kassian: 5-1-6 minus-4
Kassian in his own words, after the Nashville game, courtesy of Jason Botchford from The Province:
How did you feel about he healthy scratch?Good.
You felt good about the healthy scratch?
Yes.
Why?
I’m a project.
You really believe that?
Yes.
He left. I tracked him down later for clarification. Was he mad? He assured me he was not. Was he joking?
I have no idea.
Torts has his hands full here.
Burrows' injury means Kassian will likely continue to draw into the lineup, so he still has a chance to salvage his season (and possibly his career). Kassian was graded in October after what might have been his best game of the season—a reminder of what can happen when things go right.
Previous Grade: C+ New Grade: D
David Booth: 3-3-6 plus-3
In five games since David Booth returned to the lineup, he has doubled his point production for the season with two goals and an assist and generated 15 shots on goal. He's played significant minutes and earned ice time on the power play and with the Sedins.
Ben Kuzma of The Province has a great story about how just a small amount of work with power skating coach Barb Aidelbaum has made a big difference for Booth. Hopefully he'll get to work with her more now that the team is back home for awhile, and continue to show results in his game-play.
Previous Grade: D New Grade: C
Alex Burrows: 0-3-3 minus-7
What a lousy season for Burrows. Back on the shelf with his second serious injury of the year, Burrows' touch around the net abandoned him for the 17 games that he was in the lineup, despite an abundance of quality ice time. He still contributed in other ways, most notably on the penalty kill, and I refuse to believe that Burrows will never score again. He gets extra scrutiny because he's now drawing big money in the first year of a new four-year deal, but he'll have to do better when he returns from his broken jaw.
Previous Grade: Incomplete New Grade: C-
Tom Sestito: 2-0-2 minus-6
He barely plays and seems to be on the ice for an unfortunate number of bad goals-against, yet I'm warming up to Tom Sestito a little bit. His two goals already tie his career high, and I think his toughness is an important part of the Canucks' identity. He is showing that he'll step up for his teammates and he truly is a mountain of a man—not somebody you want to mess with. As far as I'm concerned, he can stay as long as Torts continues to deploy him carefully.
Previous Grade: C- New Grade: C
Darren Archibald: 0-2-2 plus-3
Archibald was a pleasant surprise during his eight-game stint as injury relief. He's now back on the farm in Utica, but I think he showed enough during his time with the Canucks to provide reason for optimism.
Previous Grade: C New Grade: C+
Jeremy Welsh: 1-0-1 even
Now that the forwards are relatively healthy, Welsh didn't play at all on the four-game road trip. Even when he was playing, we haven't seen him much. Not bad, but not going to fill any holes, either.
Previous Grade: C+ New Grade: C-
Zac Dalpe: 0-1-1 minus-1
Dalpe logged his first point as a Canuck against his old team, Carolina, last weekend, then stayed in the lineup against Nashville after a long stretch as a healthy scratch. Perhaps we'll get to see a bit more of what Dalpe's made of while Burrows is sidelined?
Previous Grade: D New Grade: C-
We haven't seen Jordan Schroeder or Pascal Pelletier since the last report card, so their grade remains incomplete.
What do you think? Any players I've graded too high or too low? The top six have been very consistent so far, which is great. Which forwards do you think will continue to improve as the year goes on.
I'll grade the defense and goaltenders tomorrow.
Quick Hit:
Some interesting tweeting last night from Bob McKenzie about TSN's future in hockey broadcasting:
I can tell you there are some developments in the works that will ensure TSN's hockey coverage remains first rate for a long, long time.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) December 5, 2013I'm interested to see what moves TSN can make to stay in the hockey game going forward.