The Vancouver Canucks are practising in Detroit on Sunday, looking towards their Monday matchup with the Red Wings. The Canucks will be the rested team, as the Wings are in Washington on Sunday, taking on the Capitals in an afternoon game.
One familiar face didn't make the trip to Washington. Is that Kesler he's chatting with?
On Sunday morning, the Wings sit in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, but they're in the middle of a logjam of seven teams that are separated by just three points, sitting from seventh to 13th. There's a lot still to be settled in the East!
Here's the latest word from Sunday's practise. Typically of late, it's a mixed bag, with some surprises:
It sounds like Henrik could be close to returning, and he might be keen to do it against Detroit's gang of Swedes who will be his teammates next week at the Olympics. Weber, we know was hurt during the Winnipeg game. TSN is
reporting it as an upper body injury, which is the only info I've seen. I wondered if Weber hit his head when he ran into Eddie Lack on that second Winnipeg goal.
The Canucks have announced that Yann Sauve has been called up to replace Weber for Monday's game.
TSN also lists Tom Sestito as "questionable" against Detroit with illness. He didn't play against Winnipeg. Jeff Paterson tweeted at the time that Sestito's hip had been bothering him, but Gord Miller said during the broadcast that he had the flu. Only the official Canucks account is tweeting from Joe Louis Arena today, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. They didn't say he *isn't* practising...
Brad Richardson, on the other hand, is missing this morning. Hopefully that's just a maintenance day.
As for deals that could happen between now and the Olympic freeze on Friday, Bruce Garrioch of the
Ottawa Sun has provided a perfect example of why I don't pay attention to a lot of the rumours that buzz around.
Check this out: He's suggesting that the Canucks or the Kings go after Ryan Miller.
Sure. A rental goalie is a great solution for two teams who can't score goals and already have Olympic goaltenders on long-term deals. The Kings just traded Ben Scrivens because they had too many goalies. That makes a ton of sense—let's get right on it!
Once again, I think Jason Botchford's being a lot more realistic
here. TSN's Friday proclamation that the Canucks are now prepared to "trade anyone but the Sedins" does mark a positional shift—and LeBrun and McKenzie are usually quite reliable in their reporting, so they heard that from somewhere.
Mike Gillis hasn't been blessed with a lot of eager trading partners over the years, and hasn't pulled the trigger on big deals that we've heard were close, like the Luongo trade to Toronto or the Edler deal to Detroit. Other GMs might not typically be too excited about even trying to talk to Vancouver when the only players they hear about are guys like Dale Weise. Is this the team's way of trying to get a hum on the phone lines and, ideally, get enough parties interested to start a bidding war?
Given the team's free-fall and its injury woes, the Canucks aren't exactly working from a position of strength right now. And if you look around the league, there are examples of other teams that have turned things around without making big changes. Toronto is suddenly 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. Columbus and the Rangers are 7-3-0. And...ahem...Calgary currently holds the longest winning streak in the league after their overtime victory against Minnesota on Saturday night. This hurts: while the Canucks have gone 2-4 since the night of the line brawl and Torts' suspension, the Flames have played their best hockey of the year, going 5-1-0.
Super Bowl Sunday
I doubt that much will happen today, as I think players and managers alike will be wrapped up in the Super Bowl.
As one might expect, our Canucks are showing respect to Peyton Manning and the Broncos, while cheering for the Seahawks:
Do you agree? Can Seattle bring the championship home to the Northwest?
For the third year in a row, I'll be down at the Commodore this afternoon for the game, spinning tunes to keep the crowd pumped up and make it almost as good as actually being there.
Enjoy the game!
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