Thanks to my friend Keith for sending along
this link, which shows the rankings for the top 50 players in EA Sports' new NHL15 game.
As he put it, the only Canuck on the list hasn't played a game for us yet—Ryan Miller at No. 44.
Two members of last year's trainwreck Canucks squad rank higher: Roberto Luongo at No. 39 and Ryan Kesler at No. 33.
I have to admit, it's a little startling not to see the Sedins represented at all. Apparently the brains behind EA's artificial intelligence do not share the belief that Daniel and Henrik are elite players who had an off-year.
If they're right and the Trevor Linden braintrust is wrong, it's going to be another long season.
I like most of the moves that have been made since the end of the year, but I've followed this team far too long to assume that we've definitely hit bottom. I hope we have, and that the team will get back on track next year. Getting very antsy for training camp and a chance to start judging the new bunch for ourselves!
Aquilinis Decide Against Pursuing Buffalo Bills
Ben Kuzma has the story
here for
The Province.
Word came out on Friday that the Aquilini Investment Group, which owns the Vancouver Canucks and Rogers Arena, was considering getting into the bidding for the NFL's Buffalo Bills. The family has now put those rumours to rest:
“I’m always exploring potential business opportunities and I’m passionate about sports, so this is something that interested me,” Aquilini said in a prepared statement. “However, we are not planning to pursue the opportunity further.”
Who Wore It Best?
Our vote from Friday came out with a 69 percent margin for Tony Tanti, who was also the
Canucks' choice at No. 9. The Tanti trivia is terrific—talk about scoring in bunches!
Tanti, he of 10 career hat tricks while with the Canucks, is tied with Markus Naslund for most in team history, one a head of Bure. We crunched the numbers and found that 12 per cent of Tanti’s 250 goals with Vancouver came via hat trick games. Neat.
Now we're at No. 10. Is there any point even naming nominees?
Obviously, Pavel Bure has to win this award.
I won't bother with a poll today, but here are some other interesting characters who wore No. 10 over the years:
Dennis Vervegaert: Despite their struggles in the franchise's early years, the Canucks had a pretty solid collection of goal-scorers, as we've been discussing this week. Dennis Ververgaert was another.
Drafted third overall in 1973, Ververgaert stepped in with 26 goals and 57 points in his rookie season, and finished fourth in Calder Trophy voting, behind Denis Potvin, Tom Lysiak and Borje Salming. His 26 goals were a rookie record that stood until broken by Trevor Linden in 1988-89.
In five full seasons with the Canucks, Ververgaert never scored less than 19 goals. A right winger with good size, Ververgaert had his best success playing on a line with Andre Boudrias. He was traded to Philadelphia midway through the 1977-78 season for Drew Callendar and Kevin McCarthy.
Over 409 games as a Canuck, Ververgaert logged 139 goals and 304 points.
Bill Derlago: A high draft pick who didn't make a name for himself until he left Vancouver, Derlago was a center who was drafted fourth overall by the Canucks in 1978. An injury in his rookie season limited him to just nine games, then he was traded to Toronto midway through his second season. Derlago was traded, along with Rick Vaive, for Tiger Williams and Jerry Butler.
Derlago matured into a steady contributor for the Leafs, reaching the 40-goal mark in 1983-84. Vaive also became a star in Toronto but the deal wasn't entirely one-sided. Tiger Williams became a very important part of the Canucks during their 1982 run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Esa Tikkanen: With five Stanley Cup rings to his credit when he arrived in Vancouver in November of 1995, Tikkanen played 100 games for the Canucks during the post-'94 decline. Though he had been the enemy when he played with the Oilers and the New York Rangers, I enjoyed Tikkanen's time here in Vancouver. He was such a unique character!
Tikkanen was traded back to the Rangers at the 1997 trade deadline, along with Russ Courtnall, for Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan.
Other notable Canucks to have worn No. 10: Brian Bradley, Anders Eldebrink, Jere Gillis, Ryan Johnson, Moe Lemay, Ronnie Stern.
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