The Vancouver Canucks will conduct their end-of-season press conference with the players at 10:15 this morning, so we'll have a slew of quotes to chew on over the course of the day.
You can watch every depressing second on YouTube if you so desire:
A couple of tidbits have already surfaced.
Zack Kassian apparently has been interviewing agents while he has been sidelined:
And the Sedins have declined to join Team Sweden at the World Championships:
Management was also originally scheduled to meet with the media today, but that has now been pushed back. We'll hear from Trevor Linden, Jim Benning and Willie Desjardins on Wednesday.
Sifting through the media breakdowns of where the Canucks went wrong this season, two articles stood out for me.
Click here for Iain MacIntyre's emotional take in the
Vancouver Sun on how the season's bad ending has torpedoed much of the good will that the Canucks so carefully constructed during the regular season.
In the repudiation-of-John-Tortorella season, the Vancouver Canucks’ year ended Saturday against a team that overplayed its top players, defended by collapsing around its net, blocked shots and physically hammered opponents – everything Vancouver’s former coach preached.
And if a first-round playoff loss to that style of Calgary Flames is not ironic enough, the Canucks managed in those six games to further enrage or disillusion fans who thought last fall that Vancouver had no chance of even making it to the Stanley Cup tournament.
Then,
click here for Ed Willes' blueprint for offseason change in
The Province. He's calling for a better blueline, more skill on the forward lines, more youth and more grit. No big deal.
For today, I thought it might feel good to check in on the youth and see how the prospects are performing in their respective postseasons.
First off—Sven Baertschi was reassigned to Utica this morning to re-join the Comets in their first-round playoff series against the Chicago Wolves. Baertschi was pointless in his two playoff games with the Canucks.
The Comets' best-of-five series is currently tied 1-1 after the opening two games in Chicago. Bobby Sanguinetti scored the winning goal in double-overtime in Game 1 for a 3-2 victory, then the Comets dropped Game 2 by a score of 2-1. The Comets will host all remaining games of the series, with Game 3 scheduled for Wednesday in Utica.
In addition to Sanguinetti, Utica's other scorers have been Hunter Shinkaruk, with two goals, and Nicklas Jensen, with one. Alexandre Grenier has posted three assists.
Back at the junior level, Jake Virtanen's Calgary Hitmen are down 0-2 in the WHL Eastern Conference Final against the Brandon Wheat Kings. They'll return home to Calgary for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Virtanen missed Game 2 after being suspended following Game 1 for a head shot. The full length of the suspension is expected to be announced today, but it's probably not good news for Virtanen that his victim, forward Tanner Kaspick, did not play in Game 2.
Until his infraction, Virtanen was cruising along nicely—13 points in 13 playoff games and leading his team with 26 penalty minutes. That's good for 14th place in the WHL playoff scoring race.
Over in the OHL, Cole Cassels' Oshawa Generals are tied 1-1 with the North Bay Battalion in their third-round matchup. Cassels is second in team scoring behind 2014 first-round pick Michael Dal Colle, with 16 points in 12 games—good for fifth overall in the entire OHL.
Jared McCann's Soo Greyhounds are also still alive—currently down 2-1 to Connor McDavid's Erie Otters in their third-round series. The Greyhounds swept their first two series, so McCann has 11 points in 11 games, which ranks him sixth in team scoring.
Jordan Subban had three goals in four games but was a minus-six as his Belleville Bulls were swept by the Barrie Colts in their first-round playoff series.
If you're starved for hockey going forward, we'll still have one AHL, one WHL and one OHL series to keep an eye on, as well as the ongoing playoffs. The Islanders and Washington face off in Game 7 of the pick 'em series in Washington this afternoon, while Petr Mrazek and the Red Wings will try to upset the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the friendly confines of Joe Louis Arena.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»