Thanks, you too. Everything’s good, hotter than hell this summer but we spent a bunch of time in San Diego, tuna fishing was awesome!! We’re not gonna spend another summer in AZ, just way too crazy hot. Looking forward to hockey starting.
- LeftCoaster

Hey Rojan, how you doing buddy?
- Reubenkincade

I am looking forward to the Canucks' playoff run in April. How about you?

I am looking forward to the Canucks' playoff run in April. How about you?
- rojan61

which April ?

I am looking forward to the Canucks' playoff run in April. How about you?
- rojan61

The trade deadline could be interesting, we shall see if they are buyers or sellers. Always like draft day, especially the first couple rounds.

What’s up fellas? My dad just reminded me it’s Canadian Thanksgiving weekend so I thought I’d pop in and say happy turkey weekend. The NHL season is almost upon us, excited for hockey to start again. Go Diamondbacks….suck it Loady.


- LeftCoaster

Idiot

Self imposed. There’s nothing to really talk about and the blogger rarely posts, so it’s the same junk going in circles day after day.
- LeftCoaster

I agree, I periodically look in and check out the last 2 pages and skip the rest.

I am looking forward to the Canucks' playoff run in April. How about you?
- rojan61

David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
·
1m
The Sabres have signed D Rasmus Dahlin to an 8-year, $88M extension

David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
·
1m
The Sabres have signed D Rasmus Dahlin to an 8-year, $88M extension
- VANTEL

Good D. New price for a #1 D then.

I don't mind the Sam Lafferty trade at all. Like adding a productive Lazar.

He can be the go get the puck version Phil Di Guiseppe on the 3rd line for Suter and Beauvillier.

I don't mind the Sam Lafferty trade at all. Like adding a productive Lazar.

He can be the go get the puck version Phil Di Guiseppe on the 3rd line for Suter and Beauvillier.
- manvanfan

Agree. With the Canucks drafting history, it’s a good add.

Agree. With the Canucks drafting history, it’s a good add.
- K-man25

Draft picks are overrated.

David Pagnotta
@TheFourthPeriod
·
1m
The Sabres have signed D Rasmus Dahlin to an 8-year, $88M extension
- VANTEL

Wow. Seems high.

https://www.hockeydb.com/...s/pdisplay.php?pid=245665

He sure looks like our forward EP too lol

Draft picks are overrated.
- VanHockeyGuy

👍

New blog, courtesy of Harm at the Athletic. Just taking his little bit about Lafferty for y'all:

Sam Lafferty trade checks nice stylistic boxes for Canucks

Just a week ago, it looked like Lafferty was pushing for a bigger role on the Toronto Maple Leafs, not a victim of the roster battles and cap game. Lafferty was a secondary piece in the Jake McCabe trade from Chicago at last season’s deadline and opened camp on a line with John Tavares and hotshot rookie Matthew Knies.

Why were the Leafs willing to trade him to Vancouver for a 2024 fifth-round pick then? Lafferty’s play wasn’t a problem. The issue was that he makes $1.15 million, which is $375,000 higher than the league minimum. Normally that type of difference doesn’t matter, but in Toronto’s case, it did.

As colleague James Mirtle broke down, the Leafs would have only been able to ice a 20-man roster, with $556,000 remaining under the cap based on his modelling. That would have left Toronto vulnerable to short-term injuries. By clearing Lafferty’s contract, the Leafs can fit 21 players on the roster. Noah Gregor impressed on a PTO and the club is likely banking on him to fill a depth role similar to Lafferty’s at a cheaper cost.

What are the Canucks getting in Lafferty? The 28-year-old is a right-shot winger who can take faceoffs (he’s listed at centre but spent basically no time there in Toronto) with a combination of physical tools that Vancouver’s lineup didn’t have enough of.

He skates like the wind, which will inject much-needed quickness into Vancouver’s lineup. Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger are smart, defensively aware bottom-six centers, but they aren’t the fastest skaters, so it’ll be nice for one of them to have Lafferty’s pace. Lafferty also offers a broad frame at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, with a nonstop motor and good physicality. He’ll add the type of heft, grit and ability to drop the gloves in a pinch that the Canucks don’t have enough of.

That matters because as colleague Thomas Drance pointed out, the Canucks have one of the smallest forward lineups in the Pacific Division. Adding a bigger body that won’t be pushed around matters, especially considering Luke Schenn’s and Kyle Burroughs’ physical play from last season is gone now, too.

Lafferty broke out offensively with 12 goals and 27 points last season. But it’s worth pointing out nearly all of that scoring happened in Chicago before the trade. Lafferty was playing a bigger role there because of the Blackhawks’ terrible roster (he averaged 15:07 per game), plus his shooting percentage was substantially higher than his career average. All of that is to say that yes, he has some depth-scoring potential, but he may not score quite as much as he did last year and would ideally stay in a fourth-line role for most of the season.

Lafferty’s speed, size, forechecking and grit combination makes him a strong stylistic fit for the north-south style Rick Tocchet wants to play. He’s a former Pittsburgh player, so this is also a player the front office is familiar with.

Lafferty’s potential PK impact is the key to being an appreciable upgrade

The Canucks have a lot of marginal/depth wingers in the system, so some fans wondered why it was worth trading an asset for Lafferty. It’s not as if the fourth line has looked like a weakness, especially since Jack Studnicka and Nils Åman had strong performances in training camp and preseason. And you could argue the Canucks may have been better off trading a pick to bolster the blue-line depth, which looks shaky.

Aside from having the size/grit factor, Lafferty needs to be a big part of a substantially improved penalty kill in order to be an appreciable upgrade over what the Canucks already had.

Lafferty wasn’t used on the PK much in Pittsburgh, but he took on a much bigger role in Chicago over the last two seasons. His short-handed role was diminished in Toronto after the trade, but that’s understandable because they had a stacked forward group with PK options like Ryan O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, David Kämpf, Alex Kerfoot and Mitch Marner. Lafferty scored four short-handed goals last year, but most importantly for the Canucks, he seemed to find his stride in the faceoff circle.

Special teams faceoffs matter significantly more than even-strength ones. Winning the first draw as a PK unit allows you to get that all-important first clear and forces the opposition to execute a clean zone entry with possession just to get set up. The Canucks have bled numerous short-handed goals shortly after losing a draw, so we know it’s a problem that needs fixing.

Blueger’s a strong penalty killer overall, but his short-handed faceoff statistics have been pretty volatile year over year. Before the Lafferty trade, I wondered if J.T. Miller, who has some of the highest goals-against rates of all penalty-killing forwards over the last few seasons, might continue playing an important PK role simply because of his faceoff utility. Now I wonder if that won’t be as necessary, which could also take a bit of extra burden off his shoulders.

New blog, courtesy of Harm at the Athletic. Just taking his little bit about Lafferty for y'all:
- NewYorkNuck

Thank you.

New blog, courtesy of Harm at the Athletic. Just taking his little bit about Lafferty for y'all:
- NewYorkNuck

Thanks NYN.

Seems like a good add.

When healthy.
Kuzmenko-EP40-Mikheyev
DiG-JTM-BB
Beauvlier-Suter-Garland
Lafferty-Blueger-Joshua

Some much needed sandpaper on the 4th line and hopefully improved PK.

So it looks like Michael is writing for the Hockey Writers now.

So it looks like Michael is writing for the Hockey Writers now.
- VanHockeyGuy

Who

Ottawa reclaim Lassi

We did it (again)... we're off the front page

Who
- VANTEL

Really don't need a blogger here anymore.

Scraps cleared...

Jeff Paterson
@patersonjeff
·
14m
#Canucks Studnicka and Wolanin clear waivers

Really don't need a blogger here anymore.
- VanHockeyGuy

Bring in Krufrank to liven the joint up with his predictions.