The league sees one other aspect of the Canucks, the doubters eat crow and Vancouver turns into hearsay central
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Your weekly roundup of what they’re saying concerning the Vancouver Canucks across the hockey world:
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Large boy hockey
They had been the heroes — till the highway journey was lengthy sufficient to see them change into the villains.
It was all roses in New York because the Canucks swept by means of with model to finish the uncommon Triple Crown of wins.
Then got here Buffalo, the place the snow fell onerous and the our bodies even tougher at KeyBank Centre in a smash and seize 1-0 win that noticed the Sabres lose two defenceman, J.T. Miller combat twice and gamers getting focused everywhere in the ice.
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Sabres head coach Don Granato wasn’t happy with the guests post-game.
“Nicely, it’s not good having two guys in concussion protocol for being hit within the head, that’s for positive. Clearly, it’s irritating,” stated Granato.
All-star defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, who missed a number of shifts after taking a excessive, onerous hit from Miller, stated he thought Miller elbowed him on the play.
“It hit my head, it’s successful to the pinnacle. It’s what it’s,” he stated.
Regardless of the replay displaying Miller had his elbow tucked, Granato thought the league ought to have a look at it.
Others within the Buffalo market, quite rudely, had been calling for a suspension.
Canucks Report
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Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, for his half, liked what he noticed in what he known as a “mucky” sport.
“Clearly, Miller getting right into a combat, a number of the hits … each side,” stated Tocchet. “I like when we’ve these sorts of video games … you get to see the resolve and I believe we did a very good job.”
The Miller hit and the massive boy hockey that adopted didn’t go unnoticed within the Toronto space, the place Don Cherry talked about it on his Grapevine Podcast.
It needed to have a Maple Leafs twist, after all.
“A (21-year-old) child stepped in, Powers …” Don began.
“That’s J.T. Miller, he hit Dahlin. It was form of a grimy hit,” stated his son, Tim.
“Then (Miller) acquired Johnson once more. When he stepped out of the penalty field, (Johnson) went after him once more,” stated Don, earlier than tying it to Toronto, who’ve been sitting robust man Ryan Reaves lately.
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“I don’t perceive it. They’ve acquired Reaves sitting within the stands, I don’t perceive that.”
Replied Tim: “You look and also you go — that form of stuff goes to occur within the playoffs. And there’s going to be no response to it, aside from (Sheldon) Keefe whining about it after.”
That’s the important thing: these items will occur within the playoffs — and the league is discovering out rapidly the Canucks can reply accordingly.
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Cup or bust?
Regardless of the place you look, the Canucks are at or close to the highest of everybody’s energy rankings.
Hockey analytics website MoneyPuck provides the nice guys a 99.9 per cent likelihood of constructing the playoffs — and a league-high 18.3 per cent likelihood of profitable the Stanley Cup — with the Carolina Hurricanes in second place, with a 9.2 per cent likelihood at a championship.
At the moment final yr, the struggling Canucks had a 0.5 per cent likelihood to even make the playoffs.
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MoneyPuck’s odds are fairly legit, contemplating they run a simulation of the remainder of the NHL season 100,000 instances to create probably the most exact chances.
Sportsnet, in the meantime, has the Canucks ranked second general of their newest energy rankings, as does the Seattle Occasions and ESPN.
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, who final week informed Canucks followers to not get too cocky with their crew on the rise, boldly predicts the Canucks to win the west by season’s finish.
The Athletic eschewed consensus that the Winnipeg Jets are the highest crew of their energy rankings in favour of your hometown Canucks.
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However The Athletic remains to be giving the Oilers — who’ve received 11 video games in a row to achieve little or no floor on the surging Canucks — the best likelihood to win the Cup at 15 per cent, with Vancouver in eleventh at 4 per cent.
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We’ll bookmark this for later.
Consuming crow
It takes guts to say you’re sorry — particularly in the event you had Quinn Hughes pegged as a 3B defenceman to begin the season.
The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn lastly relented on Friday, saying he was “positively mistaken.”
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It took some prodding although — as Luszczyszyn first tried to foist the fury of the fan base onto former coach Bruce Boudreau.
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Let’s simply say Boudreau did a adequate job of incomes that himself along with his feedback about his former employer.
There’s just one
Talking of teaching, there might be just one Jack Adams award winner this season — and Day by day Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli thinks it’s Rick Tocchet’s award to lose.
“I believe, to take a non-playoff crew that was in shambles final yr, drama in all places, to first place within the league as we speak, Jan. 15, I’m sorry — nearly as good a job as John Tortorella has performed, it’s Rick Tocchet’s award and nobody else’s at this level.”
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Tocchet might be teaching the Pacific Division all-star crew in Toronto in early February.
Bounce-back Boeser
How good has Brock Boeser been this season?
The all-star ahead was named one among The Hockey Information’ top-five bounceback gamers on the halfway level of the season, launched on Tuesday.
Journalist Jacob Stoller writes:
“On the halfway mark of the season, Boeser is sitting tied for the fourth-most objectives (27) and Sixteenth-most factors (46) within the NHL. Boeser has regained his standing as one of many NHL’s most deadly scorers — rating tied for tenth in 5-on-5 objectives (13) and tying for third in power-play objectives (10).”
Boeser had averaged 1.01 even-strength objectives per 60 minutes in his first three seasons, however accidents, private issues and a lack of confidence noticed that quantity dip to 0.63 five-on-five objectives per 60 minutes over his final three seasons.
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Brock’s again to being an elite scorer and has earned his technique to his second all-star sport.
Rounding out the checklist had been Philadelphia ahead Sean Couturier, L.A. goaltender Cam Talbot, Dallas ahead Mason Marchment and one other identify recognized round these elements: Thatcher Demko.
Big yr for Hughes
Nonetheless at The Hockey Information, journalist Carol Schram wrote concerning the 4 western convention gamers on monitor for profession years and the Canucks captain made the grade.
Schram began by saying it was troublesome to single out a Canuck, since Miller, Pettersson, Demko, Dakota Joshua and Filip Hronek are all on monitor to set new profession highs this season.
However she selected Hughes in the long run.
“Firstly, Hughes’s crew took a quantum leap ahead in his first yr as captain. Additionally, the 24-year-old has already hit a brand new profession excessive with 11 objectives and is tied with companion Hronek for the league lead in plus-minus. And already at 51 factors, he has a authentic shot at matching or exceeding Erik Karlsson’s historic 101-point marketing campaign from final season,” Schram writes.
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The opposite gamers having profession years embody Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, Calgary’s Blake Coleman and Seattle goaltender Joey Daccord.
Hearsay central
The centre of the hockey universe is slowly shifting westward with the Canucks lighting up the league.
However beware, Canucks nation, the hearsay mill can churn out some doozies — from followers and reporters alike.
“We’re going to listen to a number of loopy rumours with Vancouver. I believe Vancouver’s going to be the hearsay centre of the NHL over the following short while,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman stated on Monday’s 32 Ideas podcast. “You’re going to begin listening to a number of issues concerning the Vancouver Canucks.”
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From commerce deadline whispers to the Pettersson contract saga, they’re already speaking.
Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen’s newest piece appears on the high 5 groups prone to make strikes on the commerce deadline, with the Canucks, after all, a part of the group.
“The Canucks are firmly within the “consumers” class for the primary time in years; the query isn’t will they be energetic out there, however how energetic?” Boylen writes.
In line with the story, the items Vancouver may commerce are their 2024 first-round choose, out-of-form ahead Andrei Kuzmenko, the promising Nils Hoglander or different prospects.
The return can be a top-six winger or an impression centre, supplied the cap house.
In the meantime, on the Actual Kyper and Bourne Podcast with Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne on Friday, Pettersson’s contract was a focus.
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“You’re simply going to need to pay him what he needs,” stated Bourne. “What’re you going to do. Commerce him?”
“This man is irreplaceable,” stated Kypreos, who in contrast Pettersson not with William Nylander and his new $82-million, eight-year deal, however with Auston Matthews and his four-year, $53-million deal.
Former Columbus Blue Jackets normal supervisor and broadcaster Doug MacLean agreed.
“Put Willie apart proper now. It’s not even near a Nylander. It’s a Matthews comparability: he’s a centreman, a No. 1 centreman, he’s taking part in nice hockey. He’s acquired an opportunity to be a celebrity,” stated MacLean.
“He’s that vital to the Vancouver Canucks. Each bit as vital as Matthews is to the Leafs.”
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MacLean went on, quite dramatically: “There’s no negotiation on this, It’s like, ‘how onerous are (the Canucks) going to get hammered right here.’ — and (agent) Pat Brisson is drooling over this one.”
Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre caught up with Brisson final week, with the agent saying negotiations “may positively nonetheless occur” through the season, regardless of beforehand ruling it out till the summer time.
Mentioned Kypreos: “Jimmy Rutherford or Brendan Shanahan, they’re presidents … they’re like financial institution tellers now being held up. All these (high) gamers need to do is go in there and say, ‘put the cash within the bag and don’t strive any humorous stuff.’”
“I like how they discuss, and we go on about, the negotiations. Yeah, proper,” concluded MacLean.
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Good factor the wage cap goes up.
32 tales
Whereas Sportsnet provides us 32 Ideas, TSN gave us 32 tales on their web site Tuesday earlier than any point out of the first-place Canucks.
They don’t name Toronto the centre of the universe for nothing.
Beneficial from Editorial
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Canucks this week: The Gretzky reward, driving the PDO wave and that hearsay
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Canucks this week: No brakes on the bandwagon, not getting cocky and an unlikely smackdown
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