Looks like we can forget about Hamhuis.

The Flyers dealt defenseman Ryan Parent to the Predators on Saturday in exchange for defenseman Dan Hamhuis and a conditional draft pick in the 2011 draft.

Hamhuis, 27, had five goals and 19 assists for Nashville last season. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. A first-round pick of the Predators in 2001, Hamhuis has recorded 32 goals and 129 assists in 483 career games.

“Dan Hamhuis is a good all-around defenseman,” Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. “He has been in Nashville since his draft year. He’s a guy who can play lots of minutes and he can play in a lot of different situations, from power play to killing penalties. He is another athlete we’d like to add to our team to continue to improve our defense.”

Among players drafted in 2001, only Ilya Kovalchuk (621) has played in more career games than Hamhuis. He has only missed nine games since debuting during the 2003-04 season.

“Obviously it is sad to leave the Predators. I spent some great years with them and it is great organization to be a part of,” Hamhuis said. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about the city of Philadelphia and the Flyers. I think Philly has an unbelievable defensive core. To join a core like that makes the Flyers one of the tougher ones in the league. To play against the teams from the East, the conference has a lot of great forwards, and watching the playoffs, having a great defense will get you a long way.”

RYAN PARENT
courtesy of my.hockeybuzz.com

Parent, originally acquired from the Predators in the Peter Forsberg trade, managed only one goal and six assists in 102 games for the Flyers over parts of the last four seasons.

“I think Ryan is a good kid,” said Holmgren. “He is an extremely hard worker. We certainly thank him for his services and his time here. He has a lot of upside.”

The problem?

Why, simply its; do we need a third line centre upgrade?

Many fans have given up on Kyle Wellwood. He’s not producing the offence and he isn’t playing on the PK so what good is he? The number one favourite replacement seems to be Matt Cullen out of Carolina. And who do we offer up for this? Well the debate rages around Michael Grabner or maybe even Kevin Bieksa.

MATT CULLEN

I wrote a few months back that we needed a third line centre and a stud D-man. I speculated about Scott Neidermayer and whether Anaheim would move him…and what would we offer up?

And therein lies the luxury for Canuck fans.

Calgary is wondering whether they will make the playoffs…or whether they will ever score again (answers: in doubt; and, yes). Edmonton fans are rallying around the “Fall for Hall” which allows some small measure of comfort after each excruciating loss.

As bad as it is in Alberta, it’s worse in Toronto where Brian Burke’s shenanigans have resulted in Leaf fans facing the possibility that the pick traded for Phil Kessel could be a lottery pick. And Burke can rationalize all he wants, Phil Kessel arrived at the center of the universe with considerable baggage. Sure, he may be a great kid, but he’s more like Camalleri than he is like a Stamkos. Some little guys with speed are franchise players. Some are just streaky scorers. Phil is just a streaky scorer. If the pick Boston gets turns out to be a franchise player, it just adds more woe to this once storied team.

And again, therein lies our luxury. While other Canadian teams are worried about making the playoffs or which lottery pick they might get (or lose) we are debating an upgrade on our third line and maybe acquiring some more blue line depth.

Nice.

But rub those eyes Canuck fans because after the St. Lou game, it’s about to get real.

Very real.

Sure we have a bit of swagger and we have owned the east this year. But there is danger ahead…with a capital D.
I love the Luko story and Bomber has been a steady fill in as well. But if we want to stay in the race for the division lead, we’ll need a better than .500 showing on the monster road trip if we want to stay within shouting distance of Colorado.

Because if it all goes south, we’ll be debating more than a third line centre upgrade at the March trading deadline.

Well, the truth is: not yet.

But there’s been lots of positive signs as we hit the halfway point. Bob Luongo’s been steady. The Sedins have been magic. Mason Raymond has emerged. Kesler and Burrows have continued to produce points and antagonize enemies. And we’ve shown we can be one of the tougher teams in the league with guys like Rypien, Hordichuk, Bieksa, O’Brien and Mitchell all standing tough and tall.

Let’s deal with the last point first.

We’ve lost Bieksa for what looks like a considerable length of time but we’ve still got lots of toughness in this line-up…and maybe the toughest of all in Rick Rypien.

My Centre Ice package only ran the St Louis feed last night and just shortly after the announcers were extolling the virtues of Blues’ tough guy Cam Janssen who was running around and hitting everything moving…bam, it was on. Rypien asked the musical question and the two of them started the dance.

Now, I’ll defer to colleague Ron Spence, whose knowledge of NHL tough guys is well known, but for my money Rypien ranks right up there with the best fighters we’ve ever had. Could he have beaten Gino Odjick? Maybe, maybe not.

But we now know he can beat Janssen…beat him like a pinata on Neuvo Anos. It was amusing listening to the St Lou announcers. First talking about all the shots that Janssen got in and then about how Rypien eventually held his own. They showed Jansen in the penalty box with blood on his hand and extolled his virtues as a hard punching tough guy. Then they ran the replay of the fight in slow motion.

And that shut them up.

Jansen’s first four shots bounced off Rypien’s helmet. Rypien’s first four shots bounced off Janssen’s shnozz. As did the next dozen punches. Jansen got one clean shot to the side of Rypien’s head. And that was it. Rypien responded with a half dozen jabs to Janssen’s mug.

Rypien plucked the tough right off that skeezer.

The blood on Janssen’s hand was from his own, smashed up, broken nose. He removed his bloodied jersey in the penalty box and did not run around hitting guys the rest of the night.

Next, let’s look at Luongo’s play. The best news for me is that he’s playing good. Not great, mind you. And that is good news cause he can be better. Lots better. And if he can get into that zone down the stretch and then into the playoffs…we are a contender.

The emergence of Mason Raymond has been predicted for the last year. The danger was that he would be the next Moe Lemay. A guy with lots of speed, NHL moves and all the finish of an IKEA student’s desk. But Mason has suddenly discovered that showing a little less speed at times gives him an opportunity to put his head up and see what else is happening out there. That has lead to some great passes and some laser like goals. And he’ll still get better as well.

Kesler and Burrows numbers are down a bit, but their effectiveness is still crucial to this team’s success. Both kill penalties, drive the opposition to distraction, draw penalties (yet take remarkably few themselves) and still put up respectable point totals. Great team guys!

And then we have the Sedins. There can be no question now as to their elite status. Henrik is flirting with the league lead in scoring and Daniel has come off his injuries with a blistering scoring pace that sees his point per game total even higher than Henrik’s.
The haters out there still whine about “endless cycling” or they “haven’t won a cup.”

Yet.

Of course the same people used to bullshit us about the Sedins not being tough or not scoring clutch goals. I’ve said previously that the Sedin’s have put up with more guff in front of the net than most players. And that’s because they continually go to the front of the net…right into the dirty area where you pay the price to score.
That’s toughness.

As for clutch…well, how much more evidence would they need. Once again, like last night’s tying goal by Hank. Yep, pretty clutch alright. As for the cup, well Luongo hasn’t won either. And he is always automatically assigned that “elite” designation. Lots of elite players didn’t win the cup. There is now no denying the Sedins are elite players and the five year contracts at $6.1 million per are virtual steals. And they are just entering their prime. Still time to grab the big prize.

Will that be with this year’s team? Well, first we have to make the playoffs…no easy feat in the crazy west these days. Injuries, 14 game road trips, goaltending and scoring slumps will all play a role.

But I’m a fan. I still believe.

Okay maybe I’m just being a grouch. And the team is trying to stay positive. You’ve probably seen the reports…you know “we have to win tonight against Nashville to ensure that this road trip is a successful one.”

And sure, I’m trying to buy it.

But in the back of my mind I can’t help thinking about the opportunities this team keeps wasting. We play well and then lose inexplicably to Carolina. And yeah, I know that bloggers and posters are saying that “the ‘Canes are better than their record. Oh yeah, and we lost to the NY Islanders last year and still finished with the Division Crown.”

But my problem is, we didn’t win anything. The Penguins did…and before that, Detroit. And before the Wings we had the Ducks carrying home the championship.

My point is, true contenders don’t play down…or at least that far down, to their lesser opponents. And the Canucks have been doing exactly that for a long, long time.

I’m not jumping ship here. They are still a must watch for me. They still can make me bleed. But as we approach game 30 there is no denying that this team is missing something rather critical to the winning process. And that disturbs my lurking cynicism.

What exactly are we missing? Well, a third line center and a truely dominating defenseman, is my contention.

Now whether you want scoring from the third line or rabid checking, it’s pretty obvious that we don’t have either one in Kyle Wellwood. We used to have one in Ryan Kesler but Ryan has proven himself worthy for second line duty. So we truly need a third line centre to play one of the roles. Get us a checker that can drive opposition forwards to distraction…or get us a solid two way guy that can pop twenty goals a season. One of the two.

Secondly, we need a truly dominating defenseman. That’s not to say that I don’t love the work Ehrhoff has put in. And Edler is coming back…hell, even Bieksa has moved out of the Twilight Zone. But we need a top five in the league type of guy. Someone that can skate and shoot and check and just lead the troops from the back end.

We don’t have one.

And until we do, it’s hard to imagine a championship.

Speaking of hockey…what the hell?

I’ve spoken to a number of people recently who say they just aren’t getting excited about the season in general and the Canucks in specific.

Canadians? Not excited about hockey?

Another sign of the end days.

Truth here. Part of the reason has to be the maddening inconsistency demonstrated by our guys. They’ve blown out a few teams this year; Montreal and Colorado, and then most recently, Edmonton. But while they look like contenders on the one night where we get scoring from four lines as well as the D…and Bob Luongo also looks to be in his groove, we fall apart quickly thereafter and have thus far found ourselves on the outside looking in at the playoff teams.

A week ago some fans were upset because guys like Tony Gallagher and Jason Botchford were openly questioning whether we could even make the playoffs. Hey, we are in the race, most answered…and besides, it’s way to early to be making the gloom and doom statements.

But the truth is, these guys were reacting to two things, one of which is the aforementioned inconsistency.

Good teams don’t blow so hot and then so cold. The Great One always said that consistency of excellence was the hallmark of the champion.

We don’t have that effort this year. Blame injuries or flu or whatever. But you can’t argue with the fact that it just ain’t there.
The second thing I believe, is that the reason that Gallagher and Botchford were being somewhat negative was the same thing that is causing malaise amongst the Canuck faithful.

The schedule.

It’s pretty hard to get excited when your team is playing once a week. Like many, I watch other teams. Certainly Edmonton and Calgary, but also Toronto and Montreal. Mostly I cheer against them. And I’ll take the worst hockey game on TV over say, a finely played, three and a half hour baseball marathon.

But without the added tension of a Canuck game, it’s just not the same. And that schedule that has been giving us way too much leisure time is about to turn on us. The next month will be harsh. And you can add to that the brutal 14 game road trip coming up with the Olympic break.

I love the Olympics. It’s the best athletes in the world on stage. But it has twisted the NHL hockey schedule into a joke and the Canucks being the Olympic home team are going to suffer for it.

Lots of talk about character building and such, but the rule of thumb is that playing .500 hockey on the road is an acceptable level of winning. Except we are already playing around the .500 mark as we are heading into this brutal two and a half month grind.

R-uh R-oh.

.500 hockey doesn’t get you into the playoffs. So we’ll see Brodeur face Luongo in Jersey. And we’ll also play some old hated rivals like the Flyers. It will be good benchmarks for the team.

And at least we’ll find out a few things about our guys. The good news is, if we make the playoffs coming out of this schedule then there will be some reason for optimism in the post season. And one can only hope the malaise and negativism that has struck the fan base and the local literati doesn’t infect the team that has to play this game on the ice.

Well, here we are: after hungering all summer for the slightest shred of hockey information. After reading numerous daffy trade proposals. After endlessly arranging and then re-arranging the line combinations, And finally, after enduring the early season gaffs, injuries and slumps, we’ve reached a mini-milestone.
The Quarter pole.

And now we have to endure the early report cards…

Digression Alert

…that’s right report cards…and papa went to school in a day when positive bromides were only handed out to the worthy – the rest of us got scathing indictments…it’s where papa learned he was not living up to his potential. Not once.

Ever.

Back to reality. So, I’m not one for report cards. I’ll let the righteous make those decisions. But I still have some thoughts to offer about hockey in general and the Canucks in specific.

First, let me say, I’m happy to just be watching hockey again. It is still the best sport on earth and we get to watch it nearly every day. The best players in the best league in the world.

Beauty, eh.

Not to say that the league is without its problems. The officiating is uneven and in this day of high def video replay, every lousy call, every missed high stick, every blown offside is shown to us endlessly by the hometown broadcasters. But then so is every close goal that is obscured by the speed and traffic around the net. Except in the rarest incident, there are no more illegal goals. The rare inconclusive…well, we’ll just have to live with.

The management of the league is pretty decent, but there are serious problems. It seems pretty harsh to call the southern expansion a failure. But hockey is completely marginalized in the southland. In southern California, the game has enough support to appear regularly in the sports pages…although the hockey beat doesn’t carry the prestige like it does in the northland. But it does have visibility. The south east is a different animal. Hockey is on life support there. It’s hard to believe many teams east of Dallas will survive the economic recession that lingers here in the US of A.

But the league as a whole will survive.

As for our guys…well, I’m generally pleased.

The injuries we’ve had have been serious and lengthy. And most teams would not be floating just above .500 after having had major injuries to their star core. Check the teams that are surprising you with their poor starts. Some are crappy (cough Leafs cough), but some, with playoff potential (the Oilers), have been struck hard with major injuries and influenza.

And not doing too well.

So the fact that we’ve come through looking as decent, as we have, pleases me…but…

I’ve said previously that I can’t understand what has happened to Bieksa and Wellwood. We’ve all had slumps…but Jesus Christmas! The game has all but disappeared for both these guys. I guess some players thrive on the existence of high expectations. Some shrivel. Bieksa and Wellwood apparently are shrivelers.

Edler has not been much better. Edler is a reminder how long it can take most defensemen to develop. There are a few D-men that have emerged immediately (Lidstrom/Neidermayer), some that take a few years (Pronger/Chara) and some that just never seem to get over the hump (McCabe/Sopel).

courtesy of canucks.nhl.com

The jury is out on Edler.

But…Christian Ehrhoff has been a revelation. He is calm under fire, skates effortlessly, makes a great first pass and gets lots of shots…and some of them even hit the net…okay, cheap shot. But the Ehrhoffian one has been a pleasant surprise.

Up front, we lost much of our goal scoring as Demitra, Dank and then Grabner were all taken from the roster. That’s a potential seventy goals out of the line-up. Split hairs on that number if you will, but take a minute to look at their per game totals. It’s not much of a stretch.

Fortunately,  Kesler and Hank stepped up big time and Mason Raymond has been the kind of player that we all hoped he would be. That potential that flashed brilliantly but just occasionally in his first two years seems to have found some level of consistency.

Samuelson has been more than I hoped for as well. He still has a maddening habit for putting shots into the goalie’s crest but he makes smooth passes and back checks effectively. However, we need to see more from Bernier and Burrows. Both have produced for short periods…but we need to see consistency that we expect from top nine, million dollar plus forwards.

Raycroft has proven to be a good back-up…better than many of us expected though he still has those house league performances sometimes. Still, he had a couple of stellar appearances and got us some wins.

Finally, Luongo has been more vulnerable than we once believed possible.

Hey, it happens. But he’s still the kind of goalie, if he gets hot at the right time, he can dominate and win. And he wants it.

We want it.

So, some decent signs…but the talk of a Stanley Cup has been mercifully silenced. And that’s for the best. This team will have to work it’s ass off just to make the playoffs.

Best we accept that.

The injured guys are trickling back in. Ryan Johnson is once again blocking shots. Captain Lou will be on the bench tonight with the expectation of playing Thursday. Daniel Sedin is rumored to be just a few days away from playing. And for some reason that is causing me a slight twinge.

The Dallas game notwithstanding, I think the Canucks have played some pretty good team hockey the last couple of weeks. Yeah, it hasn’t been balls to the wall offense but it has been winning hockey and that’s really all that interests me.

I think the two games this year against the Colorado Avalanche perfectly illustrate what I am trying to say. In the first game we were all full of ourselves and constantly on the attack. We were in the October hunt for the Stanley Cup. Craig Anderson looked good (not great) and an inspired Colorado squad checked us to a standstill. But we seemed only interested in attacking and left the back checking game to the Avs.

The second contest against the Avs we were a seriously depleted squad taking on one of the hottest teams in the league. And we checked them…all over the ice.

Yep, all over them like vampire fleas on a Transylvanian dog.

A proud win and yet one that causes me worry. Because as much as I like the guys who are returning, there is a tendency to relax when your gunslingers are patrolling the neighbourhood.

This is the pros, man, and no one can afford to relax. Mental attitude means so much…translates so quickly to physical response in the world of elite athletics.

It’s the difference between enacting and reacting. We’ve all seen the game a lot, and you all know one true thing, when you are reacting you are behind the play. The guys enacting are setting the table and they get to say what goes down who sits where.

Hopefully the leadership of the Canucks takes note. And it’s not just the Mitchells, the Keslers and the Luongos. We need other guys to step up, much like Mason Raymond (a nod to my daughter Shaheen here) has during the past couple of weeks. That speed and commitment is paying off now and if Mason continues to aspire to that level he will be an all-star.

courtesy of ciskie.blogspot.com

But there’s a few guys that just seem to be coasting right now. If we don’t get more out of Bieksa, Wellwood and Bernier we could be in for a long season…or any one of them might find themselves in a different dressing room before the season ends.

This ain’t Amtrak and we don’t cater to passengers.

The attitude that was so painful to watch during the Dallas game was again evident tonight...we just didn't have the brilliant performance from Corey Schneider that kept us in it the other night. After tonight's woeful performance it's now official, the Canucks have officially taken their foot off the gas. Hang on, folks.

Now, I’m not one for giving anyone a free pass, but this is a tough game and tough guys play it.

Yet sometimes criticism is warranted…like what the hell has happened to Kevin Bieksa’s game?…well, at least when he plays forward he does less damage. And Kyle Wellwood, horribly miscast as a third line centre, now seems incapable of generating any offence at all. And Shane O’B has massive brain cramps.

Yep. Pretty hard for me to find fault with that level of criticism. But there is some garbage that I find just plain stupid and the purveyors of this kind of critique seem somewhat dimwitted to me.

Dimwit Idea # One: Henrik Sedin is either a floater or a diver and has clearly been exposed now that his twin brother is injured.

Okay, Dimwit, check the stats. Henrik is tied for the Canuck lead in goal scoring. He is also setting up goals at a similar pace to last year. Achieved without Daniel this past month. Helping the Canucks turn around what threatened to be a dismal season. By scoring goals, by setting up goals and…of course…blocking shots and leading the PK back to respectability. Yeah, he’s been exposed.

Dimwit Idea # Two: We should have signed Marion Gaborik instead of the Sedins.

courtesy of redwhiteandblueshirts.files.wordpress.com

Daniel’s injury aside, the Sedins have been amongst the most durable of all Canucks these past few years. Gaborik is off to a fine start. And maybe he will play more games than he misses this year…but I wouldn‘t bet on it. The simple truth is, he wasn’t a Canuck and made his interest in the Big Apple pretty plain during his brief free agency. The Sedins are Canucks at heart and besides the aforementioned durability have been top fifteen point producers the last few years. Gaborik hasn’t. He is one dimensional. Plus, he whines anytime someone plays a little rough.

Dimwit Idea # Three: The Canucks are a boring team and no fun to watch.

Okay, for just a moment, forget the injuries and focus on results. I find losing boring. I find winning games exciting. And now remembering those same injuries, I am impressed with the work ethic and commitment to winning demonstrated by the survivors here. Team defense wins. And to those fans bitching about the trap, well just take a look at the Oilers. They play an up tempo Pat Quinn style. Seem to score a goal or so every second game. And recently not even that. They don’t need no stinking trap. Could probably use a win though.

And finally, Demwit Idea # Five: the media in Vancouver are all shit or know-nothings or unprofessional, etc., etc.

Yeah, the great uninformed love to slam Russell or Pratt or Gallagher or Garrett or Larschied or even Donnie Taylor. Now, I have no association with any of these gentlemen. But I’ve played with some journalists over the years, in more than one Canadian city and I will tell you honestly that Vancouver has some of the best around. Hell, get a Center Ice subscription or listen to other call-in shows if you want to see what’s out there. Most of the Vancouver guys haven’t played the game (Garrett and Ferraro excepted), but they are all students of the game. I may not always agree with them, but I’ll trust their insights more than I will the dimwits who are always looking to raise their own gutter level of self esteem at the expense of the guys who do this stuff and make a living at it.

Ah Jeeze, some old grandpa got out of the wrong side of bed this morning.

Well maybe, but after I see the Canucks gut out victory after victory with almost half the team absent, I don’t have a lot of love left for the ass clowns who lack any real insight into what it takes to compete at this level.

Plus, I feel better now

Well, let’s not lose control of our emotions here: but the truth is that was one gutsy effort.

Sure Bieksa and O’Brien sometimes have IQ levels that seem compromised. And yes, their selfish play almost cost us. But the real character guys; the Keslers, the Sedins, the Samuelsons and the Raycrofts…those are the guys that won the game tonight.

Typical effort from a Tortorella coached team…but thuggery will never replace heart. And I said in the pre-game that the Rangers have elite goaltending and I will stand by that…but we ventilated the Rangers last year as well. Nice that we have someone’s number for a change.

And before we sign off here:  it’s a firm grasp of the obvious to say that Raycroft earned this win. We may have outshot the Rangers tonight, but they clearly had the better scoring chances.

courtesy of mirtle.blogspot.com

Razor was there for each one.

We’ve never had a better back-up.

Just like we’ve never had a better PP specialist than Schneider (yeah, yeah Paul Reinhart…but that just seemed like a cup of coffee) and finally a true leader in Ryan Kesler. Haven’t seen a guy put a team on his back since Trevor did it with such consistency in the nineties.

The only thing to worry about now is, what happens when we ice a healthy team?

*****

"You kow after I wrote a quick update on the blog (I did a two-parter...pre game/post game) I realized I should have talked about Ehrhoff as well. His work on the PP and at even strength has been outstanding. He is clearly our best D and a real steal from San Jose. Schneider is simply a PP specialist and gets really limited minutes otherwise. I think Ehrhoff replaces Salo as our best D."