Officially on the road to perdition Ben Kuzma – The Province | January 31, 2014 TRYING TIMES: With four wins in 15 games, team begins eastern swing dogged by injuries and bad luck It’s not just another road trip. It’s The Magical Mystery Tour. As much as the Vancouver Canucks can collectively call their five-game eastern sojourn the latest opportunity to turn around their woeful game — tankers in English Bay move more quickly — you can call it something else. How about Survivor? Rebuild versus Reset? Tortured Torts? The Canucks get their suspended coach back in the second stop on Monday in Detroit, but no amount of motivational speeches by John Tortorella can soothe major roster wounds. The Canucks will be without Kevin Bieksa for the entire trip and Chris Tanev — arguably their most-consistent blueliner this season — is gone until after the Olympic break with a broken thumb. Frank Corrado has been recalled from Utica to shore up the battered back end, but that’s not the only cause for concern. As expected, versatile forward Mike Santorelli had shoulder surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum he suffered Jan. 16 in Phoenix on a hit by Martin Hanzal. Santorelli, 28, will be sidelined six months, and is also an unrestricted free agent who’s due a significant raise on his bargainbasement, two-way deal that pays $550,000 US at the NHL level. Bieksa didn’t practise Thursday and acting head coach Mike Sullivan said the defenceman’s ailment wasn’t cumulative. He struggled with mobility in the playoffs last spring after playing through a six-week period with a groin strain and didn’t have an offseason procedure to correct what appeared to be an abdominal problem. He also blocked a shot Jan. 15 in Anaheim and has been limping, leading to fears of a fracture. Add the absence of injured captain Henrik Sedin — who’s expected to join the trip at some point — and the offensive disappearance of Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler, and the fragile Canucks are unravelling like a ball of string. All that bite Tortorella wants has bit them back. Daniel Sedin looks like a shell of his former self.
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Officially on the road to perdition
Ben Kuzma – The Province | January 31, 2014
TRYING TIMES: With four wins in 15 games, team begins eastern swing dogged by injuries and bad luck
It’s not just another road trip. It’s The Magical Mystery Tour.
As much as the Vancouver Canucks can collectively call their five-game eastern sojourn the
latest opportunity to turn around their woeful game — tankers in English Bay move more
quickly — you can call it something else. How about Survivor? Rebuild versus Reset? Tortured
Torts?
The Canucks get their suspended coach back in the second stop on Monday in Detroit, but no
amount of motivational speeches by John Tortorella can soothe major roster wounds.
The Canucks will be without Kevin Bieksa for the entire trip and Chris Tanev — arguably their
most-consistent blueliner this season — is gone until after the Olympic break with a broken
thumb. Frank Corrado has been recalled from Utica to shore up the battered back end, but that’s
not the only cause for concern.
As expected, versatile forward Mike Santorelli had shoulder surgery Thursday to repair a torn
labrum he suffered Jan. 16 in Phoenix on a hit by Martin Hanzal. Santorelli, 28, will be sidelined
six months, and is also an unrestricted free agent who’s due a significant raise on his
bargainbasement, two-way deal that pays $550,000 US at the NHL level.
Bieksa didn’t practise Thursday and acting head coach Mike Sullivan said the defenceman’s
ailment wasn’t cumulative. He struggled with mobility in the playoffs last spring after playing
through a six-week period with a groin strain and didn’t have an offseason procedure to correct
what appeared to be an abdominal problem. He also blocked a shot Jan. 15 in Anaheim and has
been limping, leading to fears of a fracture.
Add the absence of injured captain Henrik Sedin — who’s expected to join the trip at some point
— and the offensive disappearance of Daniel Sedin, Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler, and the
fragile Canucks are unravelling like a ball of string. All that bite Tortorella wants has bit them
back. Daniel Sedin looks like a shell of his former self.
“I don’t get frustrated,” said the winger, who hasn’t scored in 14 games and is on pace for 25
goals, his lowest total since 2005-06.
“We’re in the playoffs, but it feels like we’re last in the league.”
Well, they’re eighth in the Western Conference. They’ve won just four of their last 15 games (4-
8-3), have the 22nd-ranked offence and 29thranked power play.
They can’t hold leads. They can’t mount comebacks and are 3-14-1 when trailing after two
periods and have scored the least third-period goals of any NHL team. But they do lead in
leaning heavily on their top forwards — Kesler is tops in average ice time (22:12) and Daniel
Sedin is fourth (21:37) and Henrik Sedin sixth (21:15) — and they lead in days off. And navel-
gazing. And fragility.
The struggling Burrows asked to have his ice time reduced and played 17:23 on Wednesday
against Chicago, down slightly from his average of 18:55.
Maybe it takes Chris Higgins, the poster boy for work ethic, to put all this into some sort of
perspective. Through effort and efficiency, he’s even played on the top line and his 15 goals are
second to Kesler’s 18. He came to the Canucks as a fourth-liner and on a top team he’s probably
on the third line.
Now he’s the glue trying to hold it all together because you could hear a pin drop at practice
Thursday. No emotion. No stick-banging. No chatter.
“It’s kind of like paralysis by analysis with what’s going on, but we feel offence will come from
good defence,” said Higgins. “It’s the dog days of the season and a challenge to stay focused
every day. I’ve been there several times in my career where I’ve gone 10-plus games without
scoring a goal, and it definitely weighs on you mentally. It’s hard to keep saying, but I know how
hard the guys in this room have worked and how much skill they have, and that it’s going to
happen for them.”
If it doesn’t start happening for the Canucks by the March 5 trade deadline, you have to wonder
if they go from standing pat and not giving up a draft pick and a prospect to rent a player to
selling. To get something of significance they’re going to have to give something and although
10 notrade clauses on the current roster limit the options, there may need to be that conversation.
Alex Edler has five more years left at a $5-million annual cap hit, which is palatable to some
with the cap ceiling going up and teams still seeing him as a prime defender. But he also has a
no-trade clause. There was considerable buzz at the 2013 draft that the Detroit Red Wings and
Anaheim Ducks were kicking the trade tires hard on Edler — before his NTC kicked in — but
the Canucks reportedly wanted two roster players.
“I think a lot of teams will use the Olympic break as a decision-making process as to whether
they’re going to buy or sell or whatever the situation may be,” said Higgins.
“We haven’t talked about that in the locker-room. We’ve been talking about getting a good start
on this road trip.”
And to do that, it’s going to take more than words which seem to ring more hollow with each
passing day.
“We have to be a resilient group,” said Sullivan. “We understand the circumstance and we have
to make sure it starts with our attitude.”
VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED
Jim Jamieson – The Province | January 31, 2014
The Canucks are dropping like flies — Tanev, Santorelli, Bieksa are the latest to hit the disabled list — ahead of a crucial five-game road trip
It’s a road trip that could well define the season for the Canucks.
Certainly, it will be a relief to get out of town and away from the critical media hordes, but not so
much if the team can’t pull out of its current 4-8-2 skid and put the brakes on a steady descent in
the Western Conference standings. The five-game trip that begins on Friday in Winnipeg and
then meanders through the Eastern time zone takes the Canucks into the NHL Olympic break. It
also goes through daunting rinks in Detroit, Boston, Montreal and Toronto. Lay an egg and it
won’t be pretty starting up again on Feb. 26 with just 22 games remaining and a playoff berth
slipping away.
The hockey gods have also chosen to test the Canucks’ depth. Their blue line is near crippled
with the losses of both Chris Tanev (fractured thumb) and Kevin Bieksa (undisclosed) in the
span of two games. Tanev, who’s been the team’s most dependable defender this season, is out
until after the break, and so is Bieksa, the blue line’s emotional core.
The team called up Frank Corrado from AHL Utica on Thursday, and the 20-year-old rookie will
be in the lineup against the Jets.
There is some good news; injured captain Henrik Sedin, who’s missed the last five games with
an apparent rib injury, will travel with the team and is likely to get back into the lineup at some
point on the trip.
“It’s a huge trip for our team,” said Dale Weise. “You see the wild-card race and it’s extremely
tight right now. We’ve got to find ways to get points and ways to grind it out. We’re short some
bodies, but we’ve got to find a way.” Alex Burrows sees the trip as an opportunity. “We’ve got
to look at it the right way,” said Burrows, who’s still looking for his first goal of the season.
“Obviously, we are facing a lot of adversity. We’re going through a rough stretch, with injuries
and the way we’re playing. But the way you get out of it, you stay positive and have a good
mindset and find the swagger that we used to have. Just go on the road and don’t have to impress
anyone. I’m really confident we’re going to get it done.”
Assistant coach Mike Sullivan was preaching resilience on Thursday following practice.
“We have to be a resilient group,” said Sullivan, who’ll coach his final game as the interim coach
against the Jets, with suspended coach John Tortorella returning on Monday in Detroit.
“We understand the circumstances. We have a good group of guys who care and try and we rely
on each other for the solutions. All we have to do is look at one game — we get the result we
want in Winnipeg and we build from there.
“Resilience and attitude is a big part of success in this league, because inevitably most teams go
through adversity. Our attitude and our resilience are going to be important aspects here during
an important time in the season.”
League needs to crank up marketing machine
to sell out Heritage Classic
Brad Ziemer – The Vancouver Sun | January 31, 2014
It is four down and two to go for the National Hockey League and its outdoor games.
After two sold out shows this week at Yankee Stadium, another last week at Dodger Stadium and
the New Year’s Day game that drew more than 105,000 fans to the University of Michigan
Stadium, the remaining games in Chicago and Vancouver clearly have tough acts to follow.
The March 1 game at Soldier Field in Chicago between the Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins
sold out in less than 24 hours when tickets went on sale in December. As for Vancouver’s
Heritage Classic game between the Canucks and Ottawa Senators at BC Place Stadium on March
2, well, it remains a work in progress.
Plenty of tickets remain for the game and the NHL will likely now ramp up marketing for the
event, which is clearly proving to be a more difficult sell than the league imagined.
Vancouver- area ticket brokers say the game has been a tough sell. “Every once in a while there
is going to be a dud and this is it,” says Kingsley Bailey, manager of Vancouver Ticket. “I have
more people that want to sell tickets to me than want to buy.”
Bailey thinks the Heritage Classic has a number of factors working against it, including the fact
that it is not an outdoor game in the truest sense. If it happens to rain on game day, it could in
fact be an indoor game with the roof closed at BC Place.
Bailey also says the fact the Canucks and Senators don’t really have any kind of rivalry is
hurting ticket sales.
“This is definitely a dud and I know the NHL is not going to make it look like that,” he said.
“They’ll paper the building.”
The NHL did not make anyone available for an interview Thursday to discuss the Heritage
Classic.
There are six ticket categories for the game, which range from $ 104.20 to $ 324.70, including all
fees. When tickets went on sale in early December, the top and lower price categories sold out
quickly. The top two price categories ( the $ 320.70 and $ 219.70 tickets) and the cheapest ones
($ 104.20) are sold out. But tickets in the remaining three categories ($ 146.20, $ 156.70 and $
188.20) remain.
Mario Livich, the head of ShowTime Tickets, said most of his company’s demand for Heritage
Classic tickets has come from out of town.
“We are seeing demand from people who are coming in from out of town, but in terms of the
local market it’s been pretty slow selling and part of it is due to the prices,” Livich said. “It is not
a cheap ticket by any means.”
StubHub, the online ticket exchange marketplace owned by eBay, had more than 2,000 Heritage
Classic tickets available for sale Thursday on its website.
Capacity for the game at BC Place is about 54,500.
The fact the Canucks are struggling certainly isn’t helping to drive ticket sale to the game.
The NHL had to cut ticket prices to some of its higher- end seats to sell out the game at Dodger
Stadium on Jan. 25. It also announced some big- name entertainment — most notably the rock
group Kiss — to drive ticket sales.
The NHL has yet to announce any of its entertainment plans for the Heritage Classic.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman released the following statement after Wednesday night’s
game at Yankee Stadium between the Rangers and Islanders.
“When you think about the fact that we’ve played three outdoor games in five days to over
150,000 people, then throw in the Winter Classic and another 100,000 people, it’s been an
incredible month of special events ... we play our season a little longer, then it’s a break to go to
the Olympics, and we’ll be back with two more outdoor games — one in Chicago and one in
Vancouver. This is a special season that I think we’ll all remember because it’s been very, very
special.”
It will be up to the Heritage Classic to provide a special ending.
Things go from bad to worse
Iain MacIntyre – The Vancouver Sun | January 31, 2014
Wounded: Bieksa misses trip with foot injury; Santorelli’s season over following shoulder surgery
Cormac McCarthy’s brilliant western novel No Country for Old Men, about an aging sheriff
struggling to understand society’s decaying values and escalating violence, begins with a drug
deal gone bad in the scrubby West Texas desert.
There are a lot of dead desperados, and both the drug money and dope are missing, which will
attract more bad men. As lawmen examine the crime scene, a deputy observes: “It’s a mess, ain’t
it sheriff?”
And the wary sheriff says: “If it ain’t, it’ll do till a mess gets here.”
Thankfully, the only conflict around the Vancouver Canucks is about winning and losing, and
how to do more of the former and who’s responsible for the latter these days.
But as the Canucks hobbled off on to the road Thursday, losers 11 times in 15 games and serious
injuries nearing a critical mass, that old sheriff’s warning seemed appropriate.
Interim head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that key defenceman Kevin Bieksa would not make
the trip, possibly due to a foot injury, about two hours before the National Hockey League club
announced that second- line forward Mike Santorelli had undergone season- ending shoulder
surgery. The previous day — before the Canucks lost 5- 2 to the Chicago Blackhawks and after
they lost 4- 2 to the Edmonton Oilers — we learned defenceman Chris Tanev has a fractured
thumb and will not play until at least the end of the Olympic break in four weeks. This is a mess
for the Canucks. And if it ain’t, it’ll do until the mess gets here — probably on the difficult, five-
game road trip that starts tonight against the Winnipeg Jets.
The Canucks appear to be teetering, in danger of collapsing and losing control of a season that
looked pretty good only a month ago.
And barring an intervention from under- fire general manager Mike Gillis or some miracle work
by head coach John Tortorella, who couldn’t have picked a worse time to get himself suspended
for 15 days, it’s difficult to see how things will get better before they get worse for the Canucks.
There is still no glimpse of captain Henrik Sedin, although Sullivan said he expects the Canucks’
best player to join the team on the road at some point.
Officially, Sedin’s absence remains day- to- day two weeks after he was lumbered in the ribs by
Phoenix Coyote Martin Hanzal, who could play McCarthy’s heinous villain, Anton Chigurh,
because Hanzal is also responsible for mangling Santorelli’s shoulder.
Henrik’s brother Daniel is skating like it’s 2001, and seems unable to get near the net with the
puck. And yet the 2011 NHL scoring champion’s 14- game goal- less drought still pales
compared to first- liner Alex Burrows’s unfathomable 23- game scoring famine. Ryan Kesler,
who leads NHL forwards with an average ice time of 22: 12, has one goal in 11 games and three
goals in 23.
Sullivan revealed Thursday that Burrows, a 32- year- old who hasn’t scored since beginning a
four- year, $ 18- million- US contract extension, asked a few days ago for less ice time in the
hope fewer shifts would mean more energy. He logs 18: 51 a game. Danny Sedin is fourth
among NHL forwards at 21: 37, while Henrik is sixth at 21: 15.
The Canucks, and especially their top players, look tired. A troubling theme during the January
crash — 4- 8- 3 since Dec. 29 — has been Vancouver’s glaring inability to muster any surge or
even resilience late in games.
Including a couple of empty- netters, the Canucks have been outscored 12- 1 in the third period
of their last nine games and haven’t outscored an opponent in the final 20 minutes of regulation
time since Santorelli had the winning goal in a 2- 1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Jan. 10.
The Canucks are 29th in the NHL in third- period scoring with 39 goals in 55 games.
Only the Buffalo Sabres are more feeble in the final period.
Vancouver has lost five games this season when they carried a lead into the third period, and five
times they have surrendered tying goals with the opposing goalie on the bench for an extra
attacker.
Since the season began, Tortorella has insisted his top forwards can handle more minutes than
nearly anyone else in the league, despite the Canucks’ West Coast isolation and debilitating
travel. Sullivan has been defending that ideology this week, saying “you guys draw the
assumption” that overuse is why the top Canucks are struggling.
“Since you guys have been on this and asking me these questions, I’ve been kind of exploring
the league myself a little bit,” Sullivan said after Thursday’s practice. “Ryan Kesler plays four
seconds on average more than Sidney Crosby. Is Sidney Crosby, is that a problem for him?
“Marty St. Louis, his average ice time is 21: 46. He plays more minutes than the ( Sedins). Marty
St. Louis is 39 years old. Is the minutes a problem for him?”
But Crosby plays in Pittsburgh, St. Louis in Tampa. Excluding the three Canucks, seven of the
top nine NHL forwards in average ice time play in the Eastern time zone.
“You travel in the east, too,” Sullivan said. “Tampa is not an easy travel schedule; I coached
there. Our best information is our players and we communicate with those guys on a daily basis.”
And that’s how Sullivan knew Burrows wanted to play a little less.
“Listen, as a coaching staff, we’re looking for answers, too,” Sullivan said. “We’re looking for
solutions, too. And we talk about this stuff all the time — not only as a staff, but also with our
players.”
Minor- league prospect Frankie Corrado has been recalled to replace Bieksa.
But the Canucks still have no better alternatives than rookie Kellan Lain and David Booth to fill
in for Hank Sedin and Santorelli.
The Canucks have scored more than two goals only four times in 20 games.
They have two fewer defencemen than they did four days ago, and now their schedule gets
tougher. So does their season.
Jets have fans on Canucks
Iain MacIntyre – The Vancouver Sun | January 31, 2014
Hometown products, Moose alumni glad to see franchise thrive
Winnipeg not only launched Jannik Hansen’s professional hockey career, it launched his family.
The Vancouver Canuck winger met his wife, Karen, while playing for the minor- league
Manitoba Moose and the couple introduced their twin babies, Lucas and Daniel, to Winnipeg last
summer.
The Hansens have a home there, although it will be a road game tonight for the Canucks when
they play their first National Hockey League game in Winnipeg since Feb. 21, 1996.
“We would sell out the lower bowl, but it was a really rowdy crowd that would get right into the
game,” Hansen said Thursday when asked about playing for the Moose for two seasons, starting
in 2006. “It’s a great place and a great city for hockey. It seems to be the loudest building in the
league and fans get into it. We’re definitely looking forward to it.”
It’s a homecoming also for Canuck winger Dale Weise, but a bittersweet one. The Winnipeg
native, who cheered for the Jets until they moved to Phoenix and became the Coyotes when he
was seven years old, expects interim head coach Mike Sullivan to scratch him from the lineup.
Canuck skills coach Glenn Carnegie and trainer Pat O’Neill are also from Winnipeg, and winger
Alex Burrows played for the Moose in 200405. Another Moose alumnus, Canuck defenceman
Kevin Bieksa, is injured and will miss his team’s first visit to Winnipeg since the NHL returned
in 2011.
“I’ve been looking forward ever since the Jets came back to go there and play,” Burrows said.
“They’ve got unbelievable fans. That organization was great for me.
“I remember people were doubting if there was enough corporate money or a big enough rink.
But I always knew the fans would be passionate about the game and passionate about their team.
They’re proud people there in Manitoba. They missed their team and their happy to have it
back.”
The new Jets, purchased by former Moose owner Mark Chipman and moved to Manitoba from
Atlanta, play in the NHL’s smallest building — the 15,000- seat MTS Centre. But there hasn’t
been an unsold ticket since the Jets returned and team has proved a financial success.
“The team means so much to that city,” Weise said. “When the NHL came back, I was so
excited. I was in the New York Rangers’ system, but I was so excited to potentially get a chance
to play there one day.”
It doesn’t look like it will be tonight.
Out of favour with Sullivan, Weise said he didn’t expect to be in the lineup after playing only 3:
40 in the Canucks’ 5- 2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday. Sullivan refused
Thursday to confirm that Weise would be scratched.
“At least I can stop the ticket parade and save a little money, but it hurts,” Weise said. “The first
game I ever went to was Winnipeg- Vancouver, and I remember watching Pavel Bure. He was
just flying around. It was awesome; I thought he was just the greatest thing. Even as a young kid,
I could tell it was a big hit to our town when the Jets left.”
Asked what’s the best thing about his town, Weise said: “I think a lot of people right now would
say the Winnipeg Jets are the best thing about Winnipeg. People judge cities on their nightlife
and activities and entertainment and there’s not a lot of that. But it’s a passionate city — a lot of
down- toearth, blue- collar people. The city’s just crazy about the team. Everyone is a hockey