Canucks & Beyond

Category: manitoba-moose

Welcome to the Big Leagues

by Alanah McGinley on 11/29/08 at 04:14 PM ET
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Cory Schneider is the Vancouver Canucks star-of-the-future and he’s been tearing it up in the AHL so far this year to prove it.  Still, Schneider has never played a regular season game in the NHL but that’s all about to change: he’s up tonight against the Flames on Hockey Night in Canada.

“I’m definitely excited, but at the same time I’m focused and worried about the game tonight because it’s a big divisional game so we need the two points.”

-- Cory Schneider in the Vancouver Sun

I’ll bet he’s excited… especially if “excited” is code for “I nearly threw up when Coach told me. Oh my god, there’s gonna be how many cameras??”

Good luck to Schneider. One of the only upsides to Luongo’s injury was the opportunity for us to see what he can do in the NHL. I think I’m almost as excited as Schneider is.

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: cbc, cory+schneider, hnic, manitoba+moose,

Canucks Lose Johnson for 4 Weeks

by Alanah McGinley on 11/26/08 at 03:24 PM ET
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From Jason Botchford at Canucks Nation in The Province:

[Ryan] Johnson learned Wednesday he has a fractured foot as well as a fractured finger, and is expected to miss the next four weeks.

The foot was apparently injured earlier in the season when Johnson was blocking a shot.

According to Botchford, the doctors apparently discovered the foot injury “when checking on his finger.” (The kind of doctors that ask you to take off your shirt when you mention a foot cramp, no doubt.)

Johnson will be sorely missed but it’s surprising this doesn’t happen to him more often, really. Throw yourself in front of a puck as often as he does, it’s a miracle you can walk at all most days.

P.S. A reminder: anticipating problems with Johnson, the Canucks did recall Alexandre Bolduc yesterday.

P.P.S. Dirty pictures of Fin to cheer you up.

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: injuries, ryan+johnson,

Canucks Inbox & Outbox

by Alanah McGinley on 11/26/08 at 12:22 PM ET
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Vancouver player movement this week:

• (Inbox) Kevin Bieksa -- Last heard on November 13, Bieksa was due for two week layoff as he nursed a hairline fracture in his foot.  The estimation was accurate as there’s a realistic chance he’s back in the lineup for Thursday against the Flames.
• (Inbox) Alexandre Bolduc -- came up from Manitoba yesterday. 8 goals and a plus-8 thus far, he’s supposedly practicing with the team this morning.
• (Outbox) Ryan Johnson & Steve Bernier -- Johnson’s injury is from (what else?) blocking a shot (or 50) a couple games ago, and Bolduc is on deck for him.  Bernier’s damage is the result of running into the boards the other night instead of Brett Lebda. Bernier’s explanation:

According to Bernier, he was injured when he snagged his right foot on the Detroit net and was thrown off balance trying to thump Lebda, causing him to miss.

“I lost my footing and I went shoulder and feet first into the boards,” he said. “After that, I didn’t feel very well.”

Slapstick comedy at its finest. (Well, except for the emergency medical care required.)

Update 12:33pm PT: Johnson gets two fractures for the price of one. If you don’t want more bad news, don’t click.

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: alexandre+bolduc, kevin+bieksa, ryan+johnson, steve+bernier,

Baumer Back to the NHL

by Alanah McGinley on 11/20/08 at 01:53 PM ET
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As noted in the Vancouver Sun:

The Vancouver Canucks have called up veteran defenceman Nolan Baumgartner from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

Baumgartner, 32, leads all Moose defencemen with six points (1-5-6) in 12 games this season.

From AHL hockey player, to AHL coach back to AHL player, and then a sharp west-coast turn back to the world of NHL defenseman. All in one week. 

Oh, and “Baumer” also happens to be the name of J.J.’s dog.  If Nolan ever retires, an entire sector of the professional hockey industry—not to mention that dog’s self-esteem—might entirely collapse. 

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 Tags: nolan+baumgartner,

Goodbye, Michel

by Alanah McGinley on 11/03/08 at 02:59 PM ET
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According to TSN’s Ice Chips, the Vancouver Canucks have placed Michel Ouellet on re-entry waivers today. 

In Manitoba, Ouellet has been steadily putting up the points so far this year, and his career numbers with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning the last few seasons are solid as well.

I’m not sure offhand what his salary is, but I can’t imagine he’s going to clear waivers.  Any guesses on which NHL team picks him up? 

Update November 4th: Welcome back, Michel…

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: michel+ouellet, waivers,

Bellowing From the Moose

by Alanah McGinley on 05/23/08 at 09:59 AM ET
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It’s no secret that the Vancouver Canucks are running through a lot of changes lately—so what’s another one? From Ken Wiebe at the Winnipeg Sun:

Moose general manager Craig Heisinger confirmed the Vancouver Canucks will be supplying prospects for the upcoming season, but what Heisinger said—and more importantly, the way he said it—suggests an extension with the parent club might not be in the cards.

“We’ll be with Vancouver, we have one year left in our agreement and we will fulfil that obligation,” said Heisinger. “I said we will fulfill our obligation for one more year. That’s what we will do. At this time next year, we’ll re-evaluate that situation. It’s a completely new management structure there, so we’ll see how it goes.”

And some editorializing from Wiebe:

Continue Reading »

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: Craig+Heisinger, manitoba+moose, mike+gillis, mike+keane,

On those ‘Demitra to Vancouver’ Rumors

by Alanah McGinley on 05/05/08 at 12:23 PM ET
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Some thoughts from Minnesota, à la Michael Russo at the Star Tribune:

Oh, and lastly, this is unconfirmed by me but being told to me by a Vancouver reporter, but apparently Pavol Demitra was in Vancouver over the weekend being given a tour of the area by Canucks captain Markus Naslund.

As I’ve intimated here, the chances of the Wild even attempting to bring Demitra back is slim to none, and there’s a question whether he’d even want to return.

Demitra signing with Vancouver makes sense. His agent — or now, I guess, former agent — is Mike Gillis, the now-GM of the Canucks. Naslund is also now a former client of Gillis. 

Both are unrestricted free agents, and you can bet Gillis may very well take care of his former clients. In fact, maybe Pavel Bure comes out of retirement and returns to Vancouver.

[updated below - Demitra did indeed spend time in Vancouver in recent days.]

Continue Reading »

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: alain+vigneault, brad+moran, markus+naslund, mike+gillis, pavol+demitra,

Canucks in the Playoffs

by Alanah McGinley on 04/10/08 at 04:40 PM ET
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I spent most of the 2007-08 season snarkily referring to the Vancouver Canucks as ‘the best AHL team in the NHL’.  Well, it turns out there was more truth to that than just my fatalistic humor, because now that they’re all actually playing in the AHL, they seem to have found their niche.

On a soon-to-be-determined date, the Manitoba Moose will be opening the first round of the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Syracuse Crunch, and with a notable list of players that spent a good amount of time in Vancouver this year. Including:

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Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: ahl, echl, manitoba+moose, playoffs, victorial+salmon+kings,

The Defense Rests

by Alanah McGinley on 02/05/08 at 02:14 PM ET
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The Canucks have recalled Zack Fitzgerald, yet another defenseman from Manitoba who gets his first shot at discovering life in the NHL this season.  As Brad Ziemer via Canwest News pointed out this morning, things are beyond desperate:

Can anyone out there skate backwards?
Good, because you may be able to help the Vancouver Canucks, who are giving new meaning to the phrase, “the defence rests.”

A couple of these d-men might be back, but here’s the current status of the Canucks top-6, as they were projected to be last October (to paraphrase Ziemer):

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Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: defense, offense, rumors, trade+deadline, vancouver+canucks,

Canucks Scoring Power

by Alanah McGinley on 01/16/08 at 02:52 PM ET
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Mason Raymond back in town. From the Vancouver Sun,

The Vancouver Canucks have recalled forward Mason Raymond from the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose, the Canucks announced Wednesday.

Going the other way are forwards Mike Brown and Rick Rypien, who are headed to Winnipeg.

Mike Brown was solid for his time up, but I don’t have any real theories why Rypien even came to town.  The roster shifts to accommodate the acquisition of Kris Beech shall remain a mystery to my bottle-blonde hockey brain.

But regardless, it’s a good thing Raymond’s back—he has 3 goals in 23 games for the Canucks this season. 

And on this team, that’s good enough to rank you in the Top-10 scorers.

Unrelated Update: Apparently David is curious about my reaction to this.  Well, I haven’t got much to say… except I can’t figure out how he got video footage of my European tour…

Filed in: manitoba moose, vancouver canucks | Canucks and Beyond | Permalink
 Tags: manitoba+moose, mason+raymond, rick+rypien,

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