Monday, February 26, 2007
Canucks Getting Busy as Trade Deadline Nears
by Jes
The Vancouver Canucks have made a nice trio of moves today to improve their playoff aspirations.
1. They waived Marc Chouinard, the lanky and sluggish offensive-challenged center who was sucky on faceoffs, despite that being his best asset. Marc was one of the most anonymous Canucks of all time and won't really be missed. He was a decent PK specialist, but still a disappointment overall.
2. The Canucks sent a 2nd round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft to the Chickenhawks for Brian "Smoke and Mirrors" Smolinski.
3. The Canucks sent a 2nd round pick in the 2007 or 2008 Entry Draft and a 4th round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft for ex-Canuck Brent Sopel.
Smoke and Mirrors was a player I derided for many years (hence the nickname) for his rather lazy work ethic and non-chalant attitude on the ice. I must admit, however, that he's still proven to be a decent 2-way player who adds some good experience and can play decently in any situation.
Sopel? He was an adventure when he was here the first time, and he has some of the best hockey hair of all time. I remember when he bulked up 30 pounds over one summer *cough*steroids*cough*, and came back skating slower than Wade Belak after drinking 30 gallons of water.
Still, he was never better then he was with the Canucks, and may be able to find a comfort zone here. We don't really need his right-handed blast, but he offers a decent 2-way d-man that is miles better than Rory Fitzpatrick and more reliable than Lukas Don't Krajicek. I always felt Sopel was far too maligned during his tenure here, as people focused too much on his giveaways and not enough on his good aspects. Basically, he's a lot like Bieksa without quite as much fiestiness.
Overall, the Canucks improve offensively, defensively, and deal away only draft picks. This was all made possible as Ryan Kesler was put in the long-term DL, negating his massive salary from the Canucks' cap. Given the insane market these past few days, the Canucks come out pretty well compared to the Thrashees.
Two thumbs up!
The Vancouver Canucks have made a nice trio of moves today to improve their playoff aspirations.
1. They waived Marc Chouinard, the lanky and sluggish offensive-challenged center who was sucky on faceoffs, despite that being his best asset. Marc was one of the most anonymous Canucks of all time and won't really be missed. He was a decent PK specialist, but still a disappointment overall.
2. The Canucks sent a 2nd round pick in the 2007 Entry Draft to the Chickenhawks for Brian "Smoke and Mirrors" Smolinski.
3. The Canucks sent a 2nd round pick in the 2007 or 2008 Entry Draft and a 4th round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft for ex-Canuck Brent Sopel.
Smoke and Mirrors was a player I derided for many years (hence the nickname) for his rather lazy work ethic and non-chalant attitude on the ice. I must admit, however, that he's still proven to be a decent 2-way player who adds some good experience and can play decently in any situation.
YEAR TEAM GP G A PTS +/- PIM
2005-2006 OTT 81 17 31 48 8 46
2006-2007 CHI 62 14 23 37 10 29
Sopel? He was an adventure when he was here the first time, and he has some of the best hockey hair of all time. I remember when he bulked up 30 pounds over one summer *cough*steroids*cough*, and came back skating slower than Wade Belak after drinking 30 gallons of water.
Still, he was never better then he was with the Canucks, and may be able to find a comfort zone here. We don't really need his right-handed blast, but he offers a decent 2-way d-man that is miles better than Rory Fitzpatrick and more reliable than Lukas Don't Krajicek. I always felt Sopel was far too maligned during his tenure here, as people focused too much on his giveaways and not enough on his good aspects. Basically, he's a lot like Bieksa without quite as much fiestiness.
YEAR TEAM GP G A PTS +/- PIM
2005-2006 LOS 11 0 1 1 -4 6
NYI 57 2 25 27 -9 64
2006-2007 LOS 44 4 19 23 2 14
Overall, the Canucks improve offensively, defensively, and deal away only draft picks. This was all made possible as Ryan Kesler was put in the long-term DL, negating his massive salary from the Canucks' cap. Given the insane market these past few days, the Canucks come out pretty well compared to the Thrashees.
Two thumbs up!
Labels: Brent Sopel, Canucks, Marc Chouinard, Smolinski, trades
Monday, January 15, 2007
Random Bric-a-Brac
A random grab-bag of assorted stuff...
1. Joeri @ Eurohockey sent me a link to a story about SC Bern and SCL Tigers playing a hockey game in a soccer stadium.
They broke a European record with an attendance of 30,076 fans, who watched Bern beat the Tigers by a 5-2 score. There were some ex-NHLers in the game, with Christian Dube getting 3 assists, and Christian Berglund and Simon Gamache each notching 2 points.
2. To say that Marc Chouinard has been a tremendous bust for the Vancouver Canucks is to understate the obvious. He's below 50% on face-offs, which is supposed to be his best attribute. He's slow, clumsy, ineffective offensively, and has a rather poor work ethic for a 'role player'.
If you ever needed proof of Jacques Lemaire's coaching ability, just look at Chouinard's career stats.
Somehow, Lemaire coaxed two pretty useful seasons out of Chouinard. The rest of Marc's career has been atrocious.
3. Marek Malik's amazing shootout goal last season was beautiful, but it wasn't the first time that such a goal had ever been scored.
His inspiration? Robert Kysela, a well-known Czech Extraliga veteran who pulled this move out of his hat in 2001.
This wasn't some meaningless post-game shootout for a bonus point, either. No, this was a playoff game (First Round match-up) pitting Litvinov against evil Sparta Praha. Kysela had a regulation time penalty shot against Petr Briza and made a name for himself with one of the more amazing goals in league history.
1. Joeri @ Eurohockey sent me a link to a story about SC Bern and SCL Tigers playing a hockey game in a soccer stadium.
They broke a European record with an attendance of 30,076 fans, who watched Bern beat the Tigers by a 5-2 score. There were some ex-NHLers in the game, with Christian Dube getting 3 assists, and Christian Berglund and Simon Gamache each notching 2 points.
2. To say that Marc Chouinard has been a tremendous bust for the Vancouver Canucks is to understate the obvious. He's below 50% on face-offs, which is supposed to be his best attribute. He's slow, clumsy, ineffective offensively, and has a rather poor work ethic for a 'role player'.
If you ever needed proof of Jacques Lemaire's coaching ability, just look at Chouinard's career stats.
Year Team GP G A Pts +/- PIM
00-01 ANH 44 3 4 7 -5 12
01-02 ANH 45 4 5 9 2 10
02-03 ANH 70 3 4 7 -9 40
03-04 MIN 45 11 10 21 4 17
05-06 MIN 74 14 16 30 1 34
06-07 VAN 31 1 2 3 -2 6
Career 309 36 41 77 -9 119
Somehow, Lemaire coaxed two pretty useful seasons out of Chouinard. The rest of Marc's career has been atrocious.
3. Marek Malik's amazing shootout goal last season was beautiful, but it wasn't the first time that such a goal had ever been scored.
His inspiration? Robert Kysela, a well-known Czech Extraliga veteran who pulled this move out of his hat in 2001.
This wasn't some meaningless post-game shootout for a bonus point, either. No, this was a playoff game (First Round match-up) pitting Litvinov against evil Sparta Praha. Kysela had a regulation time penalty shot against Petr Briza and made a name for himself with one of the more amazing goals in league history.
Labels: Analysis, Kysela, Malik, Marc Chouinard, video
