The Fan In Van Podcast & Blog - Matt Lee

I want to say first and foremost, it’s a rumour. But I like rumours, just so I can play armchair GM for a while and start thinking of where so and so would go on the Canuck line-up. That being said, here’s a juicy one for you hockey gossip lovers:

XM In The Slot: Bill Clement said there’s been some discussions going between NJ and VAN… They were speculating about Gionta, a D-man then got nutty and said something about Elias for Naslund.

First off - I don’t think Elias is going anywhere unless he wants to leave NJ under Sutter (which I don’t believe) because he has a no-trade clause and when interviewed about Gomez last night he specifically mentioned that for some people it’s about money but for him is wasn’t - it was about the team and winning and he turned down higher offers.

I do like the sound of Brian Gionta. For those who are unaware, here are some quick facts about Brian Gionta:

• 28 year old American from New York
• 1998 - 3rd round, 82nd overall
• Career high season in 2006: 48 goals, 41 assists
• Very poor follow-up season in 2007: 25 goals, 20 assists
• Currently makes $4M a year through until 2010, at which point he will be a UFA
• A tiny 5′7″ and 175 pounds

The fact he once scored 48 goals in 2006 seems to spell the end of the Canucks’ offensive woes immediately, but the fact he had a 44-point drop off frightens me worse than the D on my Communications midterm. That, and his size reminds me starkly of a Ryan Shannon with more skill. Another small kid would only add to the Canucks’ problems of being a weak team up front.

I guess what it comes down to for me is if the asking price is low for Gionta. I’d say that right now Gionta’s stock is plummeting with every bad game he has. Currently, he’s only got 3 goals and 5 points in 10 games thus far and it doesn’t scream fantastic.

It looks like New Jersey is in desperate need of a defenceman; losing Rafalski and replacing him with Karel Rachunek has hurt Martin Brodeur’s performance thus far this year and thus has hurt the Devils, who sit in the NHL cellar with Atlanta. Yes, Atlanta. They’re that bad.

If New Jersey would go for something around Alex Edler/Luc Bourdon and a pick, I’d be running away with this deal. At the rate the Devils are playing at they’ll need to make a shakeup or two… interestingly enough, so do the Vancouver Canucks.

Alright, so some thoughts and reflections on last night’s tilt featuring the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings:

• Pretty obvious one here: The Canucks looked two times better than they did against the Wings a week ago. More shots, more pressure and a little more tenacity. The Red Wings didn’t get this one easily.
• That being said, the score still says Wings 3, Canucks 2. And at the end of the day, the Canucks didn’t come up with a good enough effort to steal the game. It may be a case of puck luck but the Canucks desperately need to get out of the hole they’ve dug thus far.
• I liked the effort from the bulk of the Canuck forwards: Ryan Kesler continues to impress me with his two-way play and energy, Pyatt is showing some flair and Naslund’s fire is burning a little more with desire to score.
• Again, that being said, WHERE ARE THE SEDIN TWINS? Namely, where is Henrik? One point in his last five games is not the reason he’s getting premium minutes. The Sedins have got to be the 85+ point players we saw run circles around the defence in the early going this year.
• Staying with the Sedins, it seems like when Naslund and Morrison are producing (6 points in five games combined) the Sedins are not (4 points in 5) and vice versa. Is this team ever going to get a balanced attack from two separate lines?

• The Canuck defense are playing like they’re skating in quicksand. The best Canuck blueliner has been Lukas Krajicek (1 goal, 5 PTS) and Mattias Ohlund has also played well, showing that no-quit attitude we’ve seen throughout his career. And, while I can excuse Sami Salo (return from injury) and Alex Edler’s (new guy) poor play last night, I can’t excuse Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa’s play.
• Mitchell and Bieksa were downright horrible. Bieksa did another one of his brutal pinches which cost the Canucks a 2-on-1, a play which Willie Mitchell used to thrive in and ultimately bombed at, letting Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk make him look completely foolish.
• The goal after that, Bieksa allowed Mikael Samuelsson to dig the puck through his unsuspecting legs and put a quick one past Luongo. Either bad luck or an act of foolishness.

Plain and simple, the Canuck defense has to (and will) get better in the coming games. They’ve got an (almost) gimmie against Nashville on Thursday before a pretty hefty test in the Avalanche on Saturday.

So I’m watching the Pittsburgh/Montreal game on CBC this evening and I see that ex-Canuck backup Dany Sabourin replaced star netminder Marc-Andre Fleury after yet another questionable game for the French Canadian. And as I’m watching Sabourin make some pretty amazing saves it brings back a ton of memories that I had of Sabourin, who started in only six contests last season with the Vancouver Canucks.

To be quite honest, when I was watching Sabourin, he made a handful of great saves, especially in the last few minutes of the third period, the overtime and shootout. I mean, let’s think about this logically; how did Dany Sabourin, who was placed on waivers only one year ago, turn into a good goaltender? Was it the year he spent with Roberto Luongo, or just a case of him being a late bloomer? Here’s a guy who was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 4th round in 1998 and was given up on by the Flames and toiled in the minors for five more years before playing in his first-ever NHL game. Of course, Canuck fans remember that Sabourin didn’t even get his first NHL win until last season, but flash forward to the present and it’s somewhat surreal to see the very same Sabourin replace Fleury and shine, keeping his team in the contest until Andrei Markov, the eight Montreal shooter, tucks the puck underneath Sabourin, who up until then had been completely flawless.

Let’s relive Dany Sabourin’s Top Five Moments:

5. Sweet Irony: Sabu landed in Vancouver as a waiver wire pickup from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sabourin, who was deemed expendable by the Penguins with the acquisition of Jocelyn Thibault at backup, learns the ways of the goaltender through the best in the game, Roberto Luongo. After a somewhat bittersweet season with the Canucks, Sabu signs once more with the Penguins in the offseason, replacing Jocelyn Thibault, who was not offered a contract by the Penguins for his losing record.

4. During the Vancouver Canucks jersey unveiling, a fan was shown wearing a dark Vancouver Canucks jersey with the #35 and Sabourin on the back. The fan is greeted with both cheers and laughter. I think fans are laughing at him and not with him.

3. Dany Sabourin, having played in four games which all resulted in losses (6-0, 6-0, 5-3, 2-0) starts in a game against the heavily favoured Buffalo Sabres, at the time the best team in the NHL. Still looking for his first win, Sabourin stops 33 pucks, forces the game into a shootout and robs Danny Briere with a magnificent glove save.

2. Dany Sabourin gets his first-ever NHL win with a gutsy effort versus the Anaheim Ducks on February 20th. Sabourin astoundingly stopped 38 shots for a 4-2 win over the eventual Cup champs. Trevor Linden offers the French-Canadian the game-winning puck, something which was about seven years overdue. LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEWn8p8qMsI

1. Dany Sabourin enters the second overtime of Game Five of the Stanley Cup Western Semifinals against the Anaheim Ducks after Roberto Luongo has a case of “stomach problems”. With the Canucks on the brink of elimination in the second overtime, Sabourin fends off the Anaheim attack, making five beautiful saves in four minutes of play and saving Dave Nonis of requiring triple bypass heart surgery. LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p6BDDEkmtg For highlights of tonight’s shootout, you can probably find it on Youtube.