This was sort of a lazy week for me (and presumably most of you folks out there!) There was Christmas, naturally, but also travel concerns cramping my style and making it so that I couldn’t write as much as I wanted to. No plugs and also a condensed look at the Canucks. A little heavier on commentary than straight up news. I’ll try to balance it out for next week.

Games

You have to give the Vancouver Canucks some credit, they have managed to be consistently inconsistent throughout the season. This week was no different, as the St. Louis Blues were the most recent last place team to tangle with the Canucks. The result was no different, as the Canucks lost 3-2. Things improved against the Nashville Predators, who were coming in riding a 4 game winning streak, as the Canucks soundly beat them before the Christmas break. The Canucks then kicked off the post-Christmas shenanigans with convincing wins over Edmonton and Calgary. So, lose to a bottom feeder, win against a top ranked team, beat a bottom feeder and then also win against another top team? See what I mean about consistently inconsistent?

I noted in my Edmonton writeup that that game may be the definitive turning point in the season for the Canucks, as they were able to do away with the stigma of doing poorly against last place teams. With their rather convincing road victory over the Flames, the Canucks have continued to answer their critics, as the Flames have beaten them twice so far with 2 rather convincing wins. That the win happened on the road, on the second game of a back to back should be seen as a REALLY good sign. I keep kvetching about the Road Trip From Hell being a HUGE obstacle for any post-season hopes for the Canucks, so if they have their road game sorted it, this bodes extremely well.

Injuries

Ryan Johnson is the most recent addition to the Canucks IR. I guess Demitra was getting lonely. Johnson suffered an indeterminate foot injury against the Capitals, but suited up for 2 games before having to bow out on Boxing Day. Given the sort of abuse he endures on a regular basis and the fact that he had a Polish sausage for a finger last season, you know he’s gotta be hurting.

Demitra’s return continues to be in the 3-4 weeks realm, as evidenced with the most recent ink regarding everyone’s favorite Slovak. Demitra also had what was probably the funniest quote of the week:

“I’ve been working with this guy for, like, eight years. He’s got a special technique he learned in Russia. You almost have to see it. He’s using long needles and putting them in the right points and it kind of feels like it’s burning but it loosens up your shoulders and your muscles.”

I dunno. I have the mind of a nine year old sometimes.

Off Ice

Mikael Samuelsson might be in a smidge of trouble after a comment he made regarding his exclusion from Sweden’s Olympic hockey squad. Asked how he felt about not making a return as part of Tre Kronor after having won gold in 2006 in Turin, Samuelsson said that Swedish brass could go ‘fuck themselves.’ He did preface his comment by saying it’ll probably be something he’ll regret saying, but honestly, you can’t rag on him for what he said.As mentioned, he was part of Sweden’s gold winning squad. Does the play of Mattias Weinhandl, a guy who has vision problems and couldn’t hack it in the NHL, really warrant inclusion over Samuelsson? What about Fredrik Modin who has a whopping 1a in 8 games played so far this season?

I think Samuelsson has a right to be displeased at being snubbed and I think that the flak he’s catching from some folks already is unjustified. Samuelsson loves his country and is exhibiting his passion, something which Canadians laud their players for doing all the time. Had it been Roberto Luongo (to use an extreme example) who had gotten snubbed, I doubt the Canuck faithful would be up in arms about it. Heck, I think there were people who defended Patrick Roy when he insisted on starting all of the games in 2002. He ended up sitting after Team Canada brass told him to go pound sand.

There’s been lots of rumors circulating about defenseman Mathieu Schneider. Earlier in the week, Jason Botchford hinted that Canucks management may have been trying to ‘Brendan Shanahan’ the veteran blueliner, referring to management convincing Shanny that he should call it quits. News leaked out Sunday, however, that Schneider may have requested a trade, as he’s not happy with his current role on the team.

Now, some people are going to say Schneider’s being a big baby or he’s whining or whatever. Alright, fair enough. But there are a couple of things to consider before you dump on Schneider:

1, His signing with the Canucks came at the same time GM Mike Gillis made a trade for Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich. It’s entirely probable that Schneider did not know about the deal before he committed to the Canucks and subsequently was thinking he had a different role to play on the team besides spare defenseman. It’s also possible he may not have signed had Ehrhoff and Lukowich already been on the roster. I’m not trying to say Gillis did anything wrong here, as the GM of a hockey club has to take any opportunity he can get to improve his club, but the fallout from the Ehrhoff trade put Schneider and Gillis in an awkward position.

2, Schneider is a class act and has been a great guy wherever he’s gone. For people to rag on a decorated veteran such as him is unfair. I would say that there’s more to it than what’s going on here. It’s possible that Gillis has something up his sleeve. What? Well…

3, Schneider being traded would help out the Canucks a great deal, especially with Pavol Demitra’s return being imminent. The Canucks are in cap hell right now as they are $4.0M over the cap, but have $4.0M in cap relief due to Pavol Demitra being on long term injury reserve (LTIR.) The minute Demitra is healthy and comes back into the lineup, salary would have to be cut somewhere. Incidentally, we’re almost at the halfway point of the season. Demitra’s cap hit would be pro rated. What’s half of 4 again? How much is Schneider making again? I asked Jason Botchford about it and he did flat out tell me no, but still, it’s more fun to pretend that Gillis is some sort of byzantine schemer, coming up with elaborate plots to help the Canucks win.

Down On The Farm

As mentioned earlier, the Moose beat the Abbotsford Heat 4-1 in their only game of the week. This was another game I didn’t get to catch thanks to the wonders of Air Canada. Grabner did score a goal in his return, while Evan Oberg also potted a goal, his first of his professional career. Sergei Shirokov also tallied two points. Did I mention that this was on the same night that the Flames were spanked by the Canucks? Sunday Bloody Sunday!

Baby Canucks

The World Juniors kicked off on boxing day. As noted previously, there are a couple of Canucks prospects playing at the tourney. Most notable is Anton Rodin, who has had a great start to the tournament so far, as he has put up 6 points in 2 games for Sweden: 1g, 2a on Boxing Day and 2g, 1a on the 27th. Not bad for someone who came in on the third line and getting second unit time. Peter Andersson, a late addition for the Swedes, has also picked up a point so far in the tournament.

Jordan Schroeder is someone I want to take a little time to talk about, though. He did put up 1 goal for the Yanks on opening day, in a rather chippy affair against Slovakia. However, he didn’t seem to be playing that well and the coach didn’t seem to be playing him all that much. I’ll freely admit I didn’t get to catch the full game (end of the second and the third) but I asked a couple of people I know and they tended to back me up on this.

I’m a little worried about Schroeder not being effective when things get physical. He is a smaller guy so that’s already a strike against him. I know that 1 game is an impossibly small sample size and that I’m making a potential mountain out of a molehill here (hey, I’d fit right in with the Canadian sports media!), but it’s something that I think folks should keep an eye out as the tournament progresses. If he continues to struggle in the more physical games, it may be cause for concern and it may also explain why he’s gotten off to a rather slow start this season down in Minnesota: with Schroeder being one of the top guys on the Gophers, teams will be focusing on him more and targetting him more physically.

I’m NOT saying that Schroeder’s struggling with size or criticizing his size. What I am saying is that this could be a potential issue and it could be something folks could look for, either to tell me I’m a big fat doody head for suggesting it or that I may be onto something. Hey, there’s always a first.