Man, what an intense looking bunch there. Wellwood especially. I kid, I kid. Anyway, here’s a brief recap of the Canucks week that was, although it’s a little light on some details.

Games

The Canucks continued the Road Trip From Hell this week with visits to the other two Eastern Canadian teams, with two decidedly different efforts that resulted in losses for Vancouver. The Canucks had what I thought was a good effort against the Montreal Canadiens, outshooting their opponents and getting a lot of close calls, while they more or less phoned it in against Ottawa. Roberto Luongo also had a rare day off against the Senators, something which I suggested may happen.

The benchings continued for Quebec born Canucks, as Steve Bernier was a healthy scratch in an early Saturday game against the Boston Bruins, a game which saw an absolutely epic effort from Luongo and a big game for Pavol Demitra, who scored to tie the game and then in the shootout. Roberto Luongo stopped all three shooters, earning the win for the Canucks.

Through all of this, the Sedins were held pointless. Given how ridiculously good they’ve been as of late, I guess it was a little unrealistic to expect it to continue onwards. We’ll see how they do next week against the Florida squads, though.

Injuries

Kevin Bieksa has his cast off and it is hoped he’ll  be back mid-March.

No updates on Mitchell. The Canucks are still looking to have him back sometime after the Olympic break.

Off Ice

I guess the biggest story this week revolved around some comments Cody Hodgson made in his first press conference since being demoted to the OHL’s Brampton Battalion. The Vancouver sports media were quick to pick up on his comments, specifically those he made pertaining to Alain Vigneault and Dave Gagner. Reaction was immediate, with articles proclaiming a rift existed between Hodgson and the Canucks and that Mike Gillis didn’t care about Hodgson.

Unfortunately, that all ended earlier today when Mike Gillis came out and put to bed everything that was being said regarding the supposed ‘rift’ between Hodgson and the Canucks. Kind of silly this whole thing, as Hodgson has been described as nothing but a class act by everyone he’s come into contact with.

As mentioned in the last story I linked, both Alex Edler and Mikael Samuelsson were named to an eight player reserve list by Team Sweden, meaning they could see action in the Olympics should anyone be injured.

In other news, there are rumours going around that the Dallas Stars may be interested in Canucks prospect Cory Schneider. I can’t imagine the Canucks would be interested in dealing Schneider now: his recent struggles with the Moose have more than likely lowered his value and there is nothing past him if Luongo goes down with another injury, but it’s good to know that there are other teams showing interest in him.

Finally, I forgot to mention this last week as it was published the same day, but Mike Gillis is shutting down contract talks with both Mason Raymond and Ryan Kesler. It’s an interesting decision, although not necessarily out of character for Gillis, given how he conducted contract talks with both the Sedins and Luongo last off-season.

The Moose

The biggest problem with having moved is that I keep forgetting that Moose games are actually on at different times. As a result, I keep forgetting to catch Moose games when they’re on.

That said, I got to partially see both games against the San Antonio Rampage this weekend. The first tilt was an absolute heartbreaker of a game: the Moose came from behind and tied the game at the last minute, only to give up the deciding goal 45 seconds into over time.

The second game had a different outcome, what with the Moose winning, and was another fairly high paced game, with Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker showing some great razzle dazzle for the Ramps, while Grabner finally started showing some signs of life in the late stages of that game. Jannik Hansen also looked particularly solid in the second game, probably his best in a long time.

Prospects

Cody Hodgson returned on Thursday and notched 2 assists.

Beyond that, I’m a little behind with prospect info due to being sick and job hunting this week. I’ll try to have a far more in-depth look at the Canucks prospects next week! Horrible, I know.