BrowntoBure

Keith on Cooke, also a retaliation. Ladd on Kesler. Ben Eager on Rick Rypien.

He did the exact same thing to Matt Cooke about 3 years ago, before the big "crackdown" so nothing really came of it. And yeah, that's the problem... whatever he gets doesn't matter... we are missing our star for who knows how long and all this does is give a Dman who averages 27 minutes a game a little rest heading into the playoffs.

Last night in the game between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks, Hawks defensemen Duncan Keith delivered a vicious elbow to the face of Daniel Sedin, resulting in a concussion. This is nothing new for the Chicago Blackhawks or Keith for that matter, who has a history of retaliating with cheap shots. Warranted, Daniels earlier hit on Keith was a little late and his shoulder did ride up after initial contact with the chest of Keith that does not excuse the blatant head shot delivered by Keith. Last year in the Cup finals Aaron Rome was suspended 4 games for a hit on Nathan Horton, while it was a bit late and shoulder did contact Horton's head, it was still a hockey play. The hit last night resembled nothing of that sort. Last year the league explained that playoff games are worth double, so 4 games was really looked at as 8. If you take the same criteria into consideration and the fact that Keith's hit was far more reckless and intentional, there is no doubt whatsoever that this should be a minimum of 8 games. Unfortunately we all know how the NHL operates, and earlier today it was announced that Keith would be having his hearing with Brendan Shanahan via phone, meaning that the suspension will in all likelihood be no more than 5 games. Ridiculous. What really gets me with this whole situation is not the disgusting hit itself, but rather the way it was dealt with in an extremely unprofessional manner from the media in Chicago. If you'd like to subject yourself to repetitive, vicious face palms, here are some of my favourite gems offered up from the collection of jackasses who call themselves writers. Barry Rozner, Daily Herald: "Alain Vigneault is fortunate Roger Goodell is not the boss. If he were, the Canucks head coach might have himself a bounty of trouble after Vancouver brought its cheap-shot theater company to the United Centre Wednesday night." What? Steve Rosenbloom, Chicago Tribune: "And then Keith turned stupid. Then he became a Canuck. Then he sunk to Vancouver's gutless, cheap shot levels. He should know better. All the Hawks should. Friends don't let friends act like Canucks" Steve Konroyd, CSNChicago.com: "I'm not going to speculate as to whether Duncan Keith gets suspended or not. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't. What I do know is Daniel Sedin will think twice about hitting a guy in the head expecting nothing in return. That's hockey" It simply astonishes me that these clowns not only have jobs writing, but they actually get paid for it as well. It's also great to throw out a comment like Steve Konroyd did as to say the eye-for-an-eye mentality is ok, thus justifying what Duncan Keith did. As previously stated, there is a huge difference in the severity of the two hits and for him to say this is completely asinine. There were also many claims out of Chicago that the reason Daniel Sedin was being sent back to Vancouver to see a specialist was to increase the pending suspension the NHL is expected to hand to Keith. Or, maybe it's just a league wide protocol to ensure the utmost safety and well being of your players, unlike the Blackhawks, the Canucks don't rush their players back into games when they are clearly concussed a-la Brent Seabrook. This was the same accusation thrown out in Boston when Brad Marchand low-bridged Sami Salo earlier this year on an equally gutless play. I Myself cannot wait until the playoffs and I pray the Canucks journey takes them through Chicago and Boston again as I cannot wait to read the hypocritical spin these buffoons will come up with next. These two markets contain the most biased, ridiculous viewpoints I have ever seen in the mainstream sports media. If you keep on saying it eventually you may convince everyone it's true right? If the dream falls short again for the Canucks this year though, as much as it would make me vomit, I'd love to see a Bruins/Hawks final. These two cities deserve each other, they are like the deadbeat losers who hang out by the dumpster during class in high school, while all the other kids are busy learning. I for one know the truth, as do the majority of hockey fans. While we're on the topic of facts, the Vancouver Canucks.... those gutless, cheap shot artists. Are the only team in the NHL that has yet to have a player suspended this year. The truth is out there, As long as you don't go looking for it in Boston and Chicago. Follow us on twitter: BrowntoBure https://twitter.com/#!/BrowntoBure

Here is Daniel's hit that happened 7 minutes earlier. When the video is shown in slow motion it appears to be a shoulder to the head. But, when you look at this still shot of the point of impact, it seems to be pretty clear that the main point of contact is shoulder to chest, with the elbow tucked in being a big factor. Shoulder rises up after. https://twitter.com/#!/BrowntoBure/status/182669203533332481/photo/1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xz5tiYSHGY

Aside from the horrible officiating the only thing that won Boston that series was injuries, when we lost Hamhuis it was over.... that and Thomas played out of his ***. It's a shame really because I'm positive the Nucks would have destroyed Tampa.

As Lower Mainland residents woke up this morning morning to a raging wind storm that has knocked out power in a few areas, you have to wonder if this is the same storm that has recently put the Vancouver Canucks in the dark. Vancouver, who is on a lengthy 7 game homestand, are now 2-3 on that homestand, after dropping back to back Saturday night decisions to lowly Buffalo and Montreal, with a win against Winnipeg sandwiched in between. Before this 7 game stand at Rogers Arena, the Canucks schedule was very road heavy, and I was thinking if Vancouver managed to have a decent road record up til then, that they would have a very good shot at repeating as President Trophy champions with most of March and April on home ice. They did better. The Canucks managed 22 road wins, the most in the NHL, and you had to think that with the Blues playing a lot of road games, and the Red Wings being plagued by alot of injuries, that the sea had parted for the Canucks and all they had to do was do what they have been doing for a better part of 8 seasons, being a tough team to play against on home ice. In the 5 games so far in March, the Canucks two wins were a 2-0 blanking of the St.Louis Blues, and a come from behind 3-2 win against the Jets. Both games, even though ending in victories, showed signs of a Canucks team that was either tired of even bored. The losses were more alarming though, and to teams the Canucks should feast on. Buffalo opened up a 3-0 lead just 6 minutes in with very sloppy play by the Canucks defence. In true Canuck fashion, they mounted a comeback but fell 5-3. The Dallas game was almost as painful as the game this past Saturday, with Vancouver opening the scoring in the 2nd period, only to show no signs of life afterwards and lose 5-2. The loss to Montreal, the last place team in the East, was probably the most humiliating loss of the season, a 4-1 setback. Ryan Kesler opened the scoring in this one, but after that, you didn't see many scoring opportunities from Vancouver. They played like they were protecting a lead even when they were tied 1-1. The Canadiens scored a weak one on Roberto Luongo early in the 3rd to take a 2-1 lead, and then after running into penalty trouble, Montreal capitalized on the two man advantage and it was pretty much lights out after that. The biggest concern in all this, the play of the Canucks go to guys, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who have now gone pointless in 8 straight contests. You can say the chances were there and the effort as well, but these guys are based on the scoresheet, and they haven't been on it since a thrilling 4-3 win in Detroit on February 23rd. Some will say they rather have these guys slump now before the playoffs, others will tell you its alarming and concerning to see these guys go this long without any push back. We won't know how long this will last until we see them dig themselves out of this on their own. Ryan Kesler is looking like he's getting back on track, and it would be a great thing to see both Henrik and Daniel Sedin go into the postseason with some razzle dazzle, otherwise, this town known for its tough love on its athletes, will have some choice words for the two. These guys are very good at what they do, and even though their point totals will most likely drop after the last two magical seasons, I think we know deep down that they'll be fine. I'm sure most people will take this slump happening now than in the playoffs cause these two will be magnified from April on, like they've never been looked at before. Tonight the Phoenix Coyotes are in town, a team that is in the crazy playoff race in the West with 4 other teams for the final two playoff spots. They havent won a game yet in March, but have compiled enough OT/SO points to stay in the race and sit in 7th for the moment. This game has all the ingredients to send fans into a trap coma, with most meetings between these two going past 60 minutes. This is not the game you expect Daniel and Henrik to end their slumps, but who knows. We've seen alot of magic from these guys when you dont expect it, and it still catches some of us off guard even though we've been watching them for over 10 years. A Stanley Cup on their resume would definately clear the skies and push the raging winds away that have been howling around this team and city for a better part of 40 years. Follow us on twitter: @BrowntoBure https://twitter.com/#!/BrowntoBure

Since the Bruins were mentioned, something I forgot... How is that the team who was being torched all playoffs long on the powerplay, magically gets involved in the first ever 0 power play game in NHL history last year, which put them into the cup finals.... pretty interesting. There's some really weird stuff going on in this league.

It's Monday and you know what that means. BrowntoBure are back with another edition of Monday Meltdown. As you well know, this past weekend was Daylight Savings, where we all set our clocks forward an hour. Unfortunately it seems the NHL lost this message somewhere in translation as they've set the clock back, all the way to the year 2003, the height up the "Dead Puck Era". As of last week the NHL and its' astute officiating crews had called approximately 350 less obstruction related penalties than the previous season. Is this just a coincidence, or a league mandate? One could make that the argument that after years of an average of 3 to 5 power plays a night, that in the middle of the season, the players have finally figured it out. That person would be an idiot. If you were to watch any game around the league right now you would see that not only is this not the case, but there are arguably more infractions being committed on a game to game basis that just simple are not being called. Coming out of the 04-05 lockout that was supposed to be the end of the "Dead Puck Era” the game started to shift, back to that of fast paced, offensive hockey. Subsequently, teams like the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres, to name a few began building their teams accordingly. Henrik Sedin, captain and number one centre of the Vancouver Canucks and man of few words generally, appears to have finally had enough. "This might be the only sport where the rules change throughout the season, depending who you are and who you are playing" I think we can all agree with that statement there, and even accept it. As it's been widely known since the beginning of the NHL, that there is a completely different set of rules come playoff time. Just ask the Boston Bruins, they not only took advantage of that knowledge, they rode it all the way to a Stanley Cup. Apparently some teams missed the memo. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that their owner, Jeremy Jacobs just so happens to be the head of the Board of Governors for the NHL. Just like I'm sure it's just a coincidence that teams such as the St.Louis Blues, who are almost completely defunct of offense began their miraculous climb up the standings all the way to first place overall, about the same time power play’s began to drop league wide. Let us not forget about the small market teams such as Nashville and Dallas who also play a very defensive style, they are also currently sitting in playoff positions, as are the New York Rangers, where's head office again? And the Phoenix Coyotes, who owns them again? At the same time as all these teams are climbing the standings the Vancouver Canucks, highest scoring team in the NHL and for over a span of a year and a half, the number one power play in the NHL seem to be in free fall mode. The main cause of which is the constant abuse of the back-to-back Art Ross trophy winners, Daniel and Henrik Sedin are currently in a scoring drought of one point between the two of them in the last 8 games. Sorry Canucks, you did a great job building your team to succeed in the "new NHL” but it's time to throw that blueprint right out the window, Gary and the boys have another agenda. Now is this just all one big remarkably large string of coincidences, or is the league going out of it's way to decrease the amount of penalties being called to boost the chances of some of these teams previously mentioned? Or could it be as simple as the "anything goes" way of calling the NHL playoffs has just started far earlier this year? Another thing that crossed my mind the other day is that this being the final year of the NHL and NHLPA's collective bargaining agreement, could the NHL already be starting to posture with something that they know the players are going to want to have dealt with when the meetings begin in the summer? I for one would not put it passed them. Whatever the case, as fans we were told coming out of the last lockout, the days of "clutch and grab" hockey were over. I cannot count the number of times over the past few months where I have been watching a game and thought to myself "How the hell is that not a penalty" Now I'm all for tough hockey, but when a certain league wide standard has been repeatedly driven down your throat for years, shouldn't you expect it to stay constant... Or at the very least improve? All I see is digression, very rapidly at that. As this season comes to a close we're headed right back to that much-maligned "Dead Puck Era" that we thought we were done with. The Players, coaches, owners, etcetera will all still get their money, but once again, it's us the fans who are suffering. I don't like it, not one bit. See you next Monday. Follow us on twitter: @BrowntoBure https://twitter.com/#!/BrowntoBure

while they are at it they can get back to calling obstruction. 350 + less hooking, holding related calls this season... Teams like Vancouver who were built to succeed the way the rules were meant to be called are now struggling as "clutch and grab" seems to be making a return, I dont think its any coincidence that the Sedins are currently in the longest pointless droughts of their careers.

Thing you always need to remember is they love having as many KHL guys as possible.

In my opinion it's a complete joke. If he was coming he should have had to have been here by the deadline. Saying that I hope he comes, guy has no character and will destroy the Preds.

Jeremy Roenick is a complete clown, I cannot stand the guy. One of the worst analyists in the history of sports. Being a loud mouth jackass as a player is the only thing that got him on the air.

Yeah me neither, hard to really tell though. That's the thing with Kronwall though is he has had plenty of hits that were far more egregious than this hit, that went completely un punished. There are certain teams in this league where it seems you have a free pass to do whatever the hell you want.

Kronwall left his feet and threw himself into a hit? No way!

Shooting from the hip, a weekly feature from Canucks Hockey Blog. Featured this week, BrowntoBure: http://canuckshockeyblog.com/?p=9497 Check it out, and you can find out a little bit more on us.

Welcome to Monday Meltdown. Starting today, every Monday BrowntoBure will take a look back at the week that was in Canuck land and release a little of that Monday stress by ranting on something that really had us shaking our heads. Allow us to ease into this by going to the well for something we could just as easily title "Vancouver's response to every single goal in the last 3 years" How many of you wake up Monday morning excited for the week? Well if you're anything like me you loathe the moment the alarm sounds and you realize you've got to head back to work. This generally puts me in a foul mood all day where it's generally quite easy to agitate me. One of the most surefire ways to get under my skin at such a time is to make ignorant remarks in regards to the play of Roberto Luongo. My alarm clock is set to sports radio where I usually lay in bed for a bout 15 minutes before I get up where I get my recap of the weekends events. Today I was granted the pleasure of waking up to a very deep and insightful reminder as to what drives me up the wall every time the Canucks lose a game. "This guy just cannot win us big games" Right... So not only am I tired, it's Monday and I now have a massive headache and probably an even bigger damage bill as I instinctively drove my head through the bedroom wall. Looking back on it, maybe just turning the radio off was a much better solution. But you have to understand that living in Vancouver and listening to the morons who call in on a daily basis is like that huge 10-car pile up on the highway. You know you shouldn’t but you just cannot help from slowing down to have a look. Saturday night the Buffalo Sabres led by Mr. Nobody appreciates me, Cody Hodgson came to town. The fans were fired up, and undoubtedly the 5 players who were going against their former teams for the first time surely must have been as well. Wow, we really misjudged that one. Something that has been an all too common experience this season reared it's ugly head yet again, the Canucks came out completely flat and were run right out of the building with the Sabres scoring 3 goals in the first 5 minutes of the game. Roberto faced 7 shots for a save percentage of .571 and was pulled after the 3rd goal. What many people in Vancouver fail to realize was that although he definitely did not look to be on his game at all (Mason Raymond blasting a puck off his collar bone in warm up may have had something to do with that) this was not the reason why he was pulled. This was the classic case of a "mercy pull” where rather than letting the goalie sit in net and get peppered all night behind a team that clearly isn't ready to play, the coach elects to switch his goalie in an attempt to get the attention of his players. While Roberto definitely is not free of any criticism here, he's not the one to blame. For the better part of 3 months the Canucks have been coming out like this in the first period of many games, and Roberto has had to seemingly stand on his head every night, until the team finds their legs. This is something that goes right over the heads of the vast majority of clueless knobs who like to call themselves Vancouver Canuck fans. I took in this game at a local pub and was amazed, but not surprised at the remarks coming from the people sitting in my vicinity. "Trade him" "Way to choke again" "Should have started Schneider” and a perennial favourite of mine, the stand up and applaud when the camera show's Luongo skating to the bench. Since November 1st Luongo has played 33 games where he has allowed only 67 goals on 971 shots for a Goals Against Average of 2.03 and a Save percentage of .931 which culminated in a dazzling shutout performance of the St.Louis Blues on March the 1st. Which just so happened to be a battle for first place in the NHL. It blows my mind how ignorant the fans in this city can be while they completely ignore the MVP like numbers Luongo has been putting up this season. It just goes to show that no matter what someone has done in the past, there's a real what have you done for me lately mentality going on here and there are people just sitting, waiting and dare I say hoping for Luongo to falter ever so slightly so they can rip the guy to shreds. So I'm going to give you a piece of advice here Canucks fans. Instead of waiting to tear this guy down at every single opportunity, how about you stop and think about how well he has played this year and where this team might be without him putting up these types of numbers and consistently bailing out your team when they haven't been ready to perform. Not only will it make your hockey watching experience much more enjoyable, it will greatly improve my Mondays! Who am I kidding? See you next week. Follow us on twitter @BrowntoBure https://twitter.com/#!/BrowntoBure

What? I said his size will help him play through the clutch and garb and he's also being worked into the lineup... He won't be staying on the 4th line very long. Vigneault wanted the 3rd line to be his checking line, and hodgson isn't that type of player, and the canucks already have kesler and henrik locked up. Its also believed that Hodgsons camp asked for a trade.

On yet another night where the Vancouver Canucks failed to show up for a first period against the St. Louis Blues there was one guy who was ready to play right off the hop. Zack Kassian single handedly accounted for half of the Canucks shots through one period of play and looked quite dangerous in doing so. He was setting up teammates and driving hard to the net, something this team has been looking for since the departure of Todd Bertuzzi. Mason Raymond, take notes! If there's one way to find your way into the heart of a Vancouver hockey fan, it's by bringing energy, passion and physicality to the game, and that Kassian did. It seemed as though every singled shift he was covering the full area of the offensive zone delivering blistering hits and as the game progressed it began rubbing off on his teammates. Kassian and Lapierre were credited with 10 hits tonight, all of which being ones that you know the opposing player felt. After what I saw tonight I contemplated what the possible lines would be for the playoffs: Daniel-Henrik-Burrows Higgins- Kesler- Booth Malhotra- Pahlsson-Hansen Bitz- Lapierre-Kassian Bottom 6 is obviously very interchangeable as all of these guys can play. Over Alain Vigneault's tenure the 4th line of this team has been a revolving door. Be it guys that could fight but not play, or guys that weren't tough enough to strike fear into any opponent. It's only been 2 games but the Canucks appear to have signs of what they have been looking for in Kassian, not only can he play the physical game, but he's displayed flashed of offensive prowess that will give Vigneault the ability to put him on any line and expect success. With the NHL quite clearly beginning to revert back to the old style of clutch and grab hockey that bored fans to death over the last 2 decades, with less talented teams being able to trap their way through games in the hopes of stealing points, having a guy that can bring this to the team will definitely be a huge asset over what is expected to be another long playoff run. While many of us are still unsure about what the loss of Cody Hodgson will bring, but you can be sure of one thing. If this is what we can expect from Kassian on a night-to-night basis, the city will fall in love with this kid and he may return the favour in the summer, as the missing piece to what this team needs to reach their ultimate goal.

Canucks also got Gragnani in the deal, and sent Sulzer the other way.

The Canucks only took one player off their roster, they'll be fine.

When you love something let it go, if it succeeds in Buffalo... You're screwed... Or something like that. Today Mike Gillis made a decision that could change the course of history for Vancouver hockey fans and their beloved team, with the decision to deal fan favourite Cody Hodgson to the Buffalo Sabres for Zack Kassian. Fans were outraged when the news broke of the trade just after the 12pm trade deadline on Monday. No police cars were torched, no windows were smashed and not one building was looted. Although, Authentix did drop the price of Cody Hodgson jersey down to $100, which... if you ask me is a total rip off for the jersey of someone who no longer plays for the team. All kidding aside there was an instant uproar from Canuck nation, as fans seemed to ask in unison "What the hell is he thinking?" You can definitely add me to the list of those who were not impressed with this deal, to say the least. After some reflecting though I think I've come around on this one though. It's well known around these parts and throughout the NHL what took place in last years Stanley Cup finals and that the Canucks were on a mission this year to find someone, anyone who would be able to deter such things from taking place, and interfering with their ultimate goal of winning the cup. Is Zack Kassian that guy? Kassian is 6'4, 228 lbs. Can skate, can hit, can score and most importantly will drop the gloves. He has all the qualities that the Canucks have been looking for in a player, there's one draw back though. At the ripe age of 21 years old Kassian has very little NHL experience and hasn't quite been able to put all of these skills together to be the complete player that everyone thinks he can be. Cody Hodgson went through the same sort of growing pains, and was just coming into his own this year, but as a number 3 centre behind the likes of 2 bona fide NHL superstars in Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler, it had become apparent that Hodgson would never get a chance at top 6 minutes with the Canucks. Gillis has really taken a leap of faith with this deal in my opinion; it's basically unheard of for a leading Calder trophy candidate to be dealt at any time. This is the kind of deal that can bring you a Stanley Cup, or could get you fired. The Canucks are asking a lot of young Kassian to come in and fill the void that has been so greatly debated all season by the media and fans of this city, if he can handle the pressure he just may have his name on Lord Stanley's Cup. But if not, there could be some major moves taking place in Vancouver next summer and Mike Gillis will not be the one making that decision. It's been great to follow Cody as a fan ever since the day he was drafted by the Canucks, and heralded as the next great captain of this team. Unfortunately we will not see this come to fruition, but I have no doubt in my mind that he will go on to great things with the Buffalo Sabres and captain them for years to come. Lets just hope he waits until after the Saturday night showdown versus his former mates to start that new chapter of his career, in the right direction.