Official 2008/2009 Canucks Thread

[Blah_Teggie]

on a bit of a side note, it must suck to be a sports fan in Ontario these days
Toronto Maple Leafs 12-13-6 2nd last in Northeast Division
Ottawa Senators 11-14-5 last in Northeast Division and got spanked 5-1 to NJ tonite
Toronto Raptors 10-16 last in Atlantic Division and lost to Oklahoma City??
Combined record of 33 wins, 43 loses and 11 OTLs....OUCH!

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by Wongtouski

LOL why is Calgary hating.

why not? calgary and vancouver has arguably one of the most heated rivalries in the NHL. not to mention, its not like the flames had the easiest games this year vs the canucks. now add a big-bodied superstar center, the flames have their hands full for the rest of the games against canucks. i kinda feel sorry for sundin. his whole career he's been bagged on, even this summer when he was thinking about playing. its not like neidermayer or selanne got the same negativity. hell, even forsberg never got it that bad.

[Harvey Specter]

Fuck Calgary as team. Fuck that shithole of a city. Fuck the "sea of red" and fuck all their fans who think they're greatest fans in the NHL which they're not.

And on the topic of Canucks hate....I seriously love how the fucks on TSN and Sportsnet make the Canucks sound like they're sitting at the bottom of the NW and go on about how the Flames are going to win the NW and how they're one of the hottest teams in the West. And I loved how Gino R yesterday on TSN kept saying "the Canucks are in trouble" but Darren Dreger wouldn't bite and said "um...no they're not" and Darren was kind enough to mentione that the Canucks are winning games with 2 backup goalies, one of which came straight from the minors.

[trdees]

Originally Posted by stuff99

Along with the NY Post:

NO SHOCK, SUNDIN FOLLOWED THE MONEY

By LARRY BROOKS

Last updated: 9:14 am
December 19, 2008

IN the end, Mats Sundin made like Woodward and Bernstein following Deep Throat's advice. He followed the money.

The 37-year-old free agent center followed the money to Vancouver, accepting a pro-rated $10 million deal from the Canucks instead of less than that to live in New York and play for the Rangers New York Rangers .

Sundin followed his wallet instead of his heart. Good for him. Just one more mercenary the way pretty much professional athletes essentially are. They get it while they can, like most of us would.

Scott Gomez Scott Gomez wanted to play in New York, but the Rangers had to pay a $51.5 million toll in order to get him across the Hudson. Chris Drury Chris Drury always wanted to play in New York, but it took $35.25 million and a full no-move clause to get him into the Blueshirt he always dreamt of wearing.

It doesn't make any of them into Bernard Madoff, doesn't make any of them into villains, but of all the big-name athletes who have wanted to come to New York, only one took less to do so, and he is Brendan Shanahan.

Sundin will be playing approximately 55 percent of the season. He will earn $5.5 million from the Canucks. Had he taken the pro-rated $5.5 million from the Rangers that we're told GM Glen Sather advised Sundin's camp the Blueshirts would get to, the former Leaf captain would have earned $3.025 million.

The Rangers may not be a better team than the Canucks, but they sure play in a weaker conference and sure have at least an equally good shot at Vancouver at getting through their half of the playoff draw. Without question, Sundin would have made the Blueshirts a far more formidable opponent.

Sundin would have given the Rangers a presence they do not have. He would have given the Rangers a force opposition coaches would have had to game-plan against. He would have given the Rangers the sizzle they simply cannot capture.

No question there would have been a period of adjustment, but the Rangers would have emerged as a much stronger team on the other side had Sundin been willing to take what the Blueshirts would have been able to give him by deleting automatic scratches Petr Prucha and Dan Fritsche.

Let's face it, though. The Rangers didn't lose Sundin yesterday. They lost Sundin on July 1 when Sather had perhaps the worst day on the market since people were jumping out of windows on Black Friday of Oct. 25, 1929.

The Rangers are going to lose any chance of competing for players who become available the rest of the year unless the general manager gets down to work and begins to create cap space for the rest of the season beyond the $1 million the Blueshirts now own.

Sundin went for the money. The Rangers didn't have enough of it. Sather had better create cap space - and now - so that his team has enough of it when the next guy becomes available.

WOW so many things wrong in this article. If it was about the money how come he took a paycut?

And whats so good about playing for NYR its not EVERYBODYS dream to play in NY.? Whats so good about it? If its so good how come they had to pay gomez and drury so much coin LOL

[Tim Budong]

one of hte reasons why sundin is being bagged on is the fact that he is now a "hypocrite"
why?
at the deadline last year, said he would not waive his NTC to become a rental. What is he now? a rental.

the team1040 said it correctly too, sundin wasnt as popular as Dougy Gilmore or Wendal Clark(for the right reasons) He was said to be similar to naslund as the not so vocal captain and leader.

I dont believe in the latter statement. neither does the team. He has hte C for a reason, its not just for show

Calgary will always hate us no matter what. All of you know that

as for that article..NY never has said good things about us, we took their sloppy seconds in Moose.

[MG1]

Good thing I got tickets to the Superskills. I hope to see Sundin there. Not sure what he would compete in.

[6thGear.]

i would hardly call sundin coming here a "rental" . ok wait. "if" sundin doesn't come back next year, then he could possibly be called a rental. and so what if he didn't waive his NTC. its in his contract for a reason. is it any better than some player near his end of his career asks to be traded so he can win a cup? the main reason why sundin wasn't popular was the leafs traded their current captain in clark to get some young guy in sundin. to make it worse it was from the nordiques. maybe not the same senario but same feelings we got when messier came here and ran linden out of town.

sundin may be like nasland. quiet, keeps to himself. but thats where the similarities end. when sundin steps onto the ice he leads by example. when he's in the locker room, its the team first. he hasn't even landed here and he's already shown what kind of person he his.

[Hondaracer]

the fucking retards on OTR are so T.O biased..

the one fucking nerd on there is like "Yea Sundin followed the money, but I highly doubt the canucks will make the move with the remaining cap space and grab anyone, with this economy NHL teams are scared to spend and they almost certainly will not make a move because they cant, its a business and they wont spend"

it would be great to have people that actually know about the team, owners, management, etc. that could talk rather then Toronto based reporters with their heads stuck up their ass

[invader]

is that the same Brooks that John Tortarella ripped into during a post game interview when he coached the lightning?

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

the fucking retards on OTR are so T.O biased..

the one fucking nerd on there is like "Yea Sundin followed the money, but I highly doubt the canucks will make the move with the remaining cap space and grab anyone, with this economy NHL teams are scared to spend and they almost certainly will not make a move because they cant, its a business and they wont spend"

it would be great to have people that actually know about the team, owners, management, etc. that could talk rather then Toronto based reporters with their heads stuck up their ass

I was just watching that as well. For a bit there I was actually getting sort of angry at what dumbasses these guys were.

To me signing Sundin is nothing but a good thing. We gain something without losing anything but money of course, we solidify 2 real lines now, this will definitely help the Sedins since the other teams top D pairing won't be on the Sedins the whole game cause they also have to worry about our 2nd line, his leadership skills and such without question helps our team and so on. I'm really excited to see what the Canucks will look like now with Sundin here. Should be some interesting hockey.

[goo3]

Originally Posted by darthchilli

one of hte reasons why sundin is being bagged on is the fact that he is now a "hypocrite"
why?
at the deadline last year, said he would not waive his NTC to become a rental. What is he now? a rental.

In other words, Leaf fans are tired of having a shitty team with shitty GMs who give out NTCs and then shitty fans need someone convenient to blame when they realize after the fact it was a shitty idea!

[JSALES]

hopefully the canucks can win the stanley cup when luongo gets back

[trdees]

whos got the stanley cup parade all planned out already?
I know SOMEBODY on this board has.

[chr1s]

i would like to see how bernier would evolve as a player alongside an elite player.. sundin. i don't think of the sedins as the kind to really use bernier and help him develop.

[6thGear.]

Originally Posted by trdees

whos got the stanley cup parade all planned out already?
I know SOMEBODY on this board has.

*cough* not me *cough*

[Hondaracer]

San Jose Losing 6-0 to Detroit only shows that it's possible to beat them, and considering we match up so well against DET it will be interesting to see when they play San Jose

although it sucks because they play Sanjose on the 2nd game of a back to back

[Soundy]

The more I hear, the better this deal is sounding.

Sundin has stated that Vancouver has always been his first choice, ever since Gillis contacted him on July 1. It was his agent, J.P. Barry, who brought him all the subsequent offers and insisted that he give them all serious consideration, which is the smart thing for an agent to do in his client's best interests. Ultimately, he's exactly where he's wanted to be all along.

Gillis played the situation perfectly - reportedly, some other players in this game put the pressure on, which neither Sundin nor Barry appreciated. Despite fan and media criticism to attempt to force Sundin to "*poop* or get off the pot", Gillis played it cool throughout, giving a gentle nudge now and then but never knocking over the apple cart. The benefit of Gillis' experience as a player agent is really starting to show.

Blake Price (on TEAM 1040) had another Toronto sports journalist on the other night (the name escapes me), someone who spent years covering the Leafs and Sundin. According to him, Sundin is a very private guy who keeps to himself a lot (he apparently often eats alone when the team is on the road), and despite wearing the C for years, is not the "leader" type - the Leafs have always had others who filled that role (your Wendell Clarks, Doug Gilmours, Gary Roberts, etc.), until the last few years, which is partly why they've been really hurting lately. Now, he's coming to a team that already has its established leaders, where he won't have to do anything but be an offensive force, which should allow him to settle in quickly and be very comfortable playing here.

In an interview with Rick Ball yesterday, Sundin stated that he talked to Ohlund before accepting the offer, asking him what the feeling was in the Canucks locker room about him coming here. According to him, Ohlund reported that the responses were 100% positive; that everyone else he'd talked to was completely stoked about the idea. Sundin said he had been concerned about coming into a situation where he'd upset the existing chemistry in the room, but that Ohlund assured him it wouldn't be a problem here.

Sundin also accepted a reduced offer from the original $10M (whether he offered to take less, or was asked if he'd take less, hasn't been clarified yet, at least not that I've heard of), with the thought of leaving the Canucks more cap room to acquire another player or two by the trade deadline. As it stands, with contracts being pro-rated through the season, Gillis will have $2.5M-$3M to spend at the deadline. Pro-rated, that gives us room to pick up a couple of $5M-$6M players(!!) for a playoff run.

Sundin will, of course, wear #13... readily given up by Mike Brown, who will now wear #15.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Soundy

The more I hear, the better this deal is sounding.

Sundin has stated that Vancouver has always been his first choice, ever since Gillis contacted him on July 1. It was his agent, J.P. Barry, who brought him all the subsequent offers and insisted that he give them all serious consideration, which is the smart thing for an agent to do in his client's best interests. Ultimately, he's exactly where he's wanted to be all along.

Gillis played the situation perfectly - reportedly, some other players in this game put the pressure on, which neither Sundin nor Barry appreciated. Despite fan and media criticism to attempt to force Sundin to "*poop* or get off the pot", Gillis played it cool throughout, giving a gentle nudge now and then but never knocking over the apple cart. The benefit of Gillis' experience as a player agent is really starting to show.

Blake Price (on TEAM 1040) had another Toronto sports journalist on the other night (the name escapes me), someone who spent years covering the Leafs and Sundin. According to him, Sundin is a very private guy who keeps to himself a lot (he apparently often eats alone when the team is on the road), and despite wearing the C for years, is not the "leader" type - the Leafs have always had others who filled that role (your Wendell Clarks, Doug Gilmours, Gary Roberts, etc.), until the last few years, which is partly why they've been really hurting lately. Now, he's coming to a team that already has its established leaders, where he won't have to do anything but be an offensive force, which should allow him to settle in quickly and be very comfortable playing here.

In an interview with Rick Ball yesterday, Sundin stated that he talked to Ohlund before accepting the offer, asking him what the feeling was in the Canucks locker room about him coming here. According to him, Ohlund reported that the responses were 100% positive; that everyone else he'd talked to was completely stoked about the idea. Sundin said he had been concerned about coming into a situation where he'd upset the existing chemistry in the room, but that Ohlund assured him it wouldn't be a problem here.

Sundin also accepted a reduced offer from the original $10M (whether he offered to take less, or was asked if he'd take less, hasn't been clarified yet, at least not that I've heard of), with the thought of leaving the Canucks more cap room to acquire another player or two by the trade deadline. As it stands, with contracts being pro-rated through the season, Gillis will have $2.5M-$3M to spend at the deadline. Pro-rated, that gives us room to pick up a couple of $5M-$6M players(!!) for a playoff run.

Sundin will, of course, wear #13... readily given up by Mike Brown, who will now wear #15.

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I heard on a few occasions on the team1040 that Sundin suggested to take a pay cut. But like I said I could have heard or misunderstood what was said. Either way I like the signing.

[Ch28]

Originally Posted by Soundy

Blake Price (on TEAM 1040) had another Toronto sports journalist on the other night (the name escapes me), someone who spent years covering the Leafs and Sundin. According to him, Sundin is a very private guy who keeps to himself a lot (he apparently often eats alone when the team is on the road), and despite wearing the C for years, is not the "leader" type - the Leafs have always had others who filled that role (your Wendell Clarks, Doug Gilmours, Gary Roberts, etc.), until the last few years, which is partly why they've been really hurting lately. Now, he's coming to a team that already has its established leaders, where he won't have to do anything but be an offensive force, which should allow him to settle in quickly and be very comfortable playing here.

Elliotte Friedman

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists...67086-sun.html

On Sunday September 2nd 2007, on the eve of the Labour Day classic CFL game which he was to host, Elliotte shaved his head bald in secret without telling many family members or friends. This was in recognition of a young boy he met at a shopping mall whose parents informed him their child was a big fan of his and watched all his broadcasts. Unfortunately, the boy was afraid to greet Elliotte due to the fact that he was bald as a side effect of his chemotherapy. As a result, Elliotte shaved his head in secret in order to show the young man that there is nothing wrong with being bald.

[winson604]

Live interview with Sundin from Stockholm on sportsnet

[Soundy]

Originally Posted by Ch28

Elliotte Friedman

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists...67086-sun.html

Fukin awesome!

[CaRcuS]

Originally Posted by iwantaskyline

So since Bernier has only 13 pts should we also cut him? A player who's been given every opportunity to succeed with the twins? Having a minus while playing on the PK is quite understandable. If you watch any of the Canuck games you'll see Pyatt is is quite responsible defensively. I'd rather cut Brown off the team before Pyatt any day of the year.

Skyline, you dont seem to know anything about hockey or the idea of what players have to offer! I will try to explain to you how it works/is

Pyatt = A JOKE. SUCKS, SHITY, USELESS SLOW SLUG WHO DOESNT HIT! HAS NO REASON BEING ON CANUCKS!!! EVEN FOR 600k salary i wouldnt want him/ and everyone else would agree!

Bernier= Hits way more, finishes his checks, faster shot, faster skater. Even if he doesnt put up all these points right now & has played with the twins etc. His 1st year with the team, hes going to outbreak and fits alot better then the loser pyatt.

pyatt has had many years to put numbers up, and he is done. cut em asap hes gone this year i guarantee it

[Ch28]

so........anybody else here think that Salo has to go? I was one of the few people that bagged on Nonis for keeping him through the trade deadline and not trading him for good assets. Not only did he re-sign Salo but he gave the injury prone guy a friggen NTC

[Hondaracer]

Salo and Pyatt are the weak spots on our team that could be upgraded

[raygunpk]

Sami Glasso has to go.