Defenceman Ossi Vaananen makes his highly anticipated debut for the Canucks (38-24-9) tonight when the team takes on the Stars (33-31-8) in Dallas.

Vaananen, described as a stay-at-home defenceman, was picked up off waivers on February 27th. The 28 year old, slots into the lineup for Shane O’Brien who will be a healthy scratch.

The Vantaa, Finland native played 46 games this season with the Philadelphia Flyers recording 10 points (1-9-10) and 22 penalty minutes. Drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes 43rd overall, Vaananen has played 476 games and recorded 67 points (13-54-67) with 482 penalty minutes over his seven-season NHL career.

Vaananen, who has been a healthy scratch for 11 games since being acquired by Vancouver, will partner with Kevin Bieksa for tonight's match up.


SOURCE: Canucks News

I can hear it now...Taylor on Sportsnet tonight.....

"Ossi Vaananen wearing Sheldon Kannegiesser's old number 5 makes a crisp pass to Henrik Sedin sending him on a two on one........."

For the superstituous types out there...

Canucks throw the hammer down....winning with the SHUTOUT>..ya I said it!!

Lets hope Vaananen plays well tonight. I've always liked him as a pick up because he's not that bad as a lower tier d man

3-2 canucks.. shoot out

franzen..never...wings will find a way to keep him.

After they dump Hossa's salary shouldn't be too hard.

Are you reffering to Hossa signing with the Red Wings to win a cup? If you are, he did not take a pay cut what so ever. FYI he's making 7.45 mill right now. Apparently he wanted more, but they weren't gonna pay him any more than Lidstrom so they just pay him the same amount. You need to get your facts right before you start throwing names around.

Canucks 2-1 shootout win.

!Nhan is correct.

http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.p...ET&season=0809


But Franzen at $1.150M cap hit is definately not going to resign at such a low rate for next year.

Don't get your panties in a bunch son. There was a $9 million dollar offer on the table for Hossa to sign with the Oilers.. Last time I checked 7.45 is less than 9. So in effect, Hossa took less money to sign with a cup contender:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242261

"I have never been involved in a deal and seen a player get so excited to take $85 million less than he was offered elsewhere," Winter told The Canadian Press. "It's almost incomprehensible, even to an agent. But Marian is a special player."

The point I was making is that baring Luongo does not have a terrible season next year, he is going to get top dollar offers from teams...but if he wants to sign with a Detroit or a Sharks or Bruins all of which are really close to the cap, he will have to take less money. Hossa could have made more money, but he took less...be it not million upon millions less. The thing with Hossa is, he could have cashed in on a multi year deal, but he took the one year (risky for his age - since his market value could go down if he get injured) to play with a cup winner...

Cheers

If you read the first sentence, I asked if you were reffering to him signing with the Red Wings.

Game day tonight!!

Looks like SOB is out ,Ossi Vaananen is in.

What's so special about Vaananen?

He's replacing SOB who already has a small/limited role to begin with? Logically, wouldn't that mean that if anything, Vaananen's impact will also respectively be either small or little?

hes just a strong big d-man, he doesn't have big offence ability but he is very strong in their own end.

canucks 4-2 tonight
!!!!! i said it!!!!!

4-1 Canucks.

damn Morrison

wow their stadium is not even half full

Recent history has shown that a team can win the cup with a solid or hot goalie. Instead of paying Luongo $7.5 I'd rather pay a Corey Scheneider $2.5 and use the $5 remaining + the balance of Ohlund's salary (who should be gone) to pick up an elite puck moving D.

And don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Ohlund but the fact is that he is slow now.

KESLER!!

nice pp goal.

turco ftl

officiating is ftw

LOL OTT FIGHTS FOR ONCE

PAYCUT!!!!

HUG IT OUT, BITCH