Vancouver Canucks at Dallas Stars - Thursday March 6 - 5:30 p.m. - Sportsnet Pacific, Fox Sports Southwest
Vancouver Canucks: 28-26-10, 66 points, 11th in Western Conference
Dallas Stars: 29-23-10, 68 points, eighth in Western Conference
If you think the Vancouver Canucks can still make the playoffs, they have a huge game on tap as they face the Dallas Stars tonight to wrap up their mini road trip.
The Stars currently sit in the last wild card playoff spot in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Canucks.
Even with a win, Vancouver wouldn't move ahead of Dallas in the standings as they've played two more games, but it's a proverbial four-pointer: do you want to end the night in a tie, or four points back?
The Canucks will introduce big Shawn Matthias into the lineup today and hope that he packed his offensive game in his bags as he left Florida. The big center had three goals and two assists in his last two games as a Panther, which is a heckuva lot more offense than we've seen lately from any of the Canucks.
But—Matthias looks like he'll be a replacement, rather than an addition, tonight. Daniel Sedin remains sidelined, and Brad Richardson is also expected to miss the game with an undisclosed injury, so it's likely that Matthias will slide into his slot on the third line.
The Stars are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games and have won both their games against Vancouver this year. You might remember the game in November when the Canucks outshot the Stars 48-23 but lost 2-1 thanks to an amazing goaltending performance by Kari Lehtonen. In December—the month when Vancouver was virtually unbeatable—they turned in a stinker against Dallas, losing 4-1.
It would have been super-awkward if Dallas' new goaltending acquisition Tim Thomas played today but with the Stars in a playoff dogfight of their own, naturally they're turning to Lehtonen once again. Expect him to continue to stymie Vancouver's pop-gun offense.
Vancouver's New Duo
When the Luongo drama first began two years ago, Jacob Markstrom was considered an untouchable goalie-of-the-future in those original trade talks with Florida. Funny how things change.
He's 1-6-3 in 12 games with the Panthers this year, with a goals-against of 3.52 and a save percentage of .874. At 6'6," he makes Eddie Lack the "small" goalie on the Canucks.
Markstrom was on a pretty good roll with the San Antonio Rampage just before the trade, being named the AHL's goaltender of the month for February with a record of 4-1-1, a goals-against of 1.31 and two shutouts.
Markstrom and Lack have a history. They played together for Brynas of the Swedish League, with Lack serving as Markstrom's backup during the 2009-10 season.
Click here for more background on Markstrom.
I'm heartened by Kevin Woodley's assessment that Markstrom should benefit from working with Rollie Melanson. He's an important cog in Vancouver's coaching machine who doesn't get a whole lot of attention—or didn't, at least, until the controversial decision to sit Roberto Luongo out of the Heritage Classic.
Woodley has talked in the past about how Eddie Lack was a better pupil under Melanson than Luongo was. If he can get Markstrom sorted out, the Canucks could have two very good goalies under very reasonable contracts next season—and that's not a bad thing.
Markstrom's signed for one more year at a $1.2 million cap hit, while Lack has already signed a two-year extension that locks him in just below, actually, at an average of $1.15 million a year.
It looks like Markstrom will fit right in with the Canucks' tradition of quirky goaltenders with big personalities. The playoffs may be out of reach, but I'll be watching for his dance moves the first time he plays at Rogers Arena:
I'm having a hard time figuring out what to make of this, though:
As part of a domino effect, Luongo's trade could still end up hurting the Canucks now that Thomas has moved on to Dallas:
Fallout from Kesler
Naturally, the local press is filled with stories today about why the Ryan Kesler deal didn't come to pass.
If Pittsburgh wouldn't budge from that very public offer headlined by Brandon Sutter, I have no problem with the Canucks turning that down.
If, as Tony Gallagher reports
in this story, the Canucks weren't interested in Brayden Schenn from the Flyers, I have more of a beef—though it would depend on what else was part of the package. Schenn passes my simple sniff test of replacing the offense we'd lose from Kesler: he has 35 points this year to Kesler's 39.
Tony's pretty tight with Gillis, so I suspect this story gives us the best insight to what's been happening behind the scenes.
It's clear that ownership was directly involved in the decision-making. I think they always have been—it was my assumption that they drove the original push to sign Luongo to that 12-year deal back in the day—but Francesco Aquilini seems more hands-on than ever these days.
He accompanied Mike Gillis on the Canucks' road trip before the Olympic break, and Ed Willis
reports that he was also in the war room in Phoenix yesterday.
Out of all this, here's my take going forward: don't expect to see Mike Gillis replaced anytime soon. He's operating in concert with ownership, executing their plan as they've laid it out. The current on-ice results may not be what they want, but there's every indication that they continue to think they can re-tool this team on the fly rather than blowing it up and starting from scratch.
Yesterday, I figured Gillis would get a chance to stick around at least through the draft, to see if he can scare up a better deal for Kesler this summer. But don't be surprised if Kesler doesn't end up moving. Gallagher's already suggesting that a couple of shiny new free agents could be all that Vancouver needs to solve what ails them.
And if the club could land a big free-agent winger like Thomas Vanek or Matt Moulson to play with Kesler in the off-season, his whole deportment could change as well as the complexion of the whole team. Suffice it to say, there is now enough cap room once David Booth is bought out to make more than one significant move this summer.
I don't think "Tank Nation" is part of Francesco Aquilini's vocabulary.
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