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Alex Burrows traded to Ottawa, mumps situation easing as Wings visit Van |
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Tuesday February 28 – Detroit Red Wings at Vancouver Canucks – 7 p.m. – Sportsnet Pacific
Vancouver Canucks: 61 GP, 26-29-6, 58 pts, sixth in Pacific Division
Detroit Red Wings: 60 GP, 24-26-10, 58 pts, eighth in Atlantic Division
I haven’t seen this explicitly stated by anybody from the Canucks organization, but Tuesday’s trade of Alex Burrows marks the end of any illusion that the Vancouver Canucks are still pushing for a playoff spot.
At this point, wins and losses are beside the point. If anything, the biggest race for the last 21 games of the season could be to see if the Arizona Coyotes can make up seven points and overtake Vancouver for sixth place in the Pacific Division.
That’s not outside the realm of possibility—Arizona has made up seven points so far in the month of February. The Canucks are 3-8-0 so far this month, for six points, while the Coyotes are 6-5-1 for 13 points. At this point, the Canucks have a legitimate shot at finishing 29th this year.
But this is what we want, right? Vancouver fans were happy and Ottawa fans were apprehensive after Tuesday’s announcement that Burrows was on his way to the Senators in exchange for 19-year-old forward prospect Jonathan Dahlen.
The deal is a good one for Burrows. He gets a chance to chase a Stanley Cup—in a bilingual market that’s not too far from his hometown of Montreal. And he has been granted a two-year contract extension by the Senators.
Like Kevin Bieksa before him, Burrows has been able to leverage his no-trade clause into a big dollop of security for himself and his family.
I’m so glad I had a chance to have an extended conversation with Burrows a month ago, before all the madness began.
At that point, the Canucks were just two points out of a playoff spot and I have no doubt that he was sincere in his hope that he’d be able to take another run at the postseason with the Canucks.
Burrows cites his favourite memory in Vancouver as Game 5 of the 2011 Conference Final against San Jose, when Bieksa scored the infamous “stanchion” goal in double overtime that sent the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final. I love that memory as well but I had forgotten that the Canucks were outshot 56-34 in that game and that Burrows opened the scoring with his seventh of the playoffs in the first period.
Now that I look back at the box score, I am remembering that Ryan Kesler forced overtime when he scored with just 14 seconds remaining in the third period. A five-game win makes it seem like the series was easy but these little nuggets remind us why that Bieksa goal was such a big deal.
Of course, the most electric moment of Burrows’ 12 seasons in Vancouver was his “dragon-slayer” goal, in overtime of Game 7 of the first round in 2011, against the Chicago Blackhawks.
My other favourite Burrows memory comes from when I first started covering games from the press box for Stats, in January of 2010. My first two games were Burrows’ back-to-back hat trick games—in the 7-3 win over Columbus on January 5, then the 4-0 shutout of Phoenix on January 7. Burrows was the last player to record back-to-back hat tricks until just last week, when streaky Filip Forsberg matched the feat for the Nashville Predators.
Best of luck to Burrows in his pursuit of his Stanley Cup dream!
As for his replacement—Jonathan Dahlen was selected 42nd overall by Ottawa in the 2016 draft. The 5’11”, 176-pound centre is 24-18-42 in 44 games this season with Timra IK of the Swedish League and was a standout for the Swedes at this year’s World Junior Championship. He finished the tournament with 5-1-6 in seven games—tied for fourth in goal-scoring in the entire tournament—and scored Sweden’s only goal in its 2-1 loss to Russia in the bronze-medal game.
Dahlen has NHL genes—his father is Ulf Dahlen, a right-winger who put up 655 points in 922 NHL games between 1987 and 2003 playing for the New York Rangers, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, San Jose Sharks, Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals. Jonathan was born in December of 1997, during a two-year stretch when his dad returned to Sweden to play with HV71 Jonkoping.
Dahlen has responded enthusiastically to the news of his trade.
As for Burrows’ “A” designation? It’ll be fluid for now.
With Burrows’ departure, the Canucks made yet another call-up from Utica to fill out their roster for tonight’s game.
Here’s the rest of the news from today’s morning skate:
Michael Chaput did test positive for the mumps, so he’s out for a bit. Chris Tanev is being called “questionable” after practicing on Monday. Markus Granlund and Ben Hutton tested negative, so they’re back in the lineup tonight, as is Luca Sbisa.
Since the defense is getting healthier, Jordan Subban has been re-assigned to Utica.
Got it? Good.
It has also been confirmed that Markstrom was injured during SuperSkills on Sunday.
Here’s the best guess so far on tonight’s lines.
Ryan Miller is expected to start, even as his name continues to get bounced around the trade rumour mill.
On the other side of the ice, the Detroit Red Wings are also in sell mode. They shipped forward Tomas Jurco to the Chicago Blackhawks last Friday, then dealt defenseman Brendan Smith to the New York Rangers this morning. Thomas Vanek’s also considered a hot commodity, so it’s perfectly possible that he’ll be on the move before puck drop tonight.
Stay tuned—and enjoy the game!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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