Let's start today with World Championship, which wraps up this weekend.
After the 0-3 start which put them at risk of missing the playoff round for the first time ever, Canada rebounded when Calgary's Andrew Mangiapane arrived on the scene and helped ignite the offense on a line with Adam Henrique and Connor Brown.
Canada wrapped up its round robin with wins over Norway, Kazakhstan and Italy, and a shootout loss to Finland. Kazakhstan was on its way to a surprise quarterfinal berth before losing to Norway, which helped open the door for Canada.
In the end, their quarterfinal hopes rested in the hands of the Germans and Latvians, in the final game of the round robin. Canada needed a regulation win by either team in order to advance; it they went to overtime or a shootout, both teams would get at least one point. And because they'd both beaten Canada in the round robin, they held the tiebreaker and would advance.
It worked out. Even though they were playing with the notoriously rambunctious Latvian fans in the stands for the first time in the tournament, Germany jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and hung on. One-time Canucks draft pick Rodrigo Abols got the Latvians on the board early in the second, but Germany successfully killed off two third-period penalties and goaltender Mathias Niederberger made 23 saves to eliminate the Latvians, advance Germany to its first semifinal berth since 2011, and let Canada squeak into fourth place in Group B and a quarterfinal date with the powerhouse Russians.
In a year where World Championship participation meant yet another quarantine and more bubble living, a lot of higher-profile NHL players declined their invitations. As is often the case, Russia got a better turnout than most right off the hop. Then, they added Vladimir Tarasenko, Dmitry Orlov and Sergei Bobrovsky after their teams were eliminated from the playoffs.
But after squeaking in, the Canadians weren't going to let their opportunity go to waste. In a tight-checking game, Russia took a 1-0 lead in the second period when Yevgeni Timkin capitalized on a missed assignment by Canada's Michael Bunting — a 25-year-old who split his regular season between the Arizona Coyotes and the AHL Tucson Roadrunners.
Early in the third, Tarasenko took a high-sticking penalty, giving Canada the opportunity it needed. Captain Adam Henrique tied the game one minute later.
There was no further scoring, setting up a 10-minute period of sudden-death 3-on-3 overtime. And that's why I'm telling this story. Two minutes and 12 seconds in, our old pal Troy Stecher dangled into the offensive zone, deked out two Russians, and threaded a perfect pass through to Mangiapane for the game winner.
Stecher's the trailer on the play:
Such a fun way to win. I'm thrilled for Stecher, and also for Canada's rookie general manager, Roberto Luongo. Faced with a very difficult task in building his roster, his group has come together and now has a chance to do something very special.
Also — Canada's draft-eligible defenseman Owen Power was named player of the game. He played 24:02 — second in ice time, behind only Stecher (25:51). Coach Gerard Gallant was effusive with his praise when I asked him about Power after the game, saying he's "going to be a superstar" and will go, "obviously, early in the first round" of the draft.
Power has absolutely risen to the occasion in Riga, particularly since Colin Miller went down with an injury in the fourth game of the tournament.
And yes, Darcy Kuemper has rebounded and played well as Canada has advanced. So I don't expect Mikey DiPietro to see any ice time, but he could be coming home with a shiny medal — and a great learning experience, seeing how this Canadian team didn't fold after its early adversity.
Next up, Canada plays USA in Saturday's first semifinal, while Germany takes on the defending champs from Finland.
Chris Drury, the new Rangers GM, is handling the general manager's duties for the Americans. And while his roster is perhaps even more under-the-radar than Canada's, USA does have two excellent goaltenders in Cal Petersen and Jake Oettinger, and one bona fide young sniper in Jason Robertson. I shook my head when I heard that Drury had granted roster spots to veterans Brian Boyle and Justin Abdelkader, two veterans who didn't even play in the NHL this year. But both have provided tremendous leadership, and Boyle was elevated to captain after Abdelkader was knocked out of the tournament with an injury in Game 6.
USA cruised to a first-place finish in Group B, with the best save percentage and penalty killing in the tournament, so they're no joke. They also have a top draft prospect on their roster, Owen Power's Michigan teammate Matty Beniers. But he hasn't been as impactful as Power; he has one goal and one assist in six games, and had to leave Thursday's 6-1 quarterfinal win over Slovakia after suffering what looked like a serious ankle injury. Nothing official, but I'm thinking he's doubtful for Saturday's semifinal.
Now, the bad news. Canada-USA should be fantastic. But it starts at 4:15 a.m. PT on Saturday morning, with Germany-Finland scheduled for 8:15 a.m.
Get up — or stay up — if you can. It'll be worth it!
Of course, chances are that both Power and Beniers will be long gone before the Canucks get to make their first-round pick in the nine-spot next month — assuming they hang onto that pick.
I guess the NHL got its desired outcome in the lottery on Wednesday, after tweaking the format to make it less likely that teams with low odds would make big moves in the draft order.
The only team that moved up was Seattle — jumping from three to two, and bumping Anaheim down one spot.
It worries me that the first official thing the Kraken team does works out well for them. I'm fully prepared for them to also make a storybook debut, maybe even better than Vegas. Even moreso than four years ago, there's no better place to be in today's flat-cap NHL than starting fresh, with no contracts on your books!
By the way, the expansion draft is set for July 21, two days before the entry draft. Teams are required to submit their protected lists by July 17. I wonder how much longer we'll have to wait before the wheeling and dealing begins?
I also wonder how much Gerard Gallant is raising his stock with this World Championship performance? I was worried for him early on, but he was loose and confident right from Day 1 and is going to come out of this tournament smelling like roses. Will he end up landing in Seattle, taking charge of the...I dunno, Emerald Misfits?
As the Canucks, like most teams, sat pat after the draft lottery, I sure didn't mind seeing Mason McTavish fall to Vancouver in the ninth spot in
The Athletic's post-lottery mock draft.
It's funny, too, that Bo Horvat seems to be getting mentioned quite often as a comparable to McTavish — right down to the fact that there were questions about their skating in junior. Horvat, obviously, did the work to get stronger on his skates, and it has paid off for him in a big way. The feeling seems to be that McTavish is also on the right track.
Horvat, of course, was selected by the Canucks the last time they had the ninth pick — in 2013, after they acquired it from New Jersey in exchange for Cory Schneider.
The Canucks have drafted ninth on two other occasions in franchise history. In 1973, they took 6'5" defenseman Bob Dailey, who basically split his 561-game NHL career between Vancouver and Philadelphia. He was traded to Philadelphia in January of 1977 in exchange for Larry Goodenough and Jack McIlhargey.
Dailey was a star in Philadelphia, but his career was cut short by injuries, particularly a bad broken ankle in 1981. He was forced to retire at age 28, and passed away in 2016 at age 63, after a battle with cancer.
If the Canucks gave up too soon on Dailey, they blew that out of the water with their other ninth-overall pick. Cam Neely of Maple Ridge was drafted in 1983, came straight into the NHL, and played three seasons with Vancouver before being dealt to Boston, along with the 1987 first-rounder who became Glen Wesley, in exchange for Barry Pederson.
Neely, of course, went on to become a superstar in Boston, although his career was also cut short by injury. He retired at age 31, then joined the Bruins' front office, where he remains to this day as the club's president and alternate governor.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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