The next important date on the Vancouver Canucks' calendar won't come until the draft lottery on April 30.
The Utica Comets have clinched an AHL playoff spot. They have three more games remaining on their regular-season schedule this weekend before their postseason will begin. I'll get into that in more depth in the days to come, but here's a teaser of an amazing behind-the-back save by the Comets' Richard Bachman against St. John's last weekend.
So—with the NHL playoffs beginning tonight, I'll take a look at the ex-Canucks that are in the dance and give you my first-round predictions—always a disaster and probably even tougher this year, with so many injuries to key players going in.
Here we go:
Eastern Conference
Washington vs. Philadelphia: Capitals in 6
Ex-Canucks:
• Ryan Stanton (D) played one game for the Caps in January; he has spent most of the season with the AHL Hershey Bears
• R.J. Umberger (LW) was 2-9-11 in 39 games for the Flyers; the 33-year-old hasn't played for the team since mid-February
Umberger is worth talking about here because he's an example of what can go wrong when drafting NCAA players. General manager Brian Burke selected Umberger with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2001 draft, but he didn't want to play in Vancouver. Burke eventually sent his rights, along with Martin Grenier, to the New York Rangers for trade-deadline rental Martin Rucinsky in March of 2004. Umberger became a free agent after finishing school and signed with the Flyers.
Was he worth the fuss? Umberger is 180-212-392 in his 779-game NHL career. He broke the 20-goal mark four times, and his best season was 13-37-50 with the Flyers in 2007-08.
• Jason LaBarbera (G) is part of the Flyers organization. He spent most of the season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, but backed up five games for the Flyers as an injury replacement during the season.
Florida vs. New York Islanders: Panthers in 7
Ex-Canucks:
• Willie Mitchell (D) is 1-6-7 in 46 games this year, but the Panthers' captain has been sidelined since mid-January with concussion symptoms and may not play hockey again.
The Canucks opted not to re-sign Mitchell after the 2009-10 season due to concussion issues. Pretty amazing that he has played six more years—and won two Stanley Cups in L.A.—since that time. Vancouver hasn't had another hard-nosed stay-at-home defenceman like Mitchell since he left.
• Roberto Luongo (G) finished the season with a 35-19-4 record in 62 games. His personal numbers ended up almost exactly where they were last season—a .922 save percentage and 2.35 goals-against average.
This series is a tough one for me—the Islanders have a bit more playoff experience but are going in with unproven Thomas Griess in net due to an injury to Jaroslav Halak. The Panthers have a great collection of skaters, and Jaromir Jagr, and Luongo has mostly been good this season. But Roberto hasn't won a playoff game since Game 6 against Boston back in 2011. I wonder how he'll be, mentally, as he gets back to the dance, and how long he'll last before he starts to wear down physically.
Pittsburgh vs. New York Rangers: Penguins in 6
I previewed this series for Bleacher Report, so you can read my analysis
here if you're interested.
It's funny that this series is a battle of ex-Canucks coaches. Alain Vigneault has had good success in his three years with the Rangers so far, but his team has faltered a bit this season, while the Penguins have gotten on a tear since Mike Sullivan took over behind their bench in December.
Ex-Canucks:
• Nick Bonino (C) finished the season 9-20-29 in 63 games, but he ended on a hot streak, with 18 points in Pittsburgh's last 21 games. After Evgeni Malkin was injured in early March, Bonino stepped in with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin, creating a potent line that thrives on the speed game.
Bonino's job has been to retrieve pucks and get them up to his wingers. I'm very curious to see if he can remain successful as play tightens up in the playoffs—though the Rangers have a big hole on their blue line with Ryan McDonagh out to start the series.
• Tom Sestito (LW) played four games with the Penguins this season and is on Pittsburgh's roster to start the playoffs. He may play tonight—I wonder if he and Mike Sullivan forged a bond during their time together in Vancouver?
• Tanner Glass (LW) is AV's equivalent of Sestito, you could say, though their bond is even stronger. They've been together in New York for the last two seasons, after Glass played for Vigneault for two years here in Vancouver.
Glass is a thorn in the side of Rangers fans, who never seem to want him in the lineup, but he played another 57 NHL games this year, going 4-3-7 with 66 penalty minutes.
Tampa Bay vs. Detroit: Lightning in 7
Click here for my Bleacher Report preview of this series. I give the edge to Tampa Bay based primarily on experience—especially behind the bench—and goaltending.
Ex-Canucks:
• Jason Garrison (D) was 5-6-11 and a minus-4 in 72 games for the Lightning this season—a big drop-off from 30 points and a plus-27 last season. His ice time has also fallen from 20:01 last year to 18:28 this season.
Western Conference
Dallas vs. Minnesota: Stars in 5
Ex-Canucks:
This is where we're supposed to see Dan Hamhuis' name!
For the record, Kris Russell is 0-4-4 and minus-1 in 11 games since joining the Stars. He missed a couple of weeks late in the season with a lower-body injury but played in Dallas' last two regular-season games.
• Jordan Schroeder (C) went 2-2-4 and a plus-2 in 26 games for the Wild this season. He has been up with Minnesota since mid-March, but was a healthy scratch for three of the team's last four regular-season games.
• Zac Dalpe (C) has been the player to bump Schroeder, ironically enough. He played his first two games of the year with the Wild last week and scored once.
Anaheim vs. Nashville: Ducks in 6
Heckuva stretch run by Anaheim, who dealt with a significant number of injuries on their way to securing first place in the Pacific Division on the last day of the season. The Ducks are hungry; I don't think Nashville has the mental toughness to match them.
Ex-Canucks:
• Ryan Kesler (C) finished the year with 21-32-53 in 79 games, a six-point improvement from last season, and flipped his plus-minus from minus-5 to plus-5. He also reached a career high by winning 58.5 percent of his faceoffs—second in the league behind Jonathan Toews at 58.6 percent—and blocked a career-high 92 shots, which ties him with Frans Nielsen of the NY Islanders for most blocks by a forward.
Whether we like it or not, Kesler had a great Selke-type season, although I haven't seen his name mentioned much in award-voting discussions.
• Mike Santorelli (C) was 9-9-18 and a minus-4 in 70 games played. He is on the roster but has been a healthy scratch for seven of the Ducks' last 14 games.
• Kevin Bieksa (D) finished out the year 4-11-15 and a minus-7 in 71 games played. His 99 penalty minutes are the third-highest of his career and rank him 18th overall in the new NHL. (By the way, Derek Dorsett took the penalty title this year with 177 minutes after placing third last season with 175).
Bieksa hasn't played since March 24 due to an upper-body injury but is expected to be in the lineup for Game 1 on Friday.
• Cody Hodgson (C) managed 3-5-8 in 39 games with the Predators this season—not exactly a big payback for his $1.05 million "show me" contract.
Hodgson was sent down to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals in January, where he posted 4-7-11 in 14 games.
St. Louis vs. Chicago: Blackhawks in 6
Every year, a lot of people pick St. Louis based on their strong regular-season record. And every year, I laugh at the end of the first round when the Blues are eliminated. I'm not changing my approach this season, especially not when the defending-champion Blackhawks will be starting the playoffs against once of their fiercest rivals.
Chicago might run out of gas before the Stanley Cup Final, but they'll win this series.
Ex-Canucks:
• Jeremy Welsh (C) was pointless in two games with the Blues back in November. He's currently playing with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.
• Christain Ehrhoff (D) is 0-2-2 in eight games since being acquired by the Blackhawks from Los Angeles in late February. He's an insurance player at this point, having been scratched for 11 of 19 games since being acquired.
• Dale Weise (RW) is 0-1-1 in 15 games since being acquired by the Blackhawks from Montreal at the trade deadline. He has only been scratched twice since he got into the Chicago lineup, but is averaging just 9:57 a game—a far cry from the 14:21 of ice time he was receiving earlier this year with the Canadiens.
Still—Weise was a playoff hero for the Habs in 2013-14. Can he play that role again?
Los Angeles vs. San Jose: Kings in 5
The Sharks are a deeper team with better goaltending as they try to avenge that first-round loss from two years ago, but I don't think the Kings are even going to let them in the series.
Ex-Canucks: none
Three games on the playoff schedule tonight:
4 p.m. PT: DET at TBL
5 p.m. PT: NYR at PIT
6:30 p.m. PT: CHI at STL
Enjoy!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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