Wednesday November 18 - Winnipeg Jets 4 - Vancouver Canucks 1
Thank goodness that's over!
Wednesday's game against Winnipeg was close for 57 minutes and the Canucks did score another power-play goal. But they were shut down at even strength, made Ondrej Pavelec look like an all star and, ultimately, suffered their biggest loss of the season as they went down 4-1.
Here are the highlights:
Luca Sbisa took centre stage in his return before leaving the game midway through the second period, starting with this crushing hit on Nikolaj Ehlers just 4:23 into the game:
The puck was barely off Ehlers' stick when Sbisa made contact. He was called for an illegal check to the head, though some begged to differ.
Ehlers was out of the game for about six minutes before returning midway through the opening frame. By then, Sbisa was back in the penalty box after being made to answer for his actions in a mismatched bout with Anthony Peluso. I won't embed the video for that—it was pretty ugly.
Sbisa did return to the game. His last shift was just seven seconds long, midway through the second. That leads me to believe that yes, his injury's more likely to be to his hand than his head.
No word yet on whether he'll be available for this weekend's games back in Vancouver.
I do know that playing half the game with five defensemen was not a good look. Winnipeg outshot Vancouver 17-6 in the third period as they salted the game away—although 34 total shots against is actually the lowest number the Canucks have recorded in the last three games.
I thought Alex Grenier looked pretty good in his limited role. His big body was noticeable and he collected four shots on goal in his 8:52 of ice time—second only to Daniel Sedin.
Grenier has now officially been returned to Utica.
Ryan Miller certainly wasn't the problem on Wednesday. The team's breakdowns seem to be system-wide at this point.
Hopefully a few days back at home will help the team regroup, though the schedule doesn't get any easier from here on out. Today's a day off, then the Canucks will practice on Friday ahead of back-to-back weekend games at Rogers Arena—against the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks and the surging New Jersey Devils, who currently sit 12th in the NHL standings.
Chasing Travis Hamonic?
Word came down on Wednesday via the reliable Elliotte Friedman that New York Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic is looking for a trade to a Western Canadian team.
Click here for the story.
Today, Hamonic confirmed that the reasons behind his trade request are strictly personal.
We may just be learning about this situation now, but the GMs around the league have been aware of it for awhile.
The consensus also seems to be that a deal isn't necessarily imminent. Hamonic's okay with staying on the Islanders for as long as it takes for the proper trade to be worked out.
Hamonic's a valuable asset, so I can see why Garth Snow wants to take his time to work out a deal. He has a virtually perfect defenseman's body at 6'2" and 205 pounds, and is currently ranked 13th in the NHL with 58 hits. (The top Canuck is Jake Virtanen with 48 and the top Canuck defenseman is Matt Bartkowski with 30)
Hamonic's 25 and hit a career high with 33 points last season. He has just three assists so far this year but leads the Islanders in ice time, averaging 23:20 a game. He's also signed to a very cap-friendly contract for a top-pairing defenseman, with a cap hit of $3.8 million per season for four years after this one.
According to Friedman's article, “The problem with them trading Travis Hamonic,” one exec said, “is they want… Travis Hamonic.”
The Canucks are in desperate need of defensive depth, but if they want to get into this sweepstakes, they'd probably have to offer up one of their own top blueliners. Hamonic's a righty, which makes Chris Tanev a logical comparable. They're the same age, the same height and signed for the same amount of time.
Hamonic's game has more of a physical element, and Tanev's a little more expensive—his cap hit is $4.45 million. As much as I like Tanev, if there's an opportunity to do this deal one-for-one, I say yes—even if Benning has to throw in a draft pick to make it happen.
I'm sure the GMs in Hamonic's other preferred destinations—Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary—would also be interested. And I bet whoever leaked this story to Friedman did so in hopes that it would force Snow to drop his asking price in order to get a deal done.
Is Benning's best move to offer fair value in hopes of getting ahead of his competition, or to hang tight for now and hope that he can pry away a valuable player for a bargain-basement price?
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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