Well, that was a very Canadian weekend. We had the national celebration of the Tragically Hip's final concert, and the Summer Olympics concluded in Rio with Canada in 10th place overall on the medal board. The last medalist was Catharine Pendrel, who picked up the bronze in the women's mountain bike event on Saturday.
All told: 22 medals. Four gold, three silver and 15 bronze, broken down as follows:
• Swimming: 1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze
• Track and Field: 1 gold, 1 silver, 4 bronze
• Diving: 2 bronze
• Wrestling: 1 gold
• Trampoline: 1 gold
• Diving: 1 silver
• Soccer: 1 bronze
• Cycling Mountain Bike: 1 bronze
• Rugby Sevens: 1 bronze
• Equestrian: 1 bronze
• Cycling Track: 1 bronze
Considering all the concerns going into the Games, everything seemed to turn out pretty well when the story that wouldn't die turned out to be about a swimmer who lied to his mother about what he did after a party.
The fallout from that incident continues for Ryan Lochte. I liked
this piece from Richard Deitsch at
Sports Illustrated, which outlines the coincidences that got Fox Sports Australia journalist Ben Way talking to Lochte's mom in the first place.
Now, we return to the world of hockey, where Jamie Oleksiak moves back into his family's athletic spotlight while his swimming prodigy sister goes from flag-bearer to Grade 11 student. After spending most of last season as a healthy scratch with the Dallas Stars, it'll be interesting to see if Jamie can crack his team's lineup full time this year.
On Friday afternoon, Jimmy Vesey chose to sign with the New York Rangers. The Rangers roster now looks like it's basically set, with $2.5 million in cap space to spare, so they shouldn't need to make any additional moves to accommodate him.
In my mind, that also puts the "Evander Kane to Vancouver" trade idea to rest for the time being, since Buffalo didn't add that extra top-six left winger after all. My guess is that Kane will start the season with the Sabres, but on a very short leash.
I imagine Jim Benning is now back on the phones, trying to find that skilled, physical winger that he craves. The Jiri Hudler rumour continues to swirl but I'm not going to believe that until I see it. I still believe that Benning will try to make a trade rather than signing an unrestricted free agent.
Over at
The Province,
Jeff Paterson has some insight on the roles that forward Jannik Hansen and defenseman Luca Sbisa are expected to play on Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey.
Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger was the bench boss for the Swiss National Team for 13 years before his ill-fated tenure with the Edmonton Oilers, for two years as an associate coach, then as head coach during the 2012-13 season.
During Krueger's tenure, the Swiss were known for causing more trouble than expected against top teams, but their best-ever finish was fourth place at the World Championship, in Switzerland, in his debut season in 1998.
Krueger has high praise for the performance of a 20-year-old Sbisa at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver:
He’s played for me and one of the highlights was when he came from junior to Vancouver in 2010.
He was a big surprise and ended up being one of top four defencemen right through the tournament. He’s going to help our team, in giving us a two-way game. He’s a tough player both physically and mentally. He’s a good tournament player.
Sbisa has been listed as the seventh defenseman on a number of depth charts for Team Europe but as Paterson points out, he and fellow Swiss native Roman Josi are the only blueliners in their 20s on a Team Europe roster that also includes Zdeno Chara (39), Mark Streit (38), Dennis Seidenberg (35), Christian Ehrhoff (34) and Andrej Sekera (30). Considering Seidenberg and Ehrhoff don't even have NHL jobs at the moment, it makes sense that Sbisa will find a spot in the top six.
"One D and one forward will have to sit. But all things being normal, I’d expect Luca to play," Krueger told Paterson. "I have no fear that he defensively can’t play up against everybody and he’ll be a good player when he comes in for us. Every team will be laden right through the lineup with talented individuals, so you can’t worry too much about matchups. He’ll definitely be more of a penalty-killing defenceman for us, but five-on-five I’m not worried about him."
A good performance with Team Europe could give Sbisa a confidence boost that he'll carry back with him to the Canucks this season. He has had his rough patches in Vancouver but I believe the amount of criticism that he has received, especially in his first season, has been excessive. A good skater who can hit, the Canucks can use Sbisa's skillset on the blue line.
Krueger also praises Jannik Hansen and suggests that, as with Team Denmark at the World Championship last spring, there could be more power-play time in his future:
"He will be more of a penalty-killing type player on the team, but he has an option to come into the power play with his right-handed shot," Krueger said. "His minutes will be solid. He’ll be closer to the top half of the minutes than the lower half just because of the kind of player he is."
If you're looking to cheer for Canucks in this tournament, Team Sweden is your natural home thanks to the Sedins, Loui Eriksson and Jacob Markstrom. Team Europe will be an underdog in a preliminary-round group that also includes Canada, the U.S. and the Czech Republic but with two teams advancing, from each group, a trip to the semifinal won't be out of the question.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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