The Vancouver Canucks are gathering at Rogers Arena today for their fitness testing and opening-day remarks to the media before they head up to training camp this weekend.
Here's the link for the press conference livestream. It starts off with a bang with coach Willie Desjardins angling himself into his seat, with just a single cane for support. Pretty amazing, just a week after hip surgery!
I caught a good chuck of the TSN1040 live broadcast from Northview on Wednesday, including Jim Benning's interview. He's starting to sound more relaxed in his interviews and even joked about how he's anxious to get the season started because he has now learned that in this market, July and August will be the toughest months in his job.
I am impressed with the conviction that he's showing as he defends the moves that he has made over the summer, coming back again and again to the idea that he wants this year's edition of the Canucks to be faster and harder to play against.
Judging from yesterday's poll, it looks like his message is being received a little more warmly than it was earlier in the summer. As I'm writing this on Thursday morning, 45 percent of our respondents said they think the Canucks can be a 100 point team in 2015-16.
If you don't want to watch the whole stream, here's a summary of the key points that came up during the interview. For me, the best part was getting a bit of an introduction to the new players.
• Willie remembers Brandon Sutter from the WHL days. "He's not a guy that you rave about offensively, but he's a guy that you win games with. I'm really excited that he's here."
• With the exception of Willie, the team is going into camp fully healthy.
• Willie thinks he's good to go to Prince George, but the doctors won't let him go.
• Willie says he has a real good idea of how he wants the team to look, but "exhibition is your time to experiment. When you hit league, you've gotta be ready to go."
• This seems like a very different note from last year: Willie doesn't want to rule out young players who may have taken big steps over the summer.
• On Baertschi, Willie says "this is the hardest he's worked in a summer, for sure."
• Willie singles out Guillaume Brisebois and especially Dmitry Zhukenov as the draft picks that stood out to him at the prospects tournament.
• Willie's words of caution, as he recognizes that the team needs to get points right out of the gate: "We don't want to start the year guessing and hoping; we need to know what we're going to get. That's where a veteran player's experience comes in."
• New talking point: Benning points out that the Canucks have 10 of their top 12 goal scorers from last season returning this year - and one of the missing players is Nick Bonino, who has been swapped for Sutter. He infers that Sutter will make a similar contribution.
• Will we see Horvat on the power play or penalty kill this season? He'll get some power-play time but we don't want to put him in a position where he plays too many minutes or has to carry too much of the load.
• Willie says based on how his hip recovery is going so far, he'd like to be back behind the bench by the middle of preseason. If he's right, that means he'd only be sidelined for another 7-10 days or so.
• Benning talks about speed as an important component of 3-on-3 overtime, but says he expects the twins will also excel thanks to their strong positioning and hockey sense.
• Benning says the goal is for Miller to play 55-60 games, with Markstrom getting the remainder, but he admits that could change depending on injuries and how they're playing.
• Benning hits one of his current favourite talking points, which he also mentioned on Wednesday—how Markstrom carried the Utica Comets during the playoffs, especially with the way he bounced back with outstanding performances after losses.
• Benning hopes that Markstrom can be developed into a No. 1 goalie.
• Nick Jensen has played NHL games before and knows what he has to do to make the team. The details in his game will dictate whether or not he can challenge for a spot.
• Benning's excited to see where Alex Grenier is in camp. He scored big goals and was a defensive go-to guy in Utica last year.
• Benefits of going to Prince George? The Vancouver Canucks are a provincial team - have fans all around the province. Also, the group will spend time together rather than heading back to their homes every day if camp was held in Vancouver.
• Willie's excited to have both Dorsett and Prust in the lineup this year. Things it'll make line-matching easier. Also, Willie gets a little wistful as he says "I love guys that compete, and Prust has a really high compete level." Both Willie and Benning touch on the idea that Prust hates to lose.
First group of players: Daniel and Henrik, Brandon Sutter and Dan Hamhuis
• Hamhuis talks about the good experience that the Canucks should have heading up to his home turf in Prince George
• Brandon Sutter gives a long answer when asked if he had an inkling that he might get traded this summer. Says he was expecting a trade as early as the draft, so it was a lot of nervous waiting around for him. Says he was "pumped" to join the Canucks.
• How will he fit in? He's looking forward to it all. In terms of his role, he's open to whatever, and is hoping to play more of a leadership role and hopes this will be a better fit for him.
• Daniel says he thinks most guys are looking forward to 3-on-3, then takes a self-deprecating swipe at his shootout skills. "I'd rather play 3-on-3 than shootouts—that's for sure."
• Henrik says he thinks this team has a chance to be better than last year. "It's not just what you have on paper."
• Brandon Sutter shows us how much he hates to lose when he's asked about his time playing against Willie in junior. Says his Red Deer Rebels met up with Willie's Medicine Hat Tigers three times in the playoffs, and lost two Game 7s—and mentions that Derek Dorsett was also on those teams. Says it still burns him a little bit!
• Hamhuis is vague about where his contract situation is headed. "Right now, it looks like something that may be talked about through the season."
Next Group: Edler, Horvat, Burrows and Tanev
• Burrows sings the praises of Brandon Sutter, reiterating a point that he has previously made, that he thought Sutter was Pittsburgh's best forward in their first-round playoff loss to the Rangers last spring (I guess Burrows had more time than usual to watch other games because he was sidelined with that rib injury during the Canucks' first-round series.)
• Burrows says that, in some ways, Sutter reminds him of a young Ryan Kesler.
• Burrows also has words of praise for Matt Bartkowski and Brandon Prust.
• Even though he's sitting right next to him, Burrows gives big props to Bo Horvat for his work in the weight room, especially as a young 20-year-old. Then mentions "Ronnie (Kenins), Baertsch and Veysey (Linden Vey)" as young guys trying to make a name for themselves.
• Bo says he's still trying to fight for a job, in his eyes.
• Bo does look bigger in his white shirt. Says he's working on getting faster and more patient with the puck. Sees himself and Brandon Sutter as similar players.
• Bo says he's aware of the concept of the sophomore slump but says he'll try not to think about it—just go out and play his game.
• When Edler and Tanev are asked about how the defensive dynamic will change without Bieksa, neither of them really wants to take the question. Tanev makes Edler deal with it.
Tanev's no longer the beanpole that he was when he first joined the Canucks. I don't think he'll ever be a "physical defenseman," but he has some meat on his bones now.
• Tanev says he understands that more is expected from the defense group offensively this year. He figures Weber will be a big part of that; says from what he has seen so far, Bartkowski is a very good skater.
• Edler suggests that the team should use three forwards for 3-on-3. "Give it to the twins," adds Tanev.
Next Group: Dorsett, Vrbata, Vey and Markstrom
• Vrbata seems to think his role is more uncertain this year than it was last year. Sounds like it'll be a question of what looks best coming out of training camp. "I think the only thing that is set is that Hank will play with Danny."
• Vrbata thinks there's plenty of potential with the possible line combinations. Mentions that he's not sure if Vey will end up playing centre or wing. Mentions Horvat's great potential. He's already calling Sutter "Suttsie!"
• Vrbata likes the idea of playing with Horvat, calls him "the best option." He doesn't know much about Sutter.
• Markstrom is one of those Swedish players, like Gabriel Landeskog, who barely has an accent. He says the run in Utica last spring was great but is quick to mention that it was a disappointment to fall short.
• Vey says that he feels more comfortable this season. Doesn't have any expectations, just wants to come in and earn his spot.
I caught Vey's radio interview yesterday, where he candidly said that last year was the worst year of his hockey career. He mentioned that he had a tough time because he was handed a lot of opportunity right out of camp, especially that gig on the first power-play unit. It sounded like that might have led to some issues with teammates.
Vey certainly understands that he's at a crossroads this season. He has a history of taking big jumps in his second year at other levels of hockey. The question now is whether he'll be able to do that again in the NHL.
• As someone who has experienced 3-on-3 overtime last season in the AHL, Jacob Markstrom calls is "kind of a gong show, almost," from his point of view. He really has to hold back when saying "I'm sure it'll be really entertaining."
He's not quite Eddie Lack, but Markstrom is showing some personality in his answers. If he gets off to a good start, fans here will quickly get onside, I suspect.
Next Group: Higgins, Sbisa, Baertschi and Weber—the Swiss contingent!
• Sbisa is frank when he points out that Tanev and Edler played together for most of last year, and that Hamhuis and Weber found good chemistry at the end, so he seems to know that he'll be the player who gets a new partner.
Like Sbisa, Bartkowski is a left-shot defenseman. Does that give Frankie Corrado the inside track on a third-pairing job?
• Baertschi also has almost no accent. Says he did what he could to prepare as well as possible, will take things one step at a time. Says it's the most excited he's been for training camp since he was drafted.
• When asked if he's playing a mentor role for young players, Chris Higgins jokes that he tries to make himself unapproachable so that he doesn't have to deal with those kinds of questions.
Next Group: Hansen, Corrado and Bartkowski
• Bartkowski says last season was the first time he hasn't been in the playoffs at any level in awhile, including college and junior. Says he's itching to get going.
• Said he came in a bit early to get to know the city and the guys. Thinks he accomplished that.
• Describes his game as "all around." Says he can skate and move the puck, and throw the body a little bit.
• Corrado says this year is a realistic opportunity for him to make the team.
Final Group: Prust and Virtanen
• As we saw last season on Hockey Wives, Prust is a sharp dresser. I wonder if his style will start to shift over to West Coast Casual, or if is presence will raise the bar for the others?
• Prust makes the usual comments about wanting to impress coaches and teammates when joining a new team, and how the energy that he and Dorsett will bring to the team should prove to be contagious.
• Virtanen says he thinks he made a good first impression in Penticton. Wants to challenge for a spot on the team but will keep taking it day by day. "You gotta be a good guy off the ice and on ice."
• Prust doesn't sound too excited when asked if he's going to be on Hockey Wives again. "Yeah," he says sheepishly, "She's doing a Season 2."
He said the experience wasn't too bad; that they'd only be around a couple of times a month for a day or two. He said he was surprised how much it caught on, but it's good for hockey fans.
• Prust says even though this is a contract year, he'll approach it basically the same way as what got him to this point. "The contract's huge, but I want to be on a winning team and make a push for a Stanley Cup."
• Prust is a good guy to talk about the target that Virtanen put on himself with his hit on McDavid in Penticton. "If I was on the other side, I woulda went after him for sure. We want him to keep doing that, for sure."
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