Is it just me, or have these last few days started to feel a bit better? Certainly, there are parts of North America where the situation is still quite dire, but it seems like efforts to flatten the curve are going well in B.C., and it's encouraging that there's at least a little bit of talk about starting to open things up a bit next month.
It's also encouraging that there seems to be more of a sense of optimism surrounding the possibility of pro sports coming back this summer. The logistics of what it would take to make that happen still boggle my mind, but it'd be amazing if they can figure out a way to do it safely and ethically.
I feel like I finally have basically all my necessary supplies now, too. Got a bunch of facial tissues this week — even the aluminum foil that I couldn't source when I made those ribs a couple of weeks back! I've found my rhythms where I can go to the grocery store once a week, go out for a couple of runs, do a couple of home workouts and chat with friends on the phone during evening walks a couple of nights a week.
There has also been quite a lot of quality Canucks content that has come down the pipe over the last few days.
While I was out for my run this morning, I was listening to Bo Horvat's very entertaining interview on the latest episode of Spittin' Chiclets.
It's probably the most candid interview I've ever heard from him. He comes on from just before the 1-hour mark of the episode and chats for about 40 minutes, with lots of details about his teammates, Travis Green's approach to coaching, what he learned from the Sedins, his junior career and much more.
For a guy who's so tight with his family, I'm not sure I knew that he left home at age 12 and moved to Toronto so that he could play a higher level of hockey. He said that made the transition to junior hockey really easy for him, especially moving back closer to home to play with the London Knights. He also went into detail about his first career fight against Darnell Nurse — who he'd grown up with and played with on a U17 team. He said he didn't think Nurse was actually going to hit him — until he popped him twice on the jaw. Then, he knew it was on.
For a guy who usually plays it pretty straight, Horvat holds his own with the Chiclets hosts, dishing out a few ribs and even dropping the occasional F-bomb. It's a fun listen — definitely recommended.
Horvat also reveals that Chris Tanev, of all people, is the guy who stirs the pot the most in the Canucks dressing room — that he'll just say one or two things, then sit back and let the barbs begin.
I've been surprised to see Tanev pop up on my Instagram feed a couple of times this week, and was absolutely amazed to see him on an Instagram live with Dan Murphy on Saturday afternoon — leading up to the first of the three Canucks games on Sportsnet, the one where he was set up by Horvat for the OT winner against Vegas that kicked off the team's winning streak last December.
Murphy and Tanev have a good chat for about half an hour — you can find your way to it from here:
Murphy also did a video interview with Tyler Toffoli this week. It's up on the Sportsnet site, or you can watch it here:
Of course, both Tanev and Toffoli will be unrestricted free agents whenever the season ends. Tanev is one of the few Canucks players who is still here in Vancouver and reiterates what he has said before — that he'd like to remain a Canuck if he can. Toffoli said he liked the fit he found in Vancouver, and that he and his wife enjoyed the city, so it certainly sounds like he's also open to staying if there's a way to make that work.
After watching that game against Vegas, and the 7-5 win over Chicago from January that was Game 6 of that winning streak, it was a bit of a surprise to contrast those games against the 7-6 overtime win over Colorado from November 2, 2018 that wrapped up Saturday's triple-header.
At the time, that game made my head explode. It was incredible to see all that scoring, to see the Canucks go toe-to-toe against a talented young team like the Avalanche, and to see Elias Pettersson's first tour-de-force performance — a five-point night on his way to being named one of the NHL's three stars of the week for the first time in his career — just five weeks into his rookie season, and in only his ninth NHL game.
Brock Boeser was also on fire that night, with four points while playing with Petey. But holy cow, has their supporting cast ever changed! The Canucks were already beset with injuries just a month into that 2018-19 season – Pettersson was back from the six games he missed with the concussion after the Mike Matheson incident, but players like Sutter, Beagle, Baertschi, Edler and Tanev were all on the injured list for the Avs game on November 2.
So — there's Nikolay Goldobin playing on the left side with Pettersson and Boeser. And there's Loui Eriksson and Markus Granlund on the first power-play unit. And there's Derrick Pouliot running the point on the 4-on-3 power play in overtime — and scoring the winning goal.
It really drove home just how much the Canucks roster has been upgraded since then — especially with the additions of J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes, but also with Josh Leivo, Tanner Pearson, Toffoli — and a healthy Edler and Tanev, as well as Tyler Myers.
Along with Pouliot, the rest of the defense for that game was made up of Del Zotto, Hutton, Gudbranson, Stecher and Biega.
More content to read: Sportsnet published Part 1 of an oral history of the 2010-2011 Canucks on Sunday — with Part 2 scheduled to drop on Wednesday.
I'll dig into this and share my thoughts in the next blog.
Two other non-Canuck things before I sign off for today:
• I think the most fun project I've worked on since self-isolation began was chatting with P.K. Subban and the NHL's chief content officer, Steve Mayer, about the league's new game show — Hat Trick Trivia. P.K. was born to be a game show host, and I really like the approach that they've taken to putting together a program that fits with the strange times we're living in, while offering a fun escape from the day-to-day.
ICYMI: Some sage advice from defenseman turned game-show host @PKSubban1 on making the best impression on your Zoom calls:
• Finally — there's a ton of excitement about the critically acclaimed new 10-part Michael Jordan documentary series, "The Last Dance." The first two episodes premiere in the U.S. on Sunday night on ESPN, and will be on Netflix in Canada on Monday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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