|
Vancouver Canucks fun in the sun and is Michael Del Zotto a trade target? |
|
|
|
|
|
It's vacation time for the Vancouver Canucks—many of whom are basking in sunny climes as the rain starts to pelt down again in downtown Vancouver.
The screenshots above all come from Instagram Stories. Here's what I've been able to piece together:
• Punta Mita, Mexico (near Puerto Vallarta): Sam Gagner, Jacob Markstrom, Markus Granlund and one other unidentified player at a luxury oceanfront resort
• Cancun: Ben Hutton
• Arizona: Michael Del Zotto
• Disneyworld, Florida: Troy Stecher
• Whistler: Anders Nilsson
....and we know Brock Boeser's plans were to stay in Minnesota for the week.
There's some evidence that teams tend to struggle when they get back to work after their bye weeks but in the Canucks' case, the playing field will be level. Edmonton will also be on their first game back when the schedule resume on Saturday—and they made TMZ as they kicked off their holiday with a bash in Vegas to celebrate Connor McDavid's 21st birthday!
Looks like both sides will be finding their legs together on Saturday in Edmonton.
While the Canucks sit idle, Mat Barzal continues to surge in the rookie scoring race. With another three points Monday night in the Islanders' 5-4 overtime win over Montreal, Barzal has collected 10 points in his past three games. Brock Boeser's 22 goals give him a six-goal edge over Barzal in that category, but Barzal's 47 points in 45 games now have him seven points ahead of Boeser overall—and he also leads in points-per-game.
As well as his strong offensive skill, Barzal's speed is becoming his calling card.
The Islanders will play two more games before the Canucks get back to work on Saturday, hosting New Jersey on Tuesday and Boston on Thursday. After Monday's game, the team holds down the second wild-card spot in the East, but they're right in the middle of pack in an insanely compressed Metropolitan Division, where just five points separates second from eighth.
Missing injured defensemen Calvin de Haan and Johnny Boychuk and currently the owners of the NHL's worst goals-against per game (3.61), the run-and-gun Islanders are one of the teams rumoured to be in the market for a defenseman heading into the trade deadline. That could make them a trade partner for the Vancouver Canucks.
Erik Gudbranson has been making all the headlines as a 26-year-old soon-to-be UFA who could be moved. I was wondering yesterday if Michael Del Zotto might also be of interest to another team—a good-skating 27-year-old who has one more year on his deal at a pretty reasonable $3 million.
Sure enough, his name pops up in the rumour mill today:
Currently three points out of a playoff spot and now last in the Central behind the surging Colorado Avalanche, the Hawks are actually tied for eighth overall in goals against—but a lot of that was because of the All-Star season that Corey Crawford was laying down before he was sidelined in late December with what might be a concussion. There's still no timeline for Crawford's return, so the Hawks need to do what they can to tighten up their blue line if they hope to even get a chance to be invited to the playoff dance in April.
Unlike last year, the Canucks have an early chance to position themselves as sellers—and now that they're healthy on the blue line, they've been forced to scratch left-side defenders Ben Hutton and Derrick Pouliot in recent games.
Pouliot's arrival is what has created that logjam on the left side—and maybe that makes Del Zotto expendable? Alex Edler and his no-move clause still aren't going anywhere, and Del Zotto's a free agent after next season, while the younger Pouliot and Ben Hutton will remain RFAs.
Kinda makes sense, doesn't it?
I'll leave you to ponder that while we check in with Elias Pettersson over in Europe.
His name was not on the list when the Swedes announced their Olympic roster today—but 17-year-old Rasmus Dahlin will play.
Meanwhile, Pettersson is busy with Champions League hockey. His team, Vaxjo, is currently up 4-1 over Liberec in their hometown Vida Arena, with about 10 minutes left to play in the third period. With the teams coming into the second half of the two-game aggregate tied 1-1, today's game is winner take all, so Vaxjo's in good position to advance to the final against JYP Jyväskylä.
Pettersson opened the scoring for Vaxjo today, with a rocket.
Also worth noting—while Pettersson played wing at World Juniors and started his season there with Vaxjo, he has now moved to the middle.
Questions remain about Pettersson's size, but his skillset is undeniable. I'm currently reading Doug Gilmour's new book, where he talks a lot about the prejudices he needed to overcome as an undersized centre back in the Big, Bad 80s and 90s. Gilmour earned his ice time by developing a strong two-way game—and he always had a mean streak. Pettersson's game is different—but there's also more room for smaller players in today's NHL.
To wrap up today, the first round of voting is now open for the NCAA's 2018 Hobey Baker Award—and Canucks prospect Adam Gaudette is on the long list of candidates:
You can vote once per day until March 4 to help Adam advance to the next round:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»