On Acquiring a Puck-Moving Defenseman
Over the last few weeks it has become clear to me that the Canucks' ideal deadline acquisition might not be a gritty, top-six winger in the likes of Bill Guerin or Keith Tkachuk. As amazing as they would make our top six, the entire team as a dynamic would benefit the most from a bona-fide puck-moving defenseman. Someone to help alleviate the strong forechecking that every team except Montreal can execute to perfection against our stagnant molasses-skating d-core.

A couple of stories made headlines today and I figure I'd make a note of them.

With nothing going on at all in hockey this weekend (I refuse to acknowledge the ASG), a nice little story has been making the rounds in hockey circles, and some feel that this story could revolutionize the goaltending position.

Apparently a high school student in New Hampshire has designed a new style of goalie pad with embedded mesh so that the pads appear similar to the goal netting.

"When the shooter comes down and only has a split second to shoot the puck, they're looking for net," said Leahy, a senior from Hampton, N.H., who grew up in Byfield. "If you put the net on the pad, they'll shoot at the pad instead of the goal."

Now, this is a nice idea, but like everything else in the world, it can be improved.

Until recently, the Vancouver Canucks have had a pretty terrible drafting record.

On top of that, Vancouver's been a bottom-dwelling team for most of their 39 years in the NHL, meaning that the big name free agents don't usually want to end up here.

Because of this, for Vancouver to have remained competitive for the short stretches that they did, they needed to be on the good side of plenty of lopsided trades.

Let's take a look at the ten most lopsided trades (in Vancouver's favor) in Canucks history.

In 2005-06, a young upstart goalie named Curtis Sanford started turning heads in the NHL. And not only because he has horrible rebound control. Amassing 13 wins and 5 shutouts playing for a basement-dwelling St. Louis Blues squad, Sanford started to gain recognition league-wide. Or at least division-wide. At least the Blues fans recognized him. I think. Did the Blues have fans that year? Anyways.

The most remarkable feat of Sanford's that year is that he played all four Blues games against Vancouver and he compiled a 4-0 record, including a shutout, a GAA of 1.00, and a sv% of .971.

Clearly, something needed to be done.

January 13th. It's a date that's been circled on the calender of every Canuck fan since this season's schedule was released. Enough of the trash talk. Forget the speculation. Tonight we finally get to see two legends in the making go head-to-head, and after the dust settles, only one will remain.

Once again, come January, the Canucks find themselves in the middle of the pack of yet another thrilling Western Conference playoff hunt that has the 14th place team only six points out of a playoff spot. In an environment where every win, every OT loss, every goal, every faceoff win and every blocked shot can seriously help a team inch closer to the big show, Jason LaBarbera has been solid as the Canucks’ third-string goaltender, using his massive frame to backstop the team to six of a possible ten points while everyone eagerly awaits the return of Roberto “Jesus, Superman and Barack Obama Put Together” Luongo.

Sporting a .917 save percentage and 2.72 GAA since arriving in Vancouver, LaBarbera’s moderate success has come as a major surprise to everyone – especially to those fans in Los Angeles who have endeared the goalie with the happy nickname, ‘LOLbarbera’. And all it cost the Canucks was a seventh-round pick.

As I have an unnatural obsession with insignificant quirks of hockey history, this sequence of events prompted me to take a look into the history of Vancouver’s seventh round in the NHL entry draft. (This should be a short article).

It finally happened. After months and months of titillating speculation and nauseating indecision, a full 189 days since the Canucks tabled their offer on July 1st, Mats Sundin is come. It wasn't the explosion some were expecting, and the lumbering center still looks a ways off from top form, but even in a weak showing his presence changed the game for the Canucks.

With Jannik Hansen demoted to Manitoba yesterday, a lot of Canuck fans find themselves running around like chickens with their heads cut off. There's plenty of reasons to be upset: since his Canuck debut in the 2007 Playoffs, Hansen has been one of the most likeable stories on the team. Long-shot 9th round pick from the obscure hockey hot-bed of Denmark makes good. He showed great spark, speed and hockey sense, and looked like he would be a keeper.

Jannik HANSEN sent to MANITOBA.

What the fuck are you thinking Mike Gillis?

I can understand keeping Jason Jaffray up, but why wouldn't you demote Alex "My Teammates Didn't Even Notice Me Last Game" Bolduc or Mike "DURRRRR" Brown?!?

Oh, that's right, Mike Brown is waiver eligible. And Bolduc is... I DON'T FUCKING KNOW.

Wouldn't want to lose our extremely valuable fourth-liner-with-no-NHL-skills-who-gets-in-worthless-fights-with-random-middleweights role player. Or our "I can eat up 8 minutes of icetime without anyone noticing me" specialist.