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First impressions

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First impressions

The Crazy Canucks podcast crew were guests of the Vancouver Canucks in suite 519 last night. Needless to say, it was an excellent experience and it gave John, Rebecca, Dave, Alanah and I all an opportunity to meet the team’s marketing group and brainstorm on potential partnerships this season. (Plus, the popcorn was damn good.) It also gave me a chance to form some first impressions on the Canucks. I don’t know if it’s the players or their system, but the Canucks looked faster in their first two preseason games. They made a lot of plays off the rush –...

Gillis’ sales job

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Gillis’ sales job

It’s no secret that the Vancouver Canucks need more offense, but as training camp starts today with no Mats Sundin in sight, Mike Gillis has started selling Canucks fans with a youth movement. Increasingly over the last little while, Gillis, in his interviews, has started repeating the same message. Listen closely. You’ll hear how he thinks the Keslers, Raymonds and Bieksas are ready to take on more responsibility and how he thinks the Grabners and Hodgsons are ready to take the next step in their development. You’ll hear how he thinks they should be given this opportunity because, after all,...

Prospect camp cuts

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Prospect camp cuts

After completing Prospects Camp and the rookie tourney in Camrose, the Vancouver Canucks announced the following cuts today: Vancouver Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis announced today that the Canucks have reduced their training camp roster by 14 players. The Vancouver Canucks will now have 45 players attending main training camp in Whistler, B.C., September 19-21. The following players have been assigned to the Manitoba Moose: Mario Bliznak Centre Manitoba Moose AHL Patrick Coulombe Defence Manitoba Moose AHL The following players have been assigned to their junior clubs: Morgan Clark Goalie Red Deer WHL Prab Rai Centre Seattle WHL The following...

An optimistic outlook

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An optimistic outlook

It doesn’t happen often. In fact, I think it only happens at this time of year. But believe it or not, Tony Gallagher (Vancouver Province) talks optimismistically about the Vancouver Canucks. This being September, when optimism is allowed to flourish if even only for the briefest moment, happier aspects of the Canucks can be addressed despite the gloom of another impending scoring shortage. And among the reasons to be optimistic is the ever-increasing depth of this organization. They may not have the high-end talent needed to win a Cup, other than in goal, but the team has made strides through...

Feel appreciated for $12.95

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Feel appreciated for $12.95

A quick hit on this one… I was just looking through the Vancouver Canucks schedule that was inserted in Sunday’s Vancouver Province. Did anyone else notice that the team moved Fan Appreciation Day from the last home game of the season to a mid-season January 4th game vs. the Dallas Stars? Did you also notice that that same Stars game is only available on pay-per-view? How ironic.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

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Coulda, woulda, shoulda

I missed this tidbit from Ed Willes (Vancouver Province) yesterday: Canucks GM Mike Gillis has said he isn’t finished building his team and, with $10 million in cap space, he has the freedom to move in a couple of different directions. But it will also be interesting to compare what Gillis does with the plan Dave Nonis had laid out before he was fired. Nonis told Canucks’ ownership he would add three forwards and let Markus Naslund go through free agency. Swedish free agent Fabian Brunnstrom was committed to signing with the Canucks. Nonis was also going to trade the...

The Crazy Canucks: Episode 63

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The Crazy Canucks: Episode 63

We’re back. Season three of TCC kicks off with a quick gathering of the crew to has out what to expect for the coming season as well as some cool things going on with each of our various projects. We take a look back as who we’ve lost, the new faces (that we kinda think we know something about but don’t know half as much as we’d like), hash out the who does what for TV and radio play-by-play, and take assignments for new names of the team for show and tell later. Click here to listen to the episode.

Here Come The Rookies

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Here Come The Rookies

The Vancouver Canucks prospect camp starts today at UBC Thunderbird arena, albeit with a smaller group of prospects (Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun): In previous seasons, every living, breathing player not on the National Hockey League roster was expected to show up to skate, shoot and fight. All the top minor leaguers were present. It was a useful exercise in gauging the organization’s depth below the NHL level. If you showed well in prospects camp, you were better received at main camp. Stink it up and you were re-assigned before getting a chance to tell the Sedin twins apart. This season,...

Food, Wine and Good Company… and that’s it for now

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Food, Wine and Good Company… and that’s it for now

New Canucks GM Mike Gillis, new assistant GM Laurence Gilman, Henrik and Daniel Sedin and agent JP Barry met on Wednesday night, and at least by the Sedins’ account, things went well (Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun). “I felt good after the meeting,” Daniel said. “I talked to Henrik in the car after and it felt good. Mike is a nice man. I like his ideas on the team. He wants to play a more exciting style of game. We had an open dialogue.” The question is if the feeling is mutual (Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun): More than anything, Daniel and...

The Crazy Canucks: Episode 62

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The Crazy Canucks: Episode 62

Dave is a healthy scratch for this episode, so we reached into our farm system and plucked Sean Zanberg from Waiting For Stanley to join us on this episode. He’s made an appearance before, but his blog is a great Canucks (…and Maple Leafs) fan blog with plenty of opinions and great photoshop jobs that only he can whip up. Click here to listen to the episode.

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