More scoring problems, and the TradeDeadline

Scoring has been a big problem for the Canucks, lately.  The Sedin fountain of goal scoring has dried up, Kesler has gone cold, Burrows can't find twine, Santorelli is out for the rest of the season, and the PowerPlay is worse than the Sabre's penalty kill (It's bad!).  Tom Sestito has been the only player to score goals, in the last while.  And that's an awful sign.

Last season.  Canucks GM Mike Gillis made a close-to-trade-deadline deal with the Dallas Stars.  Derrick Roy was a Canuck, but he didn't come cheap.  Kevin Cannaughton, and a second round draft pick went to Dallas.  The talented play maker was greeted with open arms, by Canucks fans.  After a first round playoff exit by the Canucks, the off season came.  Derrick Roy was a UFA, and his contract was ending.  Mike Gillis made no effort to resign Roy, and the young center was a free-agent.  Roy is no a member of the St. Louis Blues, along with former Canuck, Maxim Lapierre.  Roy cost us a future top four defenceman, and a second round draft pick for a three month rental player.  It just makes me think.  Is Mike Gillis taking his job seriously?  I mean the guy likes to say he's "patient", but that's just another word for lazy.

Image:CBC

The Canucks don't have much cap space.  This is mainly on David booth, with his 4+ million dollar contract.  Booth has been a scratch lately, but that might change with more, and more injuries.  So many analysts are talking about moving Kesler, or Burrows, but why would you move a player that's just in his prime?  Obviously they are just going through slumps.  Plus you are just going to get the same kinda player back.

Vancouver drafted two fine prospects.  One of them came at the cost of Cory Schneider, who moved on to the Devils bench.  Backing up Martin Broudeur, who will likely retire at the end of this season.  If Gillis moves Bo Horvat, it will be looked at as Schneider for whoever they get back.  Honestly, I don't see Gillis trading one of theses prospects.  Alex Edler is a decent defenceman, and he has a pretty good trade value.  Edler has attracted interest from Detroit, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.  Moving him would bring in a good young forward, and free-up a roster spot for future star,  Frank Corrado.

Canucks VS Blue Jackets game preview

                                                                        Nucks' In A Slump

Scoring has not come naturally for the Canucks.  With all the offensive talent on their roster, you'd think they could put the puck in the net more often.  But that has not been the story, this season.  They are currently ranked 20th in NHL goals for per game.  That's no where near where they were last year, and where they should be this season.  

          Booth's Pretty Bad...

David Booth was only given one game to prove himself, by John Tortorella.  In that game all he had was one hit.  Obviously David Booth hasn't been the same since a knee-on-knee hit took, during a game against the Minnesota Wild.  Booth's on-ice play is nowhere near the $4.5 million he makes a year.  A buy-out in the off-season is obviously the route the Canucks will take.

       PowerPlay Ain't Very Powerful

Who has one of the worst PowerPlay's in the league, you guessed it, the Canucks have one if the worst man-advantages in the entire league.  Thats in the mix of Calgary, Edmonton, and Buffalo.

        Tears In Columbus 

Columbus is coming off a loss to the worst team in the league, a very, very bad loss that saw Edmonton win 7-0.  You know you suck when you lose to a team that's tanking the season.  Currently ranked 27th, the Jackets are going to fight to make the Playoffs.

   What Happened To The Vezina?

Sergei Bobrovsky is not playing like his Vezina winning, crime stopping self, as of late.  If he doesn't start changing his play, Columbus will start looking for a new goaltender.  Bobrovsky won the Vezina Trophy last season, and made it to the final round of the EA Sports NHL Cover-Vote, losing to Martin Brodeur 

Injuries And Other News

The Canucks are still without Jordan Schroeder, and David Booth is just to bad to play in the lineup.

Columbus will be hurting, missing some of their top players.  Gaborik, Horton, Calvert, and Dubinsky are all out with injuries.

                  Prediction 

David Booth flies out of the press box and scores a goal in OT, celebrates by shooting Anisimov with his stick.  The final score will be 3-2.  The Canucks will win, and all Columbuses' goals come shorthanded.

Defence Not as Offensive Anymore

It has been a rough start for defenceman in the NHL this season.  After changes to goaltender equipment, it seems like the focus has changed from Two-Way play, to defence only mindset.  The usual offensive-defensive players like Erik Karlsson and P.K. Subban have been the main offenders in the scoring race this.  Yet after that the pool really drops off,  teams like Phoenix, and St. Louis are both built on offensive-defenceman aren't getting the same kind of offense that they have had in the past.

Take a player like Mike Green for example, he had a 31 goal season a couple years back.  And now this season he is struggling with not a single goal, and only ten assists.  That could be because Alexander Ovechkin has been lighting it up with 13 goals in 15 games, and 7 of Green's assists have been to Ovechkin.  

Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have been the best offensive duo on the blueline, this season.  With twenty seven points between the two of them.

Hamhuis On The PowerPlay

Sedins, Garrison, Burrows, and Ryan Kesler are all PowerPlay specialists.  But as of lately everything has been getting a a bit hectic, they look scared whenever they don't have the puck on the PowerPlay.   That's when John Tortorella decided to put Dan Hamhuis on the first PowerPlay unit with Jason Garrison.   Hamhuis isn't out there to score goals, he is on the PowerPlay to calm everything down when they don't have the puck.   The Olympic candidate for Canada is a great defenceman, and he can make the long-breakout pass like the best of them.

Vancouvers PowerPlay is ranked 15th in the NHL.  That's good... but it has looked weak at times.  That's when Hamhuis comes in to make the PowerPlay stronger, and get the cycle going down deep.

Hamhuis was signed by Vancouver as a free-agent when he didn't want to re-sign with  the NashVille  Predators.