Bure, Ohlund and Sedin: The World Junior's All-Canucks Team

Mattias Ohlund, Pavel Bure and Daniel Sedin have all
starred in the World Juniors as Canucks prospects.

Until they actually make it to the NHL, the World Juniors is far and away the most closely-scrutinized and highly-celebrated stage for the league's best prospects. And when the average hockey fan is reduced to reading the same cliche scouting reports on their team's draft picks over and over and over, there's nothing like actually watching a player like Jake Virtanen or Thatcher Demko perform at the highest level among their peers.

And every so often, you'll be lucky enough to not only see your team's best prospects play internationally, but watch them absolutely dominate the tournament. A couple of years ago, we highlighted the very best Canadian Junior performances by Canucks prospects of all-time. Cody Hodgson's 16 points in 2008 was there. As was Luc Bourdon's All-Star Team performance at GM Place in 2006.

See also: The All-Time List of Canucks Prospects to Play for Team Canada at the WJC (up to 2013) 

But while Canadian prospects will always get more exposure at this tournament, Vancouver have a long history of drafting top flight international prospects. This year, Canucks fans are spoiled with a United Nations showing of Virtanen (Canada), Demko (USA) and Gustav Forsling (Sweden) playing for their respective countries. (Not to mention Cole Cassels narrowly missing a roster spot with the States.) So with this year's international flavour in mind, we've highlighted the best World Junior performances by Canucks prospects -- Canadian or not -- in the history of the tournament:

What you (probably) didn't (care to) know about Zac Dalpe

Zac Dalpe is a little over 24 hours into his new tenure with the Vancouver Canucks. And sadly, Wikipedia remains devoid of interesting tidbits to sate my inner hockey geek. As pointed out by The Province shortly after the trade, the 23-year-old Ontario native is already familiar with BC, having played for the Penticton Vees back in 2007-08.

But caman. We can do better, internet! As far as obscure Google finds go, Pass It To Bulis got the ball seriously rolling with these NHL Award predictions from 2011-12. According to two out of five Hockey Prospectus analysts, Dalpe was your surest bet for the 2012 Calder Trophy. Take that, Gabriel Landeskog. 

But what else? I don't know about you, but when Dalpe gets that first call-up, I wanna be well-stocked with some truly mundane facts to casually toss into pre-game conversation. How else are you supposed to signal your superiority of unnecessary hockey knowledge?

Farewell to Schneider, Raymond and company [Top 10 video]

Following the Canucks' second straight first round exit, a roster shakeup to any degree seemed like a strong possibility.  Indeed, led by Cory Schneider, the 2013 off-season has spurred on a bevy of multi-year Canucks, ranging from marginal cog to roster stape, who have either already moved on or are awaiting alternate pastures.

In ascending order of overall impact, they are -- Andrew Ebbett, Andrew Alberts, Keith Ballard, Maxim Lapierre, Mason Raymond, Manny Malhotra and, of course,  Schneider.  Thanks in large part to Gillis' failure to land an immediate impact player from New Jersey, none of these vacancies have truly been filled as we enter the fourth day of free agency.  Though that's a diatribe for another time.

Depending on who you ask, however, the exodus of any one of the aforementioned seven players may be welcome news.  Ebbett couldn't seem to take advantage of any opportunity presented to him, Raymond has inspired a entire website dedicated to his inability to stay upright and even Schneider had vehement detractors for his lack of success when it really counted.  Just as easily, however, any of the departing seven could and, in many cases, should be defended with equal-to-greater zeal.

So in celebration of their time here and -- as is ritual for any player dear to anybody, anywhere -- to offer a proper YouTube send off, scroll down and enjoy BTD's Farewell Top 10 to Schneider, Raymond, Lapierre and Ballard.

As should be expected, Schneider dominates this Top 10 with three of his saves included.  Ditto for Raymond.  My apologies to Ebbett and Alberts, but I didn't think anyone wanted to see footage of either of them sitting in the press box.  And for highlights of Malhotra's time in Vancouver, see the compilation put together in February.

Cory Schneider, prophetic Devils and opportunities squandered

"He's a number one goalie in this league... He's that good."

The above quote is credited to Czech centre and omni-Devil, Patrik Elias.  Without knowing the proper context, one might easily assume that the New Jersey forward had been asked by some draft-day reporter to assess his newest teammate.  Elias' lofty praise for Schneider, however, dates back to February 24, 2012, after the former Canucks netminder backstopped his team to a 2-1 win in New Jersey.

At a time when Schneider was still an overqualified backup, he turned aside 30 of his future teammates' shots, standing opposite Martin Brodeur.  Aptly enough, Elias finished his post-game interview by adding, "There will be 29 teams in line to get him when the time is right."

Schneider with now ex-teammates during a 2012 pre-game warmup.

Thoroughly outplayed by Schneider, the NHL's all-time goaltending great offered his opinion of his up-and-coming counterpart: "A lot of teams will look at the guy to be a next coming... The team that'll be able to grab him will find themselves a number one goalie."

Prophesy, you Devils.

It seems difficult to imagine now, but it wasn't that long ago that a trade involving Schneider was an inevitability rather than the curveball it represented Sunday afternoon.  That said, it's not as if Elias and Brodeur were speaking with great clairvoyancy, but it is interesting nonetheless to see how highly Schneider was regarded, even in the less-exposed East -- and especially within the team that inevitably acquired him.

On Kesler's return and the hope for ensuing dominance

The last time Ryan Kesler made a triumphant return from long-term injury, the Canucks dropped a 4-3 game to the Dallas Stars and went on to lose five of seven games with the Selke-winner in the lineup.  This time around, the initial omens are far more encouraging.  Kesler's presence catalyzed a team performance that the final score failed to do proper justice.  Despite solving the Coyotes' irritable netminder just once, the Canucks outshot Smith and co. in excess of a two-to-one ratio. 

Currently averaging in the bottom-half of the league in shots on goal (28.3 per game), their 41-shot effort represents the Canucks' highest output thus far in 2013.  The only other time they hit 40 was February 4 against the Oilers, thanks to a seven-shot overtime.  (None sweeter than the last, mind you.)

The Canucks' February round-up [with top five plays of the month]

My, how a month can change.  The Canucks began February with a six-game winning streak (with one carried over from January), propelling them to nearly the top of the Western Conference.  Then they played Dallas on the 15th and the team went 2-4-2 to finish the month.  It's as if nobody got what they wanted for Valentine's Day and they spent the rest of February moping about it.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler's much-anticipated return was supposed to put Vancouver over the edge.  Dare we say Chicago territory?  But that hero's welcome was tempered in threefold.  First, his return seemed to have required the end of Malhotra's career (plug BTD video here).  And rather than bolstering the lineup, the Canucks turned into a .500 team with their number-two centre.  Finally, by the end of the month, he was back on the IR with a broken foot.  So it goes.

If after these past few games then, you need to go to a place where, like Howard Campbell's tombstone, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt, I've got just the thing.  The Canucks' top five plays of the month:

Top 5 Plays of the Month | January 2013

New CBA in hand, January began with a renewed purpose to sit for hours in front of the television.  As far as first months of the season typically go for the Canucks, Schneider's Luongo's team was not half bad.  With a 48-game season, much had been said about the Canucks not being able to afford their usual sluggish start.

After an unclimactic and severely embarassing home opener, it seemed like that's the direction Vancouver was headed.  A final January record of 3-2-2 isn't going to do much to change the team's reputation, but signs of life abound for the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners, nonetheless.

The Canucks' first month was highlighted by 5-0 and 3-0 wins against the Ducks (returning the favour for their home opener) and Avalanche, respectively.  With a different goalie in net for each win, Schneider and Luongo's matching shutouts reflected the month's central storyline in Vancouver.  Whose team is this?

For the first time since the tandem was established, the pressure is squarely on Schneider to perform and it's Luongo who's playing with nothing to lose.  With the exception of Schneider's shutout against Anaheim, it shows.

As pervasive as the crease drama continues to be, however, goaltending wasn't the only emerging storyline in Vancouver to start the year.  It's been nine months since the Canucks' first-round exit, but playoff Edler is still here.  And judging by Jason Garrison's play, he's contagious.  Meanwhile, Mason Raymond actually looks like he could score 25 goals in this league again.  And finally, Zack Kassian.  (No explanation necessary.)

As a 3-2-2 record suggests, you take the good with the bad.  Luckily, if there's one place Edler can play defence, it's in BTD's Top 5 Plays of the Month.  January edition.  Enjoy!




-HC

The Higgins-Ebbett-and-Booth effect

Fist pump with my Sunday morning coffee.  It's over.  Cue the angelic chorus... The endless tweets.

Cue the renewed storylines that everyone has an opinion on by now.  When and where will Luongo go?  Is Schneider a capable NHL starter?  What's Kesler timeline?  How many goals will Garrison score?  No doubt, these questions are crucially intertwined with any continued success the Canucks hope to have come glorious puck drop.  With the lockout preventing these storylines from actually playing out, the anticipation has compounded.

But behind every headline are the unsung stories that could ultimately mean just as much for a team.  Case in point: It is unlikely that after acquiring Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Simon Gagne last off-season, Los Angeles fans had any idea that their most important player that year, far and away, would end up being Jonathan Quick.

So while we'll justifiably continue our anticipation of the trade, don't forget these next three storylines (in no particular order) that you may not have given as much consideration thus far.

Andrew Ebbett to the rescue

Last season, Ebbett competed for a job that no one hoped he'd win against Cody Hodgdson.  Indeed, that two-man race ended with him spending the majority of the campaign in a suit and tie.  While Hodgson was an immediate hit, little attention was paid to Ebbett's success when he did figure into the lineup.  Granted, it's not the biggest sample size, but in the 18 games he played last season, he was on pace for 22 goals.  Needless to say, that would be a welcome pace with Kesler out of the lineup.

Barring a significant asset at centre in exchange for Lu, it appears the diminutive forward is a lock for opening night this time around.  Though he'll be competing with yet another rookie hopeful for second line duty, Ebbett's experience seems to give him a clear edge over Jordan Schroeder.  Let the vertically-challenged battle begin.

Chris Higgins' contract year

If you're going to write about a Canuck entering a contract year, most people want to talk about Alex Edler.  But seeing as we're trying to unearth the upcoming season's unsung stories, what better player to start with than 2012 "unsung hero" Chris Higgins.

After playing a supporting role as a deadline acquisition in 2011, the Canucks rewarded him with a two-year, $3.8 million deal.  Higgins returned the favour with a nearly identical points-per-game (0.61) and cap hit ($1.9 million) combination as Burrows' (0.65 at $2 million).  That said, Higgins was literally just as much of a bargain as Burr was last season, which says a lot.  And just as the Picourt, Quebec-native cashed in with a four-year, $18 million deal last September, Higgins is also due for a raise, should he maintain his pace.  (Mind you, I doubt anyone expects Gillis to pattern a similar deal for him.)

For that reason, expect the utility winger to play with the same urgency he showed last year, pre-bacterial infection and all that general unpleasantness.  That's good news for the Canucks, who are a  better team with Higgins, who – when healthy – seems to be their most consistent forward.

David Booth's secondary scoring

Way back in July, when lockouts were not yet part of our daily vocabulary, BTD ran an article about Booth holding the unlikely key to Canucks success in 2012–13.  With Kesler out long-term, the former 40-goal star-in-the-making would be the highest-profile forward not named Sedin or, arguably, Burrows on the team.  As such, he would shoulder the burden of secondary scoring.

Fast forward six months and the story remains unchanged.  Unlike Higgins, Booth is no good to the Canucks in the bottom-six and he is no bargain.  Gillis put him in a Vancouver uniform to score goals and he'll pay him at least $4.5 million for three more years to do so.

While a mediocre Booth isn't absolutely detrimental to the Canucks, a lot more of this will go a long way.  How long?  Put it this way.  The 2010–11 Canucks showed the league that having two elite goal-scorers in front of a stocked back-end is a nearly unstoppable combination.  If/when Kesler returns, imagine what they could do with three 40-goal scorers playing in top form.  That said, there is a lot riding on Booth living up to his cap hit.

Maybe even a Stanley Cup.

-HC

The NHL and Pride Rock: A summary of locked out Canucks in Europe

NHL circles have been abuzz for the past couple of days as the league's highest-profile players competing abroad have either already returned to North America or are planning to do so shortly.  Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza promptly ended their European tours following Canada's Spengler Cup triumph, while Cory Schneider and Matt Duchene have put their team on notice. 

If the NHL were the Lion King, this would be that opening scene where all the animals are flocking to Pride Rock.  In anticipation of something big.  You know... Ahhhh-sabenyaaaa...

Anyways, the implication is clear.  NHL play is nigh.  So with the expectant return of Canucks players competing overseas, their performances abroad can now be guaged with some sense of finality.  Because we can still only speculate the lockout's end, this may, in fact, be jumping the gun, but hakuna matata right?

Not including Mason Raymond, who hasn't yet played for his new Swedish team, the Canucks have had six players compete in Europe.  In order of their signing, they are Nicklas Jensen, Dale Weise, Jannik Hansen and Cory Schneider.  Just in case you haven't been among the more compulsive of us, checking up on our displaced heroes game-by-game, here's what they've been up to all this time:

Nicklas Jensen; AIK (Elitserien)

32 GP, 12 G, 4 A, 16 Pts, 16 PIM

It was asserted early on that the Canucks' youngest Dane is remaining in Sweden regardless of the lockout.  For developmental purposes, it's not the worst idea, but you have to imagine that team brass have to at least be reconsidering the notion several months later.  Jensen quickly took Sweden by storm, scoring eight goals in his first 15 games with AIK.  While his pace has slowed considerably, his 12 goals still accounts for nearly one-sixth of his team's total (AIK sits third-last in Sweden).  The fact that he is also tied for sixth in league goal-scoring as a 19-year-old tells you that he might just be the Canucks' surest thing since Hodgson (yes, I said the H-word). Case in point, 2:25 of this video.

If he's made available for international play, look for him to dominate for Denmark at their Olympic qualifying tournament against such competition as Slovenia and Ukraine in February.

Dale Weise; Tilburg Trappers (Eredivisie)
18 GP, 22 G, 24 A, 46 Pts, 77 PIM

The first Canucks roster player to sign abroad, Weise sent blogs and discussion boards in a tizzy after scoring eight points in his first two games.  The whole tough-guy-turned-Dutch-superstar schtick really was too good to pass up for the few legitimate outlets actually covering his stint with Tilburg.  In reference to having chosen number 88 (his birth year) with Tilburg, Pass it to Bulis declared him "the Eric Lindros of Holland".

For as much comedic relief as Weise's wild success provided, however, some bona fide credit is due to the fourth-liner.  When he first signed, it appeared anyone could have really cared less.  Ultimately, he made people back home actually notice a marginal player competing abroad by leading the league in scoring.  Someone tell Gillis to sign linemate Josh Prudden, pronto! 

But what I really wanna know is what on earth happened when he got 30 penalty minutes for "abuse of officials" last week?

Jannik Hansen; Tappara Tampere (SM-liiga)
18 GP, 6 G, 10 A, 16 Pts, 39 PIM

Not long after the Dutch Lindros signed in Europe, Hansen followed suit.  After collecting a season-high three points in his debut with Tappara on November 1, the Danish winger has been steadily producing at nearly a point-a-game pace.  To put that into context, fellow NHLers Valtteri Filppula, Jussi Jokinen and Mikko Koivu – all of whom enjoy a far higher profile than Hansen – are scoring at similar rates in the competitive SM-liiga.

Currently on a five-game point streak, Hansen was even moved to centre recently after 17-year-old Aleksander Barkov left for the World Juniors.  Looks like the Canucks can end that search for a third-line centre... 'm I right?

Cory Schneider; HC Ambri-Piotta (National League A)
8 GP; 4 W, 4 L, 3.22 GAA, .913 Sv%

While rivals Boston and Chicago had Bergeron, Seguin and Patrick Kane competing in Switzerland early in the season, the Canucks lacked a legitimate star to follow abroad.  Enter Cory Schneider and the dual citizenship unbeknownst to nearly anyone.

In Weise's case, nobody anticipated cared if he would dominate the Dutch league, whereas that was the exact expectation for Schneider in Switzerland.  The only problem was, quite simply, Ambri-Piotta.  Schneider's new team was (and still is) second-last in the league, a fact that is clearly reflected in the netminder's statline.  Despite a respectable .913 save percentage (including four 40-save performances), his GAA is sky-high at 3.22. 

Nonetheless, when he wasn't getting danced by Kane in shootouts, Schneider was lifting his team into respectability.  In eight games, Schneider is .500; by comparison, Ambri-Piotta was 7-19 previously.  Having Matt Duchene defect from Sweden shortly after Schneider's debut certainly didn't hurt either.

Outside of league play, Schneider was also lent out to HC Fribourg-Gotteron for the always bizarrely-formatted Spengler Cup.  Splitting starts with Benjamin Conz (of 2010 World Junior fame), he went 0-2.  After allowing two goals on 17 shots to HC Vitkovice Steel in group play, he was lit up by Duchene and the Team Canada juggernaut in the semifinals.

Hopefully it won't be too long before Schneider has a team to match his calibre playing in front of him.  So here's to Schneids exacting revenge on Kane in NHL play.  And to Weise continuing his 2.5 points-per-game pace with the Canucks.

Vancouver needs its Dutch Lindros.

-HC