Mason Raymond: Santorelli of the East, and then some

After long having given up on Mason Raymond, Vancouver watched as the perpetually-imbalanced winger opened the season with 8 points in 7 games as a Maple Leaf. By the time he returned to the city on Bure night, however, he had cooled off considerably and everybody generally stopped paying attention. A pair of other former Canucks started turning heads around the league, as Maxim Lapierre earned a five-game suspension and Manny Malhotra authored a movie-script return to the NHL in Carolina.

But after having seemingly leveled off to his previous Canucks pace, Raymond has picked up the offensive slack in Toronto once more. Including his game-winner against the Islanders on Tuesday night, he is currently riding a four-game point streak. And with 8 goals and 8 assists through the quarter-mark of the season, Raymond is on pace for a career-high 62 points. This, at a time when the Canucks' offensive well has all but dried up (6 goals during a 5-game losing skid).

So then. Was letting Raymond go a serious mistake?

Bertuzzi beating the odds, again [with statistical WCE comparison]

Last night, Todd Bertuzzi scored a goal and an assist in an overtime loss to Dallas. A pretty innocuous statement by itself. But a closer look reveals that with those two points, Bertuzzi's current pace (5 goals and 4 assists in 17 games) would see him score 20-plus goals for the first time since 2005-06 -- otherwise known in Vancouver as the West Coast Express's last hurrah.

The fact that Bertuzzi has carved out a very unlikely niche in Detroit's system is a well-covered story. Having been discarded by five different teams in a span of three years, Big Bert reinvented himself as a defensively-responsible cog in Mike Babcock's lineup.

But that was four years ago. The surprise now is that at age thirty-eight, Bertuzzi remains just as valuable as he unpredictably was in his first couple of seasons with Detroit -- if not more. And not only is he at an age when the vast majority of players are retired, he is coming off a season in which he spent all but seven games with a severe back injury.

Continue reading for a year-by-year and cumulative statistical
comparison of Bertuzzi, Naslund and Morrison, post-2006.
Image: Paige Kaitlyn, Flickr

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.)

Gillis on Malhotra: 'The hardest thing I have done'

When it was announced yesterday that Mike Gillis was shutting Manny Malhotra down for the season, even the most positive-minded among us could put the decision into context.  In the last year of his contract and his performance in sharp decline since his eye injury, it can be fairly assumed that Malhotra played his last game as a Canuck last Saturday against Calgary.  And as ubiquitously respected as the centreman is around the league, when your general manager declares that he cannot with a straight conscience let you play, the chances of another team signing you on is bleak.

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