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Despite another 3rd period where the Canucks pushed extremely hard and scored twice Arizona held on to win the game 4-3. The Canucks play their last home game of the season Saturday, hosting the Oilers, then end their season Sunday in Edmonton.

   

Does all the NHL regular season end on or by Sunday?

   

Dunno.

I know this...

Now that the Canucks are sitting #2 from the bottom with two games left in the season Canucks fans at hockey blogs and message boards have become real interested in the draft.

   

OILERS (45-26-9) at CANUCKS (30-41-9)

Canucks forward Sven Baertschi won't play the final two games of the regular season after sustaining a neck injury during a 4-3 loss against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday. Left wing Reid Boucher will move up to take Baertschi's spot on the second line with center Bo Horvat and defenseman Alex Biega will play as a forward on the fourth line. Vancouver has lost six straight games (0-6-0), and has lost 11 straight at home (0-8-3) since their last win at Rogers Arena on Feb. 18, matching a franchise record winless streak set in 1970-71. "The fans have been behind us the whole year, through the ups and downs, so this is kind of our way to try and give it back to them and hopefully have a good win tonight," rookie defenseman Troy Stecher said. The Canucks are 2-11-2 in their past 15 games but said they can use the chance to play spoiler against a division rival as motivation. "We have to go in with that mindset," said Horvat, who leads the Canucks with 51 points (20 goals, 31 assists). "They are going to be coming hard, they're fighting for positon in the playoffs and the harder we play and tougher we are on them I think it's going to give our group confidence." Goaltender Ryan Miller will start.

Puck drop at 7:00pm PT

   

C'mon Canucks! Lay some mighty hits on them Onions and send the pricks into the playoffs with some good injuries!

   

I think Bo heard you. He beat up on Darnell Nurse. First time we've seen him fight and turns out it's just one more thing "Bo knows" how to do.

And Boeser scores again. Whoopee! 1-1 going into the 3rd.

Time for a choke Willie. Do your throw in Chaput and Megna on every shift trick. Now's the only time you might get kisses for doing it. We don't want to finally win one and fall out of 2nd on the lottery wheel.

   

3-2 for Edmonton, but an exciting game and some of us see potential for the future. Good game.

   

Definitely.

   

That's what all losers say.





OK, OK... I'm leaving now.

   

Coward.

Cause you know the obvious response to this one, right?



Habs fans ought to know.

   

It would be nice to see an All-Canadian Stanley Cup... even if the Habs aren't playing in it. The last one was 28 years ago.

   

Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler, Get rid of Edler,... oh, and get rid of Edler

   

There's some truth in what Ray says about us Canucks fans though (as there is in most lying slurs.)

The Sedin era is over. We are losers now and consideration of reality suggests we accept it's going to be at least a couple years before the new version of team Canuck gets as strong or stronger than the one that was.

Still...the Benning strategy is different than the plan the other Canadian teams used to restructure. You know? The plans that kept them in the toilet the previous decades and left Vancouver to represent Canada solo in the run to the cup.

Myself, I have faith in the BP (Benning Plan), and I already see it paying dividends.

As I hear Jim describe it, it goes like this. You start at goal. You make that strong.

What we've got now in goal is fine to get us into the next era of Thatcher Demko. Jim stole him in the second round of the draft. He's going to be a star.

The next step in the Benning strategy is to strengthen the defence. Jim's talent is the draft. He was a scout. He hasn't had a lot of picks for Vancouver, so far, to take advantage of that, but he has scored some gems with what he has had and he's found ways around a lack of draft picks. He picked up Troy Stecher out of College, because after you strengthen the goal tending in the Benning plan you work on defence. The other new guy on defence we have hope for is Nikita Tryamkin. Benning snagged him in the third round out of Russia. If the rest of the league had a chance they'd take Tryamkin and Stecher in the first round, I bet. D men take a while to work into their prime though, so a little patience is necessary there. Gudbranson (who was acquired in a trade) might take a while to adjust too, but he's toughness in front of the net when he does.

Defence was lacking a puck mover who could quarterback a power play so last draft Jim did what many of us thought was nuts and passed on the sure thing for the near future in Matthew Tkachuk, to grab a potential puck moving power play d man for the farther future in Olli Juolevi. It'll be a couple of years before we see if that one's going to pay off, but the boss is talking about doing it again. That's scary because most think it's time to move on to the next stage of the plan and find the replacement for Henrick at first line centre.

This year's draft has possibilities, especially if the draft lottery is uncharacteristically kind to us and we draft second.

There are centres with potential in this draft, also the type of defenceman Jim wants. Oh dear.

Will he do it to us again? Maybe not, because this year he has all his picks to work with. Plus he might get a second from Columbus in June, and there's a 4th that could turn into a 1st if the Sharks miraculously win the cup.

And one thing Jim can do is draft. He'll find what he needs if it's there.

Benning found centre Adam Gaudette in the late rounds of the draft and Adam just keeps on surprising everybody. This year he outscored Brock Boeser in the NCAA and we've seen how much potential Brock has since he arrived 8 games ago.

We won't see Gaudette for at least another year though. He's finishing his degree. Here's the full story on him though. (They're still not that high on him, but as they admit he keeps proving them wrong.)

https://canucksarmy.com/2016/11/24/i-wa ... -gaudette/

I'm thinking third line centre that would allow us to trade Sutter for another juicy draft pick. Or at least we can worry less about dangling him in front of Vegas for the expansion draft.

Other possible surprises are working their way up from the late rounds.

Also, Jake Virtanen is finally starting to get his head on straight after being sent down to Utica, and is looking like he might start to live up to his potential. Just imagine...a big, fast winger who can smash and bash, and score. Who wouldn't want one of those.

So yeah, the Benning plan is starting to pay dividends and I like it better than the Toronto/Edmonton plan of tank until a generational player turns up to build your team around.

   

And Jim says he's thinking of moving a defenceman or two in the off season, so there's hope.

The problem is the 'no movement clause' in his contract is good for another year, and he's not sounding like he's ready to go. Also, what could you get for him? Is a second rounder optimistic? Would anybody even want him?

I imagine buying him out would be expensive.

   

Leave him available to Las Vegas, just having him gone will improve the team. Doubt the Canucks could get much for him.

   

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