Better late than never right? Well don’t shoot the messenger, blame the webmaster. A couple of hectic days has made this podcast a day or more late. Jason and Chris focus on the NHL awards and other things in this episode of the podcast with no name on CanucksCorner.com.

My apologies to the guys for the tardiness, but as usual they have an entertaining discussion primed up for you. See how their NHL Awards predictions went, now that we know the winners! Yeah Hank!!!

In this edition, the podcast with no name touches on a variety of topics:

• Intro / theme by Orchid Highway
• Congrats to the dirty rotten stinkin’ Blackhawks
• Awards night at the Cinema on Granville Stree
• Five Hole for Food comes to Vancouver July 9
• Habs move Halak’s rights to St Louis
• Cam Neely named Bruins President
• Congratulations to ex-Canuck Brent Sopel
• Five Hole for Food redux
• It’s NHL Awards time!
• Lady Byng (Most Sportsmanlike Player) picks Hank for Hart?
• It’s a two-horse race: Henke & Sid the Kid
• Vezina (Goalie of the Year) picks Does Brodeur deserve another Vezina?
• Jason pulls Al Pacino out of his butt?
• Ilya Bryzgalov should win the Vezina Ryan Miller would win in another life
• Calder (Rookie of the Year) picks Jason takes Tyler Myers; Chris picks Matt Duchene
• Jack Adams (Coach of the Year) picks Barry Trotz has no neck!
• Was it Kick a Ginger Day?
• Norris (Defenseman of the Year) picks Drew Doughty will win a ton of these in the next 15 years Can we actually call Doughty the next Bobby Orr?
• Outro

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In the sixth episode of the podcast, Chris “Grease Is My Favourite Musical” Withers gives us the lowdown on the one member of the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks who used to wear a Canucks jersey – a guy who used to get all the NHL’s bad haircut press before Patrick Kane and Scott Hartnell came along – a guy who reportedly only sleeps two or three hours every night – a guy who was traded (along with shiny new championship ring) on June 23 to the Atlanta Thrashers: Brent Sopel.

Sopel was taken 144th overall, in the 6th round of the 1995 NHL entry draft. You’ll get a few more tidbits of info about the thinly-scalped gent wearing number 5 in your Blackhawks program in the podcast, but here’s some information about the Canucks draft history, followed by a few bits of evidence that the Canucks do not necessarily suck at this whole draft thing.

The year of the Sopes

Vancouver’s first pick in the 1995 entry draft didn’t come until the second round; the Canucks took Chris McAllister 40th overall — yes, another brilliant draft decision by the Left Coast brain trust of General Manager Pat Quinn and President, um, Pat Quinn. Actually, that’s not entirely fair. Quinn took Trevor Linden in the 1988 draft after having sent Patrick Sundstrom to New Jersey for goalie Kirk McLean and forward Greg Adams the year previous. Those three players would all figure prominently in the 1994 Cup final run. Still, the ’95 draft was not one for the Canuck scrapbook. How many of these names do you recognize?

The Vancouver Canucks at the 1995 Entry Draft

Round 2, 40th overall: D Chris McAllister

Round 3, 61st overall: LW Larry Courville

Round 3, 66th overall: LW Peter Schaefer

Round 4, 92nd overall: D Lloyd Shaw

Round 5, 120th overall: LW Todd Norman

Round 6, 144th overall: D Brent Sopel

Round 7, 170th overall: C Stu Bodtker

Round 8, 196th overall: RW Tyler Willis

Round 9, 222nd overall: G Jason Cugnet

Interestingly, another Canuck would be picked 144th overall just two years later. He would also win a Cup with another team. His name? Matt Cooke.

A questionable history

Anyway, the Canucks have long dealt with a reputation for drafting poorly. In 1990, Vancouver drafted Petr Nedved over Jaromir Jagr; okay, at least Nedved scored 300-plus goals and added more than 400 assists in his 16 NHL seasons – heck, he’s still an active player in the Czech elite league. But how about this genius move? We took Shawn Antoski 18th overall. Nineteenth pick belonged to the Winnipeg Jets, who took none other than Keith Tkachuk. Next? The New Jersey Devils swaggered up to the draft podium and casually drafted the young man who would only become the best goaltender of all time: Martin Brodeur.

There’s sun behind that cloud

As mentioned, Matt Cooke and Brent Sopel were both solid Canucks who went on to win Cups in Pittsburgh (2009) and Chicago (2010), respectively. Sighing wistfully as notorious Canuck draft pick Cam Neely (9th overall, 1983 draft) and Boston Bruins Hall of Famer is made the B’s new President and Grand High Public Relations Poobah, however, doesn’t need to be Vancouver’s end-all, be-all. In fact, if we take a quick look down the current roster, the solid come-up-through-our-own-system guy isn’t so much the exception any more.

Cory Schneider, Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder haven’t had their chance to break into that roster just yet, but here are a few Canuck picks that are making waves… as Canucks. Maybe, just maybe, when the draft takes place June 25–26 in Los Angeles, Mike Gillis can build on this altogether more successful tradition.

Case in point: the Sedins. Brian Burke may be a barrel-chested blowhard, but the man did one hell of a dance at the 1999 draft to secure the numbers 2 and 3 spots; he took Daniel Sedin, then his brother Henrik. To this day, the twins garner a lot of attention, and some ridicule. But Henke, with his Art Ross trophy in hand, should eliminate a lot of those “Vancouver can’t draft” snickers.

Case in point: Kevin Bieksa. Can you believe this guy was a fifth rounder? We got the square-jawed D-man 151st overall in the 2001 draft. When he’s on his game, he’s as good a number two defenseman as anyone could ask for.

Case in point: Ryan Kesler. Yes, the man of the big contract, the man of the US Olympic near-miss, the man who should be the next Canucks captain; that man was a Vancouver draft pick, taken in the first round, 23rd overall in 2003. Let’s hope his shoulder heals up right nice during the off-season, because Kess might just be lifting a 35-pound silver trophy next spring.

Case in point: Alexander Edler. With Matthias Ohlund gone via free agency, and Willie Mitchell injured, Edler stepped up to play big minutes this year. He then stepped up to throw some massive open-ice bodychecks against the Kings in the first round of the playoffs. If his game keeps elevating like this, the Canucks defensive core will look good for a long time – he’ll also be everlasting proof that trading for Roberto Luongo was not the only good move made by Brian Burke’s lackey-cum-replacement, Dave Nonis.

Case in point: Jannik Hansen. He went late in the draft – way late, in fact. Hansen was chosen 287th of 291 picks in 2004 (the year Ovechkin and Malkin went 1-2, in case you’re interested). The Big Dane is a great fourth-line winger who plays a gritty game and has a knack for big goals.

Case in point: Mason Raymond. A second rounder in 2005, Raymond is fast. No, I mean fast. The good thing about this one is that he’s also got some hands. (Unlike some previous speedsters like, say, Brandon Reid.) On nights he and Kesler click, they get the opposition blueline running around – it’s a beautiful thing. Now the question is, can Raymond produce at a more consistent clip? The follow-up question is, will Mike Gillis sign him, ship him or let him go?

Case in point: Michael Grabner. Another quickfooted forward, he’s still a little green to hold up as a lasting example of draft goodness. That said, he scored an impressive hat trick just 17 games into his NHL career and will no doubt learn how to play night in, night out at this level. This 2006 first rounder will get at least another season to show Gillis what he can do.

In this edition, the podcast with no name touches on a variety of topics:

• Gary Bettman = Count von Count?
• Steve Nash: real man
• Still taking name suggestions
• Lots of Canadians in the final
• The Mullet vs the Wookie
• Do the Flyers deserve to be here?
• Will Vancouverites ever stop talking about 82 & 94?
• Chicago in 5. Or 6. Chicago, anyway.
• Marian Hossa, bah. Chris Pronger’s impressive.
• Chicago is DEEP, like good pizza.
• Winter Classic news
• Should Vancouver host a winter classic?
• Is Winnipeg viable?
• Stevie Y goes to Tampa Bay.
• How much does Mark Messier suck?
• Memo to Glen Sather

As always the music is courtesy of the Orchid Highway.

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In addition to the search for a new name, the boys also discuss the end of the season for the Canucks and dissect the series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Also, after weeks of saying, “I’ll get to it”, I finally go to it and set up a couple of feeds you can use to subscribe to this podcast in iTunes as well as our new FeedBurner RSS feed. Just click the appropriate icon below, and you can keep updated on all our blog posts and podcasts.

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Well, another season has come to a close earlier than the Vancouver Canucks would have liked after being eliminated in the second round by the Chicago Blackhawks again. Despite winning the Northwest division title for a second consecutive year the Canucks were unable to better their central division rivals. Now, with another season in the books it is time to look ahead to the NHL Entry Draft and Free Agency.

Part one of this four part series will take a look at the future of the franchise, the prospects.

It has yet to be seen how the Canucks have done in the draft since Mike Gillis took over for Dave Nonis. On paper, things look promising in terms of our forward prospects. Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder look to be a solid 1-2 punch down the centre in the future. Anton Rodin has had a disappointing year in Sweden despite a very strong performance at the World Junior Championship. However, much of that seems to be a result of his lack of ice time as he bounced around between Frolunda and Brynas.

On defense, things get a bit thin. Currently, the top three defense prospects are Kevin Connauton, Yann Sauve and Peter Andersson. Connauton played for the Vancouver Giants this season where he tied for the league lead in points by a defenseman with 72. He also led all rookies in scoring as well. The Giants made it to the WHL Western Final before they lost to the Tri-City Americans. Yann Sauve also had a solid year with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL where he was part of the defense core that helped the team make it to the QMJHL Final where they fell short to the Moncton Wildcats.

With Roberto Luongo signed for the rest of his career and Cory Schneider looking to back him up next year, Mike Gillis went out and signed SEL G Eddie Lack. Lack played on the same SEL team as Rodin, Brynas, where he appeared in 16 games, including 2 playoff games, as a backup to Jacob Markstrom.

It will be interesting to see how Mike Gillis approaches the draft this year. He has preached that he prefers keeping draft picks and building his team through the draft. This year he traded a 3rd round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes in return for Andrew Alberts. This year’s 2nd round pick was traded by Dave Nonis to acquire Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres.

With just a single 1st round pick in the first three rounds it is possible that Mike Gillis may trade down in order acquire additional draft choices in the second round and third round, provided there is not a player that Gillis is extremely high on available at his draft choice. It is also possible that Gillis trades a player or two for more draft choices. General consensus amongst Canucks fans are Kevin Bieksa and Steve Bernier. It’s difficult to predict what Gillis will do but adding to our defense prospect pool should be ranked high on his list.

Canucks 2010 Draft Picks

1st – 25th overall

4th – 115th overall

5th – 145th overall

6th (from PHX) – 172nd overall

6th – 175th overall

7th – 205th overall

This year, though, was different. The Canucks were tapped by many a pundit to go far in these playoffs, but with the asterisk, “in spite of the play of Roberto Luongo”. In spite of. When was the last time a club won in spite of their best player? As much as I love the guy, I have to admit: maybe the goalie-as-captain undertaking needs to come to an end.

Roberto Luongo could benefit by giving up the “C”.

With Vancouver facing elimination in game five this year, Luongo did several unthinkables. He shaved his playoff beard. He ditched the media scrum. He did what goalies are supposed to do: he concentrated on the game. Captains can’t do that. They’re supposed to bear the crush of pre-game media; they’re supposed to let the rest of the guys focus on their prep. Captains are supposed to carry the load while the bench loosens up. Sure, he stank the joint up in the second half of game six, but for four periods – game 5 in Chicago and the first period back at GM Place – he was Holy Hannah Luongo.

Do you think Jaroslav Halak would be stoning the Caps and Pens if he had to do a couple hours of daily pre-game media?  In fact, the opposite is true; the only reason we knew he was getting the game start over Carey Price was because he refuses to talk to media when he’s starting that night’s game.

Luongo as captain made sense in so many ways. He’s the most marketable player on a team in a hockey-mad market. His name is bandied about whenever “Best Goalie in the World” is the topic of conversation. He’s the top-paid player on the team. His are the top-selling jerseys at the Canucks Store. He’s an intense, passionate, win-at-all-cost kinda guy. He’s a gold-medal-winning goaltender, for crying out loud. But perhaps there’s a reason the NHL went 61 years between captains who played goal. This year’s stats are one easy way of seeing the cons to this little experiment.

Just one year ago, Luongo recorded seven shutouts in 54 games. This year, he threw just four doughnuts in 68 – his career-low as a number one goaltender. Last year, Alain Vigneault pulled the All-Star netminder from just one contest. Luongo was pulled from seven games this year – and one more in the playoffs – as he had his worst goals against average since he came from Florida. And his save percentage this season is the lowest he’s posted since his rookie year on Long Island. He lost his posts and composure with equal frequency, and fell apart at key times instead of making the big save the team needed more often than I care to count.

Some will argue these stats have more to do with the amount of play – it’s an Olympic year, they say – but Luongo has always been a workhorse. His best year for save percentage came in Florida in 2003-4, when he played 72 regular season games. Others will point to a weakened defensive core, and that point is valid. But when we see he scored seven shutouts with those same woeful, playoff-missing Panthers, when we see just how shaky he has looked all season, we have to wonder if Willie Mitchell’s absence has been the biggest problem Vancouver’s had between the pipes.

This doesn’t even touch the psychological effect a team must undergo when their captain is sitting on the bench. How massive a blow would it be to Detroit if Mike Babcock benched Nicklas Lidstrom? Could you imagine anything but injury forcing Sidney Crosby from his regular shift? To paraphrase Tom Larscheid, as Luongoes, so go the Canucks. If he’s sitting on the bench in shame, who shoulders the load?

With apologies to Richard Brodeur and Kirk McLean, Roberto Luongo is the best goaltender in Canucks history. And on Sunday, when he put aside all the extra-curricular activities that captaincy requires, he played like the best goaltender in Canucks history. He did the real job that Roberto Luongo is supposed to do: he stopped the puck. Coming back to GM Place on Tuesday, where expectations rest squarely on the back of the guy with the C on his jersey – sorry, the C on his mask – he gave up five goals for the third straight home start.

It’s not a matter of win or lose any more. The Canucks lost. In embarrassing fashion. For the second consecutive year. And sadly, they did not lose in spite of the play of Roberto Luongo.

The Canucks have to seriously look at putting the weight of that C on someone else’s shoulders.

What is a tweetup? Well, it’s an organized event for people that use Twitter to gather and meet one another. In terms of the Canucks, they use tweetups to expose their brand, and bring fans together to watch the game in a fun group environment. Judging by how popular the events have become, it’s becoming a great tool to engage their online fanbase.

The first Canucks tweetup that I know of, was an Official NHL event for game one of last year’s last years playoffs organized by Richard Loat who writes for CanucksHockeyBlog.com and is otherwise known as @Mozy19 on Twitter. Richard describes how the first tweetup came about.

“The NHL wanted to host a tweetup in as many cities as possible. on the same day, which was the firstday of the playoffs last year. I stepped up to host the first Vancouver NHLTweetup and the rest is history. The first tweetup had 25 people show up and the most recent event had over 100. I’ve had a chance to meet other fans and make good friendships with people I would have never ever crossed paths with otherwise.”

The tweetups have grown in size over the course of the last season. The first event held by Loat, who is still involved as an organizer, had 25 people attend, while the last one held for a round one match up between the Kings and Canucks had over 100 people show up to get in on the fun.

The Canuck obviously see value in engaging their online fans with these events. It gives them a chance to meet fans face to face, and gives fans the opportunity to come together and celebrate a common interest.

The organization has stepped up to provide fantastic prizes for those in attendance. Everything from signed photos, stick and pucks to big ticket prizes such as two tickets to a home playoff game. The Green Men have appeared, and hosts such as Scott Rintoul (@scottrintoul) of the TEAM 1040 have emceed the events. The event on May 9th will offer up a signed Roberto Luongo Team Canada jersey as one of it’s main prizes as well as other yet to be named goodies.

The club works with member establishments of their preferred restaurant program to reserve space for the event, making it a great night for those in attendance and giving the establishment a full house for Canucks games.

If you’re on Twitter and would like to see what all the fuss is about, come an join us on May 9th for game five between the Canucks and Blackhawks. You’ll probably meet some new people, and you just may walk out with a prize or two!

Tweetup Information: http://canucks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?bcid=31263

Confirm/Invite your friends on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/event.php?eid=119074534788541&ref=mf

Take a listen and see if you agree with their predictions!

Also some people have asked about syndication…we’re working on it!

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The first round of the NHL playoffs was arguably one of the best ever, and certainly one of the most unpredictable. But one of the most improbable upsets in league history, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals losing to the 8th seeded Montreal Canadiens, would not have been possible except for a controversial decision, made some 10 years ago, that was designed to open up overtime. Where previously teams would get no points for a loss, now both teams would be guaranteed a single point for getting into overtime, and would compete for an additional point in the 5 minute extra frame. The decision, while arguably well-intentioned, has created a bewildering points system for the NHL. It is unlike the systems used by every other professional sports league on the planet, it is no longer relevant, it is costing teams playoff berths and it is past time for it to be changed.

First, a little history on the ‘loser point’. In the late 90′s, the NHL was beleaguered. The work stoppage of 94-95 was still fresh in people’s minds, ratings were slipping, the novelty had worn off for fans of the sun-belt expansion teams and the game had slowed to a crawl after the success of Jacques Lemaire’s New Jersey Devils and their stifling neutral zone trap. Some in the league office felt that the new American expansion markets would never fully accept a sport that embraced a tie. Like baseball, basketball and (usually) football, there must be a winner in hockey! The premise of the OTL rule was that teams would no longer have a reason to play ‘kitty bar the door’ hockey, since there was no penalty for a loss but an extra point for the win. The NHL also sought to make the OT period more fun to watch with an accompanying rule change that made all OT periods 4-on-4, thus opening up the ice and making the neutral zone trap more difficult to implement.

In practice, the rule changes worked. The amount of goals scored in overtime ballooned from 22 in 1998-99 to 114 in 1999-2000. That’s a better than 500% increase!

There were, however, consequences to the extra point. First, it made it significantly more difficult for teams to gain ground (or separation) in the standings. Teams were picking up points in more situations. A team could go on a 6 game winning streak, the team it’s chasing could win 1 out of 6 over the same stretch, and the difference could be as little as 5 points. Second, and most importantly, it allowed teams to quite literally lose their way into the playoffs. In the first year of OTLs, both the Anaheim Ducks and the Carolina Hurricanes were denied playoff berths because the teams in front of them had more ‘loser points’ than they did.

Fast forward a few years and another work stoppage, and the NHL introduced more rule changes. The game, start to finish, became more exciting. The tie was forever banished from professional hockey, replaced by the shootout (love it or hate it, you must admit it’s exciting!). The premise for the OTL point, namely spicing up the extra frame, seemed to have been taken away, yet the points system remained unchanged. In fact, the issues that OTLs present are now amplified. Rather than an extra point being awarded in approximately 44% of OT games (as had been the case from 1999-2004), 100% of OT games are now worth 3 points. This accounted for an average of about 150 extra points being distributed in the standings each and every year. As a direct result of this change, a total of 6 teams since the lockout have missed the playoffs; in one extreme case, the Carolina Hurricanes would have won their division under the old system. With the shootout, they missed the playoffs by 2 points.

Presently then, the NHL has a system for awarding points that only made sense in the context of the rules of the late 90′s. The shootout has obviated the need to make overtime more exciting, and simultaneously made a disproportionate number of games worth 3 points. A team is now penalized for losing a game in regulation, rather than in OT, without a corresponding penalty for teams that win in OT, instead of in regulation.

There are two solutions going forward. The simplest would be a straight Win/Loss system, but that is troublesome because of the shootout. Basketball and baseball are able to use that system effectively because the rules remain constant in those sports throughout extra time. The NHL breaks deadlocks with a skills competition that has little to do with the game itself. An outright loss for the team that loses the shootout would be unfair to those teams that build for 60 minutes of hockey instead of a penalty shot competition.

For an equitable solution, the NHL should look to international hockey. In round robin international play, all games are worth 3 points. Period. An outright win garners 3 points and a loss 0. Take it to overtime, and the points are split 2-1. It’s fair to everybody, understandable by all fans, and it properly benefits teams, like our beloved Canucks, that get their business done outright and don’t win 38% of their games in overtime, like the Phoenix Coyotes.

Colin Campbell was asked in 2007 about the league’s decision not to go to a 3 point system. He was quoted as saying “It’s time to establish continuity. You can’t keep making changes.” If the folks at NHL head office don’t think there’s a reason to change the system now, they may wish to take a poll of New York and Washington hockey fans; the Rangers would have been secure in a playoff spot this year even before that dramatic shootout with the Flyers to end the season. Who would have been on the outside looking in? The Cinderella, Cap-killing, Habs.