Canucks vs Sharks - Renewing Acquaintances

Tomorrow night the San Jose Sharks invade Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks in Game1 of the NHL Western Conference Quarter-Finals.  These teams have met once before with the Canucks taking out the Sharks in 5 games in the Western Conference Final on their way to losing in Game 7 of the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup Finals to the Boston Bruins.

Both teams have made a few changes since then.  For the Canucks the most noticeable change

If the Canucks Didn't Have Bad Luck they Wouldn't Have Any Luck at All

Much was made yesterday about the return of Ryan Kesler --- the straw that stirs the Canucks drink, the engine of the Canuck-mobile.  Kesler's much anticipated return certainly lived up to expectations as the team's Selke winning centre came flying out of the gates on his first with a shot and a hit, showing no lasting effects of his lengthy absence due to a broken foot bone.  Kesler opened the scoring banging in a rebound from his office right in front of the net with a  goal that turned out to be the game winner as Cory Schneider went on to post his 4th shutout in the last  9 games (yes you read that correctly).
Kesler's return also bumped newly acquired Derek Roy down to the "3rd line" if you will where he has been impressive playing with Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen.
The team looked good offensively, carrying much of the play, creating several chances,and getting off over 40 shots for their highest total of the season.  The score, in my opinion, greatly flattered the Phoenix Coyotes due mainly to goalie Mike Smith being up to the task and stopping everything the Canucks threw at him except for the previously mentioned Kesler effort.
One might say that with Kelser's return and the addition of Derek Roy that the Canucks look as deep offensively as they have all year and probably in the last few years.  Perfect.  Let's get this thing rolling.  Just in time for the playoffs.
But wait.  In what is becoming an almost expected occurrence, we find out this morning that Chris Higgins and Chris Tanev will be out indefinitely and will more than likely miss the rest of the regular season and perhaps the playoffs.
They just can't seem to get a break...unless its a bone.

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NHLers loitering on the sidelines

I attended the BC Lions v Calgary Stampeders game at BC Place on Saturday night and I noticed that a group of Vancouver Canucks had been invited to watch part of the game from the BC Lions sideline.  If I'm not mistaken Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kesler, Jason Garrison, Alex Edler, Mason Raymond and Cory Schneider.

Everyone knows that the Canucks have a lot of extra time on their hands due to the NHL lockout.  It seemed surreal to me to see them standing there in street clothes, supporting another local team, which, by the way, I thought to be a classy move.  They were supposed to be playing a game at Rogers Arena, or on a road trip, or resting up for another game.  It really was quite bizarre to see them there instead of on the ice all because of Gary Bettman's 3rd lockout.

Then it hit me....the 2012 CFL team salary cap is $4.3M.  Yup.  If you add up the salaries of the entire BC Lions roster it is equal to, or less than, $4.3M.  Ryan Kesler makes $5M.   Jason Garrison makes $6M+ per season.  Edler and Bieksa aren't that far behind.

What must that have been like for them?  Watching 2 teams go at it 100% banging heads, sacrificing limbs, and giving it their all in front of 30,000+ at BCPlace and hundreds of thousands more on TSN, knowing that their annual salary is more than the entire payroll of each of the two teams they were watching.  It kinda puts things into perspective as far as how much money NHLers really make.

The thing is, we can't look at NHL players as just athletes playing a game and being compensated with massive amounts of money.  It is important to realize that the players are a product.  They are a product that generates large amounts of money for the owners and they should get their piece of the pie.  The sooner the owners stop treating the players as employees, or cattle, and become business partners with them, the sooner we can get hockey players off of CFL sidelines.

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