Canucks Sunday 9: Trade Advice, Draft, OT Winner

Let’s whirl around Canucks world and that of the NHL with a little “Simmer’s Sunday 9”.

1) For the Canucks, the 2024 NHL Draft is draft-lite. As in, no 1st-rounder, 2nd-rounder, or 5th rounder. Vancouver does have a 3rd, a 4th, two 6th-rounders and a 7th, and you know what, that’s just fine.

They’ve paid the price to get where they are today, closer to legitimate Stanley Cup contention, by sacrificing some picks. It’s a win now or soon scenario and while yes, you’re always hoping to restock the cupboards, this management team is more concerned with potential trades or free agents who will put them over the hump.

2) Speaking of the cupboards and prospects, while threatening to reach the Western Conference Final, the Canucks also managed to give a few of their developing players some important ice time in big games.

Recently re-signed forward Linus Karlsson, fellow Swede Nils Aman, Russian Vasily Podkolzin (he turns 23 on Monday) and of course Latvian goalie Arturs Silovs, thrown into the fire, all come to mind. Invaluable experiences, particularly for the netminder, especially with long-term health question marks surrounding team number-1 Thatcher Demko.

3) The Canucks already announced their preseason schedule for next season. It includes two games against the Seattle Kraken, two against the Calgary Flames, and two against the potential Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.

4) Eeek! How did that sentence sound? Earlier this week we talked about who and why among us are rooting or not rooting for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final. Any chance your opinion has or will change while you’re watching Canada’s lone remaining team battling in a Game-7?

5) Congratulations to the founder of Canadian Blind Hockey and a member of the Canadian National Blind Hockey team, Mark Demontis, who was named the 2024 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award winner.

DMo (“Dee-moe”) as we’ve been known to call him, is an inspirational player and spokesman for blind hockey, dating back to the time he roller-bladed across the country to raise money and awareness for his then Courage Canada charity.

A great friend, Mark and I spent four seasons travelling all over Canada adventuring for AMI-TV a few years back. He, the blind host and participant — dog sledding, snow boarding, kayaking, etc. — me the sighted producer and co-host. It was remarkable fun and we should probably do it all over again for a much bigger audience.

We also played beep-baseball in Burnaby.

6) Canucks Trivia: Two players share the club’s record for most career playoff goals with 34. It took Trevor Linden 118 games to reach that mark. How many did it take Pavel Bure to reach that number?? A) 84, B) 70, C) 60, D) 54. Answer at the bottom of page.

7) I’m pulling for overtime in Game-7 on Monday between the Oilers and the Florida Panthers. Why the heck not?!

While there have been OT Game-7’s in other rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, there hasn’t been one in the Final since the 1950’s and there have only been two. Tony Leswick won it for the Detroit Red Wings over the Montreal Canadiens in 1954, four seasons after Pete Babando scored in double-OT for Detroit to beat the New York Rangers for the Cup.

It’s about time we saw the ultimate drama unfold again, and someone’s childhood dream come true. I’ll take Evan Rodrigues and Connor Brown.

8) Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine wants out of the Ohio state capital, and club GM Don Waddell is more than happy to entertain offers. Here’s why the Canucks neighbour to the south, the aforementioned Seattle Kraken, are on the rumour list and why they shouldn’t make the deal. The same logic applies to certain other clubs.

9) At this juncture, Tony Tanti is the greatest Vancouver Canucks number-9, with 250 goals scored over most of eight seasons. J.T. Miller would be moving up quickly. Don Lever is another contender.

Enjoy the Hockey Action! Send me your OT game winning player picks. (just in case)

— Trivia Answer: C) 60 games.