The links I would read today – 03/31/12

For once Daniel Wagner could easily stay awake to watch this game.

Cam Charronn breaks down the game for the Canucks Army

Vancity Dan has the break down for Nucks Misconduct with less numbers.

Sean Zandberg has a preview of the Canucks – Flames tilt.

According to the AP the Canucks can put the final nail  in the Flames coffin.   Hehehehe.

I Mac heartened that Canucks are beating desperate teams they may face in first round.

Thomas Drance tells you by the numbers how Henrik’s game changes without Daniel.

Kevin Kurz says the Canucks did San Jose a big favour among his Sharks notes.

Wayne Scanlan says the Senators are trying not to constantly scoreboard watch.

Erik Duhatsechek goes into great deal why it’s not a big deal no Canadian team has won the cup in 20 years, with Sedin notes

Alan Panzeri believes the last 5 games will tell the coach a lot about the Sens.

Bruce Barrioch tells us Erik Karlsson is a Swede sensation, 5 points from breaking Lidstrom’s record for most points in a season for a Swede

Randy Sportak says it’s a shameful display all around for the Alberta teams

Michael Traikos says the Leafs are going to try and get it right at the draft. HAhahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Andrew Glockner answers the 10 big questions in preparation for the Final Four showdown today.

Sean Payton to appeal one year suspension

James Walker tells you how Tim Tebow will affect the AFC east.

Bruce Arthiur thinks the Raptors are a  crappy team Tortonians should be proud of, I think they’re just a perennially crappy team

Michael Grange says hate turning to respect for the Miami Heat.  Not in my house, I still Bron Bron

Lori Ewen has the latest on Patrick Chan’s World Championship victory

ESPN’s fantasy baseball mock draft 4.0.

Shacks Take: Fighting in hockey, does it still have a role?

Whenever I hear someone say they want to rid hockey of fighting I always wonder to myself, ‘have they ever been hooked in the nuts’. 

Because if you have and you still believe fighting has no place in the game, you’re a better man than I.

Even at 5'10" & 180 pounds, you
didn't want to mess with 'the Rocket.

Fighting has been a part of hockey since the beginning.  Going back to the fifties and sixties, all players had to fight if the need arose.  Everybody had to be prepared to defend themselves at any time and if you weren’t a tough son of a bitch, you wouldn’t be in the league for long. 

The 60’s turned to the 70’s and fighting became a strategy as much as a necessity.  Teams like the Broad Street Bullies in Philadelphia and the Boston Bruins used fighting to intimidate their opponents.  Philadelphia actually used a combination of skill and intimidation to bully their way to a couple of Stanley Cups.

Even the fans weren't safe from being beaten by their own

shoes in the 70's.  Yes, Milbury was even more of a 

meathead back then. 

In those days, bench-clearing brawls were common and games could get down right ugly.  The NHL finally realized something had to be done to curb the violence and keep games from lasting four and five hours.  Several rules were put into place to safeguard against what was perceived as the excessive violence of the times.  Leaving the bench to join a fight became a suspendable offense and any player that fought three times in a game was ejected. 

These rules helped define the next generation of fighting which ruled the 80’s and 90’s, that of the enforcer. 

The links I would read today – 03/30/12

Fingers crossed, I Mac talks to Mike Gillis who says he hopes to have Danny Sedin back by playoffs

For likely the most prospect info this year Patrick Johnson of the Canucks Army talks to Chicago Wolves beat reaporter Paul Latour – good stuff.

Sean Zandberg of Nucks Misconduct with an in depth game preview of tonight’s match up with the Stars

Jim Jamieson has the Province’s Canuck game day review.

Jim Jamieson says Jordan Schroeder is ready to fill Cody Hodgson’s spot as a prospect in the organization.

I Mac gives us a list of all the positive things going on with the Canucks

Ben Kuzma explains how Keith Ballard has been down the concussion road before among his injury notes.

Ed Willes tells us how Laurence Gilman is a new era NHL executive

Mark Recchi thinks the Canucks will grow and learn from last years playoffs.

Dan the Stat man breaks down Luongo vs Schneider by the numbers.

Dan Murphy gives a few Canucks notes.

Kirk Penton say the Winnipeg Jet players have 5 games to audition for next year.

Penton also talks to Tanner Glass who won’t be mailing it in.

Steve MacFarlane tells us Jay Bouwmeister about to break a record no NHLer wants.

Ken Warren has a story about how Ottawa’s veteran defensemen are trying to lead the young Sens.

Bruce Garrioch has the 5 reasons the Senators are ahead of the Leafs, here’s a sixth,,. they don’t suck.

Erik Duhatschek believes we shouldn’t expect a quick turnaround in Montreal.

Bruce Arthur thinks the Habs are having a tough time living up to the past

Michael Farber handicaps the potential candidates for the Habs GM job.

Steve Nash won’t be back as a Sun unless they improve, would consider the Heat

CBS has a couple of NFL mock drafts.

I Mac thinks Canucks auditioning both goalies for playoffs

VANCOUVER — For much of Roberto Luongo's six years as a Vancouver Canuck, a Special Forces extraction team couldn't have removed the goaltender from his crease no matter how many goals he gave up. But after a 38-save, 1-0 shutout win Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, Luongo will watch Cory Schneider play tonight.

Two weeks before the National Hockey League playoffs begin, this is significant.

It's almost unheard of in Vancouver, where there has been a black-and-white clarity between starter and backup for more than a decade and at least three managerial regimes.  More…

Should Cory be used in the playoffs?

Shacks’ take:  Since I started doing my takes on the local columnists I Mac has been the one guy I’ve rarely had to single out for trying to instill panic in the locals.  He seems to write based on the big picture more than focusing on finding the negatives that could spell doom.  Credit goes to Mr. MacIntyre since that’s an uncommon trait among the local press.

Or is Lui still the unquestioned starter?

In this article he merely points out the Canucks have two excellent goaltending options leading into the playoffs.  While many of his colleagues may have written this as a possible rift in the Canucks and that the goaltending controversy could lead to trouble in the playoffs. I Mac rationally explains Vancouver may be leaning towards giving Schneider some play in the playoffs and that Luongo might not be the unquestioned starter anymore.    

Personally I agree with both his take and the thought of using both goalies.  As I’ve mentioned several times, the Canucks have 2 great starting goalies and while I believe Luongo may have slightly more upside, Schneider’s lows are nowhere near as low as Lui’s. Vancouver should be using whichever goalie is hot that day, not Luongo because he’s AV’s guy.  

Willes mocks Canucks Conspiracy theory

By now, of course, it's a well-known fact in these environs that a very sophisticated conspiracy exists in the NHL that has been designed for two purposes.

One, to screw the Vancouver Canucks at every turn.

Two, to call the games in a way that benefits a few select teams. These teams have yet to be identified. The operatives in NHL headquarters, after all, aren't amateurs. But it seems any team not named the Flames or the Oilers is in on the plot. The Senators might be excluded as well. This just means Stephen Harper isn't doing his job.  More…

There's no way the Evil Overlord would conspire
to further his agenda would he? No way...

Shacks’ Take: I’m starting to get a little nervous, I write takes on Willes lacking perspective and being the purveyor of negative articles and he writes an article praising the Canucks and asking for perspective from the locals.  Almost like he’s trying to make it hard for me to continue to mock his negativity. Next I write a take saying I believe in NHL conspiracies and promise an article explaining my position, and Ed seems to write a pre-emptive piece to assure people anyone that believes in conspiracies is ‘crazy’.

Is Ed reading my little blog and trying to discredit and mock me for taking him to task?  I doubt it, but it’s fun to speculate on what can’t be disproved.

Any way I must be wrong because once Ed’s written an article mocking something, it can’t be true.  He’s joined illustrious company like Scott Burnside (his anti-Canuck bias is the reason I ended my ESPN insider account, honestly), Adam Proteau (one of the many reasons I was glad my in-laws stopped buying me a Hockey News subscription – seriously don’t you wish there was a hockey magazine that didn’t suck) and Mark Spector (I don’t have to say anything do I Canuck fans) telling Canuck fans how crazy they are to believe in conspiracy theories against the Canucks.

You know what though?  They’re right, sort of.  There’s no way the league has a bias against any specific team. It’s not possible the 'Evil Overlord' Gary Bettman and his henchmen could get away with telling individual referees to call the games with a bias towards a single team.  Eventually some body would spill the beans and the league would lose what little credibility it has with its fans.

The league is much too smart to try anything that obvious, that would be crazy.  But that doesn’t mean the league doesn’t have ulterior motives that causes them to use the rules to their advantage. 

Soon I will explain all, then you can decide if I’m crazy (the answer is yes but perhaps not for my conspiracy theories).   

Flame fans heckle team – voice their displeasure

More than back slaps from coaches, more than head pats from teammates, it was the Saddledome crowd that had let the Los Angeles Kings know they were on the right track.

At various junctures of a frustratingly tight night, the Calgary Flames' fans heckled their heroes.

One red jersey got chucked on the ice. Groans and jeers could be heard throughout the building. And, yes, the Kings were listening.

More…

Shacks’ Take: I’ve touched on this before but this end of season tank job the flames are doing is the best thing that could happen, maybe.

 

Calgary is an extremely average team whose best players are all on the backside of their careers.  This team needs to find a way to rebuild and constantly striving to squeak into the playoffs in order to get eliminated in the first round is not the way to do it.

With few young stars on the horizon it’s time Calgary stopped trying to piece an almost playoff team together and actually tried to build a Stanley Cup winner.

If I were in charge (which would be insane but could I do worse?) I would stop selling the locals false hope, level with them that a complete rebuild is necessary and try to convince their older players to accept trades and start building their prospect pool.  

The crazy thing though, somehow Calgary has given no trade clauses to their 11 highest paid players.  Some genius in Calgary has given no-trade clauses to such luminaries as Curtis Glencross, Matt Stajan, Alex Tanguay (4 more years), Mark Giordano and Anton Babchuk.  Even worse, the Flames are also maxed out to the salary cap.

WTF? Seriously, it’s time to blow this thing up but they’ve handcuffed themselves with these no trade contracts to average players.  If you’re a Flames fan, man I feel sorry for you but hopefully they do the right thing soon.  As the Flames are currently constructed, fans face at least another 3 years of mediocrity and early golf seasons 

Brandon Jacobs signs with the 49ers – Fantasy Take

A person with knowledge of the contract says veteran running back Brandon Jacobs and the San Francisco 49ers have agreed to terms on a one-year deal.

ESPN first reported Jacobs would join the NFC West champion 49ers. A person confirmed the deal Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the team had yet to make a formal announcement. Jacobs was released March 9 by the New York Giants after he failed to reach agreement on a restructured deal.  More…

Jacobs still isn't a viable fantasy starter
now he's hurting Frank Gores value.

Shacks’ Take:  The best you can hope for with this signing is you don’t have Frank Gore as a keeper.   If there’s one thing Jacobs has proven after seven years in New York; he can’t handle the bulk of the workload and he vultures touchdowns. 

Last year Jacobs was virtually unusable except for in extreme emergencies and nothing is going to change with his move to San Fran.  What will change is Frank Gore’s touches and red zone usage.  Jacobs is a huge man and an excellent short yardage back.  He will likely steal the goal line love and the occasional series so Gore can stay rested and hopefully healthy.  Unfortunately, if Gore’s not getting the end zone touches his value drops. 

This move keeps Jacobs a low end RB3 or RB4 and pushes Frank Gore down my draft list to a late second round pick instead of a late first rounder.