Looking Sharp - The Best Canucks goalie masks

While there may not be a long history of successful goalies over the 40+ years of the 'Nucks, there has been a few GREAT masks worn over the years.

We'll start with the best - Gary Bromley circa late 70's

Corey Hirsch, with a nice picture of "mother" in the window...

John Garrett (i believe the long jersey was to keep the puck out of his 5-hole)

Sean Burke had a snowman mask during his brief cup of coffee in vancouver...

....but maybe he knew in Hartford he was to become a canuck soon.

Curt Ridley had a simple yet effective look, since used by Luongo in a similar small cage mask

Jason Labarbera's historical Canucks mask, featuring Harold Snepts, Stan Smyl, Trevor Linden and Kirk Mclean.

Alex Auld had a decent SJ Shark type mask, but generally the orca logo didn't inspire much for mask styles... see Weekes, Skudra, Potvin, Hedberg etc

Gary "suitcase" Smith a simple one, yet it worked

In the "holy shit, that wouldn't help at all" category, Dunc Wilson

It's just money.....

Anyone notice that burying Steven Reinprecht's 2.05 mill. cap hit in chicago, instead of burying Marco Sturm's 2.25 million in Chicago, was done simply to not have a new player signing exposed as washed up within weeks of the season starting?

I'm sure Florida GM Dale Tallon was just blown away by his 0 points for the Canucks, or his sparkling -5 in 6 games in Vancouver. Yeah, that's it.

Update on Sturm: still at 0 points, and now up to -7.

2.25 million well spent, right Mr. Aquilini?

Sorry, 2.05 million....

Ehrhoff vs Bieksa vs Ballard

While most think that the choice for Canucks GM Mike Gillis this summer was Kevin Bieksa or Christian Ehrhoff, it was more of a triangle, with Keith Ballard being the other, unspoken, option.
First, the contracts:

Christian Ehrhoff: 10 years, OH MY GOD, he's so not worth it. Did you see his plus minus in last year's playoffs? yikes!
Well in fact, the last 3 years are for 1 million per year (ala Luongo) so it works out to more of a 7 years at 37 mill, (5.29 Mill per year, counting the first 7 years only) and that would take him to the age of 36. The cap hit for all 10 years is 4 mill. Being he signed the contract before the age of 35, then any cap hit comes off the books when he retires. His two years here were the most productive by a canucks defensemen since Jyrki Lumme and Ed Jovanovski's peak years....

Kevin Bieksa: Heart and soul guy. Wow was he good with Hamhuis. His plus/minus last year was amazing!
We can't let this guy go.
He signed for 5 years, 4.6 million cap hit, and like Ehrhoff (10 mill in year one) his contract is front loaded too (from 7 mill the first year, to 2.5 the last). He will be 35 when the contract runs out. The unfortunate part being, in the last 4 years, he's been injured as much as the tough as feathers Sami Salo (227 games played, Sami has 218). Yes Bieksa had some flukey injuries, but missed games are missed games....And now that Hamhuis is struggling to regain his form after off-season surgery, perhaps Bieksa's performance ia a little too tied to his partner's.

Keith Ballard: Boy he had a tough year, but look what he's done in the past. He just need's to get out of coach AV's doghouse, and we'll see why we traded a calder trophy nominee, and a 1st rounder for him. He had injuries too...He had 7 points last year (after fluctuating between 21 and 39 points his first 5 years in the NHL.
He has 4 years left @ 4.2 million each, with the cap hit also 4.2. He'll be 32 when his deal runs out. So far this season, he's not faring much better. He's on pace for 6 points. His plus/minus if it continues at it's current pace, will be a Kansas City Scouts like -52.


Recap:


Ehrhoff - 4.0 Million cap hit - signed until 36 (39 counting years he'll be retired and/or buried in the minors)
               Pace this year : 48 points, but an ugly +/- of -41

Ballard - 4.2 Mill. cap hit - signed until 32
               Pace this year : 6 points, but also an ugly +/- of -52

Bieksa - 4.6 Mill. cap hit - signed until 35
               Pace this year : 18 points, also an ugly +/- of -47

Now everyone knows trading Ballard (and opening up the $ for Ehrhoff) would be admitting you gave away Michael Grabner for nothing (Oreskovich is in Chicago....), and after last year the 'nucks would have gotten squat for him anyways. Ehrhoff's rights got the team a 4th round choice. Who wouldn't trade Ballard and a 4th rounder for Ehrhoff and his contract now?


At this point for Canucks fans, when it comes to defense, they'd better hope Shea Weber REALLY hates country music....

Turning Cliff Ronning into Mark Messier

Many know that Gretzky almost signed here in the summer of  1996, after his brief stint with St. Louis, and for a cruel consolation prize the Vancouver Canucks signed Mark Messier the following year instead.
Of course with the planned run at Gretzky in the works, the Canucks decided not to tender a certain little sparkplug named Cliff Ronning a decent offer, and he signed on the first day of free agency with Phoenix, July 1, 1996.


After the Canucks pressured Gretzky, reportedly in the middle of the night, and he backed away from signing in Vancouver,  he then signed on with the NY Rangers (July 21, 1996) and joined Messier for a season. The following year, Messier decided to take the huge contract the desperate to make a splash Canucks threw at him (20million - 3 years + options), and Messier was a Canuck for 3 miserable, losing years.


Gretzky played 3 years in New York, and then retired.


Messier never played another playoff game, and after 3 years in Vancouver, returned for 4 more in New York.


Ronning (a hometown boy from Burnaby) went on to play another 8 seasons (7 of them 50+ points) , and led the Nashville Predators in scoring there first 4 years in the NHL.


Ronning Stats

The end for Mason Raymond?

David Booth may spell the end of Mason Raymond on the Canucks, and that's a good thing.

Mason Raymond = speed, a nice shot, slight, perimeter player, non hitter, good PK
David Booth = speed, nice shot, good size, will go to the net, will hit.

But what might not be known, is that Raymond has only had brief spurts with numbers anywhere near 2nd line production, and has a habit of declining as the season progresses and the checking gets tighter.

Raymond, now 26,  has had 3 full seasons with the Canucks. His quarterly Points-per-Game avg.

2008-09 - 1st) 0.50  2nd) 0.43  3rd) 0.07  4th) 0.18

2009-10 - 1st) 0.50  2nd) 0.90  3rd) 0.71  4th) 0.45

2010-11 - 1st) 0.60  2nd) 0.90  3rd) 0.48  4th) 0.42

as you can see, he fades every year, and in only 4 of 12 quarters does he produce at 0.60 avg (49 pts in a full season) which has to be at the very low end of a 2nd line scorer, especially on a high scoring team.

His playoffs aren't exactly sparkling either.....

with Booth, Higgins, Hansen and possibly Hodgson ahead of him on A.V.'s winger depth chart for the 2nd and 3rd lines, it might only be injury that gets Raymond back on the second line.
And does anyone think Raymond, with his penchant for staying out of the dirty areas, and not punishing anybody on the ice, combined with lackluster production, really an A.V. type of player?

Good luck with the back Raymond, you've got some work to do when you get healthy.

Mason Raymond Stats