subject: Canucks about to get busy [print this page] Canucks about to get busy Canucks about to get busy
The 82-game marathon that is the NHL schedule becomes something of a sprint for the next month or so for the Vancouver Canucks.
Between now and the all-star break in late January, the Canucks play 21 games in 40 nights.
Team captain Henrik Sedin can't wait.
"I like that," Sedin said Friday. "You get into a rhythm where you play, you practise, you play again. It feels like the NHL. The past couple of months it's almost like you are back in Sweden playing twice a week, where to buy Cheap NHL Jerseys? maybe ujersy is a good choice."
The first two months of the Canucks schedule has been a tad quirky. October ended with a stretch of 10 days where the team played only two games. The Canucks had a four-day break at the end of November. Now things get busy. Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs is the first of four in six nights for the Canucks
Back to work
Vancouver Canucks defenceman Christian Ehrhoff practised Friday for the first time since suffering a head injury in a Dec. 8 game against Anaheim.
Vigneault said Ehrhoff will be a "game-time decision" for Saturday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Ehrhoff was first thought to have suffered a concussion when a stray puck struck his left ear, but it was subsequently determined to be a vertigo problem.
"After a week of not skating it felt good to be back with the guys on the ice," Ehrhoff said. "I felt really good out there and my symptoms have all slowed down. Initially, we were treating concussion-like symptoms."
Swedes connecting
After a productive night working together in the Edmonton Oilers' 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Swedish wingers Linus Omark and Magnus Paajarvi are hoping they can continue playing together.
Playing on a line with centre Ryan O'Marra, the Swedes scored five points Omark had a goal and two assists, with Paajarvi chipping in with a goal and an assist.
Neither Omark, 23, nor Paajarvi, 19, were showing much bravado about their success, though.
"We play one game and I think . . . we'll go from there," Paajarvi said. "We had a good game (on Thursday). We played good and Omark played good and hopefully we can play together and play good hockey as well."
Oilers head coach Tom Renney was especially impressed with the second efforts that the duo mustered up all night. Paajarvi's resilience behind the net led to Dustin Penner scoring his 10th goal of the season.
"I guess you can teach that over time, I suppose, but it has to be in your DNA, too," Renney said of the Swedes' toughness. "That's what the second effort is all about."
Renney frets over break
The only thing worse than going into a four-day break on a loss, it seems, is the four-day break itself. Oilers coach Tom Renney said Friday that he was concerned about the time off between Thursday's Columbus game and Tuesday's game in San Jose against the Sharks.
"Four days is probably one day too long for me," the coach said. "Guys get together and have some fun and they should and we'll get back to work and have practice consecutive days prior to going to California.
"The big thing here is to keep your finger on the pulse of your team. You can do that with your intuition and experience and you can do that by talking to certain people."
Renney said he planned on talking to his players about strength and conditioning while they're not playing.
"We can't take our foot off of the gas. We're at a standstill and that's what kind of concerns me right now."
Glencross seething after sitting
On Thursday, Curtis Glencross found himself designated as a healthy scratch for the Calgary Flames. And judging by his ornery demeanour in practice Friday, the speedy winger is not happy.
"I just have to battle harder and compete harder," Glencross said, clearly seething. "Obviously, they feel I'm the least battler out there. I guess that's their opinion. I've just got to go out, work hard in practice and go from there."
Glencross is on track for a career high in goals with seven through 30 games, but he only has one point in his last nine appearances, if you want to buy Pittsburgh PenguinsJerseys, go to ujersy.
A frequent visitor to Brent Sutter's doghouse, Glencross is clearly boiling over this latest turn of events. He took out his frustrations, somewhat, Friday in practice by crunching defenceman Anton Babchuk into the boards and then getting his elbow a little high in the ensuing confrontation after said hit.
"No one likes sitting out and watching," Glencross said. "Especially in a game like last night when Toronto comes in. You have a good offensive game and feel you could be part of it.
"You take the two points and the win and move forward."
Revenue sharing will be revamped: Daly
The New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks are considered lower-profile teams even though they play in large markets. As such, they could benefit when the NHL strikes a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Friday told New York Times hockey blogger Chris Botta that the NHL's sharing-revenue system with likely be altered when the next CBA is struck.
Currently, teams in markets with at least 2.5 million television households don't qualify for revenue sharing.
"It's probably a technicality, although it's an intentional technicality of how the revenue sharing was originally constructed under the CBA," Daly told Botta. "The concept was that, if your team plays in a large media market, and certainly the Islanders reside and play in a large media market probably the largest in the world that you should not qualify for revenue sharing in part because of what your local media rights opportunities are."
Nervous nights
With the NHL's collective bargaining agreement expiring after the 2011-12 season, some people are fearing the potential fallout of a reworked CBA.
Uncertainty over what might happen perhaps a salary rollback similar to the one following the 2004-05 lockout, for example is creating nervous nights for some star players and their agents.
"I lose sleep over it, honestly," said agent Mark Gandler, whose clients include Washington Capitals star Alexander Semin. "This is, to me, much more serious than people realize. I see the way deals are being signed we don't even know what the landscape is going to be a year and a half from now. We have no clue, what's going to happen, we're both operating in the dark."
Fostering support
The season isn't at the midway point yet, but Edmonton Oilers defenceman Kurtis Foster is making an early case for the 2010-11 Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to the game.
Foster was a nominee for the award last season, but lost out to Jose Theodore of the Washington Capitals. Foster totalled 48 points in 71 games in his first full season after overcoming a severely broken leg suffered in March 2008 that threatened his career. This past off-season, Foster's infant daughter died suddenly.
Foster, who signed as a free agent with the Oilers in the off-season, has 11 points in 30 games this season, providing the young Oilers with a quality power-play quarterback.
Seguin sits, learns
It was the first reality check for Boston Bruins rookie forward Tyler Seguin.
Seguin, the second player selected in last June's NHL entry draft, was a healthy scratch on Wednesday when the Bruins played the Buffalo Sabres.
Bruins coach Claude Julien is happy with the way Seguin bounced from the time off; the youngster notched an assist in Thursday's 4-3 loss to ...
More information please views: Canucks about to get busy
