The Vancouver Canucks, after some salary cap dancing, made it under the cap and finally have their lineup set. Well, at least to start the season.

Much was made over the summer about how the Canucks would get under the salary cap after signing a handful of players that pushed them beyond the $59.4 million limit. There was talk of trading Kevin Bieksa, especially after Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard were brought in. However, an injury to Sami Salo over the summer enabled (or forced depending on you viewpoint) the Canucks to retain Bieksa. It’s possible that when/if Salo returns they could move Bieksa to a team desperate for a defensemen and get more than they could at the start of the season. Of course, that could also work against the Canucks depending on how he plays. If he plays great and returns to the form he had in 2007 and Salo isn’t able to make it back (or is kept on LTIR for the remainder of the season) the Canucks can also keep him. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

For NHL opening day, the team made a couple of moves to get under the cap. Alexandre Burrows and Salo were placed on LTIR. Cody Hodgson, Eddie Lack, Lee Sweatt, and Ryan Parent (who they acquired in a deal that sent Shane O’Brien to Nashville) remained, while Steve Tambellini, Alexandre Bolduc, and Cory Schneider were sent to Manitoba. They also signed Peter Schaefer to a 1-year, 2-way deal and traded Darcy Hordichuk to Florida for Andrew Peters, who was then assigned to Manitoba.  This allowed the team to clear some $3 million in cap space and have some cushion to start the season. How this all really works is still a mystery to most of us, but as far as the NHL is concerned it’s playing by the rules.

In the days that have followed, Hodgson, Lack, and Sweatt have been assigned to Manitoba (Parent remains with the team so they can evaluate him). Tambellini, Bolduc, and Schneider have been recalled by the team to complete the “real” opening night lineup and it looks something like this:

Forwards
Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Mikael Samuelsson, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond, Raffi Torres,
Manny Malhotra, Bolduc, Burrows (inj), Guillaume Desbiens, Tanner Glass, Jannik Hansen, Rick Rypien (inj), Schaefer, Tambellini

Defense
Andrew Alberts, Ballard, Bieksa, Alexander Edler, Christian Erhoff, Hamhuis, Aaron Rome, Salo (inj)

Goal
Roberto Luongo, Schneider

It will be an interesting season for the Canucks, especially as the new players get comfortable with the system and the shuffling of bottom six forwards in and out of the line-up. Considering their cap situation expect the shuttle between Vancouver and Manitoba to be active, especially as Burrows and Salo return to the lineup.

I-5 Canucks – Will & Valerie Wittstruck
NHLHS Vancouver Canucks Correspondents
I-5Canucks@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @Hipcheck44 and @WCE71944

I am certain that an opinion piece of this nature will upset each team’s fans but these head shots have got to stop.  Of course, we are all hockey fans and love the big hit, some live for it but there needs to be a line drawn with the increasing speed to the game.  These hits need to stop or else hockey becomes a survival of the fittest in which young players stand little chance of establishing a career due to playing scared due to footage from the last gruesome head shot.

While the League’s general managers mull over a rule change, I would like to propose a rule change of my own.  Repeat dirty hits will lead to a permanent suspension from the League.  The OHL instilled a similar rule when they banned Michael Liambas, a notoriously dirty player, from playing in their League following a career ending hit against Ben Fanelli.  This instance marked just another time Liambas made a questionable hit, you cam see another one on first overall pick John Tavares here.  The NHL made a similar move with former NHL pugilist Ryan Hollweg, essentially calling any hit remotely borderline until he played his way out of the league.

The moral of my rant will be that these types of players simply do not deserve a paycheck in the National Hockey League.  A League where the rest of the world comes to play and play for the sport’s greatest trophies.  What kind of message does it send when careers start to end due to these injuries? Do we need Sidney Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin seriously injured before we start to see lifetime bans?

My nominees for a lifetime ban…

Patrick Kaleta - Kaleta first comes to mind after a brutal blindside hit to Paul Mara.  The hit came well after the blue liner moved the puck up ice however the right winger committed to a late hit in which he left his feet and subsequently broke Mara’s orbital bone.  This blatant hitting however did not stop with Mara as in the beginning of the year he left his feet to make shoulder-to-head contact with Phoenix Coyote Petr Prucha in October.  Due to a non-call or perhaps just the player’s tendency to skim the line, he delivered another brutal board to Jared Ross of the Flyers.

The 23-year-old recently received a head shot of his own, delivered by the equally dirty Jarkko Ruutu.  The entire city of Buffalo seemed to uproar at the notion of a dirty player allowed to take out one of their own, but in all honesty this instance was a case of a player receiving his just deserts.

One would think getting his proverbial bell rung would stifle his headhunting ways, but it seems like the lesson fell on deaf ears.  Last week, Kaleta comes out of the penalty box to immediately deliver a blind-side head shot to veteran Paul Kariya, a true travesty.  How can the NHL truly allow a player of this caliber to take out a great like Kariya.  The Blues list the veteran as day-to-day with concussion-related symptoms but one has to wonder if this would be the end of a great career due to some punk’s antics.

Jarkko Ruutu – Don’t you worry Sabres fans, Ruutu makes the list as well.  Just four short years ago the Finnish forward drilled Jaromir Jagr with a brutal looking hit during the Olympics.  The hit went unpunished by NHL officials as it took place off of their ice, but he should have been kept on a short leash.

Instead, the 34-year-old continued to play in the League with no punishment.  The veteran not only laid that dirty hit on an unsuspecting Kaleta, but also bit Andrew Peters last year.  I repeat, he bit a guy!  While the Helsinki native continues to antagonize opponents in hopes of instigating a fight or a penalty, he should be sitting at home watching the Senators game.  A player of this caliber with this track record shows no remorse for his actions and his play should not be welcomed in the best League in the world.

Brent Sutter – Sutter has given a lot to this great game of hockey, but his time has come and gone.  The style of play which he deploys dates back to the late seventies with an eye-for-an-eye style where specific players get taken out others in order to benefit your team.  This new NHL where the speed increased dramatically holds little value for head hunting and generally dirty play.

Even if we cannot prove that some of these hits are Sutter’s doing, I find the coincidences baffling.  Sending his own son, Brandon Sutter, to take out Russian star Alexei Cherepanov comes to mind, a blatant charge in which the younger Sutter clearly left his fee in order to commit a head shot not to mention skated the length of the ice to make the hit.  Notice another less than typical hit came from the shoulder of Sutter mercenary Curtis Glencross, where the winger delivered a blind-side head shot to Rangers captain Chris Drury, giving him another concussion.  The puck never even touched Drury’s stick yet Glencross has been trained to hit without attempting to retrieve the puck.

Perhaps the most daunting an thank god not most damaging hit came recently at the hands of Dion Phaneuf.  Similarly, the Flames defenseman took the body instead of looking for the puck when he drilled star center Anze Kopitar into the boards following a rush for the puck. A hit of this caliber warranted a game misconduct but no suspension from the league.  What would happen if this incident crippled Kopitar?

Here is a quote from Anze Kopitar, courtesy of LA Kings Insider with Rich Hammond:

“We’re going down for the puck. I’m reaching around, trying to get the puck. He doesn’t even think about the puck. You be the judge if that’s a dirty hit.”

Think of the last time that was said about a hit.  It involved Liambas, who similarly went straight for the hit instead of even attempting to play the pucks.  At this rate repeat offenders need permanent suspensions.  Harsh but true.  Mike Richards, Clarke MacArthur, Chris Pronger be warned, these attempts to injure should not stand.

Now I will take off my commisioner suit and enjoy the rest of this weekend’s hockey.  As always I hope you enjoyed our latest feature. You can help NHLHS stay alive by visiting our sponsors to the right or clicking on our donate tab at the top.

Follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates

-Alexander Monaghan
NHLHS Founder
thehotstove@gmail.com

I previously skipped over the Sabres, so here they are.

Based on Matthew Pouliot’s series on Circling the Bases, I have decided restore the rosters for every NHL team. Like Pouliot, I have established some ground rules for my selections.

1. Each team contains players they originally drafted or signed before any other NHL team. This includes players drafted and not signed, as well as European free agents coming over at an older age.
2. I have chosen to leave retired players off the list, and lean toward players in the AHL rather than those deported (KHL, SEL, DEL, etc.).

Essentially I am choosing the best available players for a team to succeed in the current NHL season. All 30 teams will be covered, with grades assigned to forwards, defense and goaltending. After all 30 articles are written, they will be ranked in order. This series’ intent is to reward or shame NHL scouts.

The Sabres rely heavily on their drafting and development of young players in order to keep their payroll down. Due to their restrictions monetarily, the team has succeeded in producing a vast amount of NHL regulars as well as some well regarded players.  Overall, there really is no weaknesses to their lineup from the net on out.  A mostly young core, this team greatly resembles the team currently constructed but with more depth and much improved blueline.

The lineup for the Buffalo Sabres is as follows.

Forwards:

The forward core consists of a good mix of young players.  As these players continue to develop, the team will only get better and better much like the current roster.

Thomas Vanek – Derek Roy – Jason Pominville

Clarke MacArthur – Tyler Ennis / Nathan Gerbe / Tim Kennedy – Drew Stafford

Daniel Paille – Paul Gaustad – Maxim Afinogenov

Ales Kotalik – Wayne Primeau – Patrick Kaleta

Extra(s): Brad May, Andrew Peters, Mike Zigomanis, Mark Mancari

The only glaring hole is the second line center.  I chose to let three highly touted prospects fight it out for a spot.  Those three smallish centers are a large part of the future in Buffalo therefore we can see why some other players like Afinogenov and Paille are no longer with the organization.  Although their forward core may appear to be impressive, and by all means it is, in no way does it compare to the plethora of NHL defensemen the team drafted and developed.

Grade: B+

Defense:

The Sabres probably have the best defensive core in the league.  Although they drafted so many good defensemen, it is mainly the bottom of the depth chart that are still with the team.

Brian Campbell – Dennis Widemann

Tyler Myers – Keith Ballard

Cory Sarich – Henrik Tallinder

Extra(s): Nathan Paetsch, Jay McKee, Chris Butler, Andrej Sekera, Jan Hejda

Every defenseman listed is a capable NHL defender. One would be hard pressed to find a better top four around the league.  It is just unfortunate that three out of the top four are out of the organization.  Sadly Wideman elected free agency before playing a single game for the team while Ballard yielded Steve Reinprecht ironically a solid 2nd line center.  Traded for Steve Bernier and a first round pick (Ennis), Campbell moved to San Jose to play with his close friend Joe Thornton.  An honestly decent trade, one which helped the Sabres even more in the long run.

Grade: A+

Goaltenders:

The Sabres produced perhaps the best goaltender in all of hockey.  In fact, the situation with this team closely resembles the same roster as the team’s post-lockout team.

Ryan Miller

Martin Biron

Extra: Jonas Enroth

As of this writing, Miller leads all goalies with a 1.83 GAA, .939 SV% and four shutouts through 26 games.  He clearly is the best tender to represent team USA in the Olympics and a strong contender for the Vezina.  Biron is still the same goalie who led the Flyers to the ECF two years ago.  He can string together an impressive string of wins regardless of his playing situation as shown in the past.

Grade: A

Hope you enjoyed this version of Restoring the Rosters.  You can help NHLHS stay alive by visiting our sponsors to the left.

Follow me on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates

-Alexander Monaghan
NHLHS Founder
thehotstove@gmail.com