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Snapshots: Canucks fans are already trash-talking the Minnesota Wild

Rob Williams
Rob Williams
|
May 28 2020, 11:50 pm
Snapshots: Canucks fans are already trash-talking the Minnesota Wild

You’re boring, you suck, and worst of all, you’re irrelevant.

That about sums up what some local hockey fans want the Minnesota Wild to know about themselves as Canucks Nation gears up for their first playoff series (sort of) in five years.

We haven’t seen an NHL game in over two months, so I welcome passion from fans in any form right now. And I welcome something to look forward to on the ice.

Let’s go:

Minny memories

With the Minnesota matchup now set, many fans are looking back on the only playoff series the Canucks had against them in 2003.

Those are painful memories, none more than this one regarding Todd Bertuzzi:

Prior to Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals, Bertuzzi and some Vancouver Canuck teammates walked through the Xcel Energy Center lobby where hopeful Wild fans were in line to purchase tickets for Game Six. Rather than be on his merry way, Bertuzzi yelled at the fans for wasting their time because there wasn’t going to be a Game Six.

But the last word came from a kid who couldn’t have been more than 10 years old. During Game One of the Western Conference Finals against the Ducks, the youngster was shown on the Jumbotron holding a sign that read, “HEY BERTUZZI, HAVE A NICE DAY.”

Hey, if it was a five-game series back then, the Canucks would have clinched it after Game 4 and Bertuzzi would have strutted his way to the Western Conference Final.

Get hyped

Playoff hype videos, remember those?

Jake driving to practice in full gear

This would have been a hilarious video if not for the fact that Jake Virtanen was clearly driving while on his phone. A lot of fans noticed, and many were not impressed.

It’s the internet, so of course the outrage was a bit over the top, but he still should have shown better judgement. Next time take the video before starting the car.

Regular season observations

With the regular season now officially over, some final thoughts:

  • Just six players played all 69 games, and Chris Tanev was one of them.
  • The others? JT Miller, Bo Horvat, Tanner Pearson, Jake Virtanen, and Troy Stecher.
  • Miller led the team in scoring with 72 points, well above his previous career high (58).
  • Pettersson’s stat-line (68 GP, 27 G, 39 A, 66 PTS) was nearly identical to his rookie season (71 GP, 28 G, 38 A, 66 PTS).
  • Quinn Hughes wins the NHL’s rookie scoring race with 53 points. That’s tied for fourth-most among all NHL defencemen.

Hub city decision

We should get an answer about Vancouver’s candidacy as an NHL hub city within the next three to four weeks.

Canada’s 14-day quarantine rule appears to be a problem for the league, so much so that NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said the NHL wouldn’t choose a Canadian city unless an alternative arrangement can be made.

While Dr. Bonnie Henry has said she won’t “bend the rules” in a way that endangers the public, perhaps there’s a way to bend the rules in a safe way?

Alberta has been open about such an idea, and it appears Dr. Henry is too.

“We certainly have been talking about how it could be done safely in British Columbia as well,” said Dr. Henry. “The bottom line is I have not seen any proposal, certainly not any written proposal from the NHL about how this could propose to be worked. So it’s hard to respond to what we think they might be thinking.

“But I do see how we could potentially have small numbers of people cohort together and in self isolation, for example in a hotel and management monitoring regularly. And I know if anybody could do that, then the NHL is probably set up to do it. So I can see how we could have something like that work in British Columbia as well.”

Burrows runs a Sami Salo play

Great tidbit from Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts column today on Alex Burrows. The former Canucks winger is now an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval.

He apparently runs a play on the power play called “The Salo.”

I don’t know what the play is, but I bet you it’s this:

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