Stars' Stars Shine While Canucks' Don't; Dallas Wins 5-2

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As the Sedin twins continue to struggle, so does their team as the Vancouver Canucks lost in regulation for a second straight game on Tuesday night - their first back-to-back regulation losses since November - this time to the Dallas Stars by a score of 5-2.

Unlike Vancouver, Dallas' top players led the way as J-Lo's ex Marc Anthony's twin Mike Ribeiro had 2 goals and 1 assist while Loui Eriksson finished with 1+1 and Michael Ryder had 2 assists. Rookie goaltender Richard Bachman made 29 saves for the win. Victoria's Jamie Benn was buzzing all night for the Stars and finished with a goal on five shots. Stephane Robidas hit the empty net to seal the deal for the reeling Stars who now lead the Pacific Division by two points over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Chris Higgins and Alex Edler scored for the Canucks who continue to get very little output from Daniel and Henrik Sedin; both are mired in a slump (at least by their standards). Henrik has been held pointless in six straight games and 10 of his last 13.

Questions arose when the Canucks traded their skilled third line center, Cody Hodgson, to the Sabres at the trade deadline. What if the top six forwards struggle to score? Who will step in if someone in the top six gets hurt?

With both of Vancouver's top centers struggling right now (both Kesler and Henrik Sedin have only one goal each in their last 13 games), the team needs some consistent secondary scoring, and the only player who was doing that in the past was the aforementioned - and newly departed - Hodgson.

Sami Pahlsson, a defensive specialist who was brought in to replace Hodgson, is to offense as what I am to a full head of hair. And his defensive and faceoff skills haven't been overly spectacular thus far either.

Zack Kassian has proven that we should expect very little consistency from him after being the best skater on the ice Saturday night against Buffalo, where he finished with a goal, an assist, three shots and seven hits, he followed that up with a statline of zero's across the board - all after being promoted to the second line.

Roberto Luongo stopped 24 saves in the loss which dropped Vancouver to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the surprising St. Louis Blues.

The Canucks continue their homestand Thursday night as they host the Winnipeg Jets for the first time in 16 years.

Sabres Stuff Canucks 5-3; Kassian Outshines Hodgson

The Buffalo Sabres got off to an early 3-0 lead and were able to stave off a late Canucks attack to earn a 5-3 win Saturday night and put them within two points of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Overshadowing the Sabres' recent surge up the standings was the return of Cody Hodgson to Vancouver less than a week after being shipped off to Buffalo in a trade for Zack Kassian. Kassian, who finished with a goal, an assist, three shots and a game high seven hits in only 10:40 of icetime, was more noticeable than Hodgson in the game, and won the battle of the "tradees" on the night. He was also named the game's first star (although Ryan Miller easily should have been the first star).

Hodgson finished the night with three shots, was a plus one and finished with just under 17 minutes of icetime.

Ville Leino scored two goals in the first four minutes, and Brad Boyes scored only a minute and a half later to give Buffalo an early 3-0 lead and pull Roberto Luongo from the game.

David Booth responded for Vancouver late in the 2nd period to cut the deficit to two goals.

Early in the 3rd, former Canuck Christian Ehrhoff beat Corey Schneider from the point on a shot that deflected off of Aaron Rome's skate to once again give the Sabres a three goal lead. Shortly after, Booth potted his 2nd goal of the game to get Vancouver back within striking difference. Then with under three minutes remaining in the game, Kassian scored his first goal as a Canuck to make the score 4-3. Tyler Ennis scored an empty-netter with just over a minute left to seal the win for Buffalo who have now won three games in a row.

Vancouver outshot Buffalo 35-25 in the game, but shot themselves in the foot early by giving up the 3-0 lead to the Sabres. Daniel and Henrik Sedin were left off the scoresheet. Henrik has now been pointless in 9 of his last 12 games.

Vancouver resumes their season-high seven game homestand Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.

Canucks Stifle Blues; Remain Atop NHL Standings

The Vancouver Canucks shutout the St. Louis Blues 2-0 Thursday night to earn their 90th point of the season and move three points ahead of St. Louis and Detroit for the Western Conference lead.

Alex Burrows scored his 23rd goal of the season early in the third period and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves to record his third shutout of the year.

Chris Higgins scored an empty-netter with 38 seconds left to seal the victory for the home team.

Vancouver's fourth line of Manny Malhotra, Maxime Lapierre and the newly acquired Zack Kassian were easily the Canucks most affective unit of the night. They generated a few scoring chances and Lapierre and Kassian were hitting everything in sight. Lapierre finished with an unbelievable 10 hits while Kassian finished with four hits and four shots. Kassian showed Vancouver fans what he brings to the table and likely made some people forget about the guy he was traded for - Cody Hodgson.

Speaking of Hodgson, ironically enough Vancouver's next game is Saturday against Hodgson's new team, the Buffalo Sabres. You can see that game at 7:00 pacific time on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada.

Canuck fans should expect low scoring games from here on out as the trade deadline deals have made them a less offensive team. With that said, they have only allowed one goal against in two games since Monday, so if they can continue to allow very few goals, no-one will care if they aren't scoring in abundance.

Marc-Andre Gragnani played in his Canuck's debut and finished with 15:38 of ice time. He had a couple of turnovers but made a few good passes while finishing even on the night.

Trade Deadline Aftermath; How Did The Canucks Fare?

New Faces:

Zack Kassian - A big, bruising, young power forward, Kassian adds an element that the Canucks have been seeking for awhile now. He will hit, fight and grind it up and he has enough offensive skill that he could slot into the top 6. Is he ready for that kind of a role yet? Nobody is really sure. Questions always arose if Vancouver would be tough enough to endure another deep playoff run but it looks like those questions may have been answered. They may have lost some offense but they certainly improved their size and toughness.

Marc-Andre Gragnani - A small-statured defenseman who isn't afraid to use his body, Gragnani led a woeful Buffalo team in plus/minus with a respectable +10 this season. He also has some offensive abilities. He led all AHL defenseman in scoring last season and has put up decent offensive numbers in his brief NHL career. At the end of the day, he is an upgrade as a 6th defenseman over Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts so the Canucks improved their defensive depth.

Sami Pahlsson - An integral part of Anaheim's 2007 Stanley Cup Championship, Pahlsson is widely known for his defensive abilities. He is considered a shutdown centerman who can play against the opposing team's top line and is also very good in the faceoff dots. He has been buried in obscurity in Columbus the past few seasons and seemed to become stagnant playing in a non-hockey market. He has the ability to be a key component for a deep playoff run, but he won't contribute much offensively. He is also good friends with the Sedins so he will fit right in in the locker room.

Andrew Gordon - Nothing more than a depth move, the small winger will only see time with the Canucks if there are a number of injuries. He is a two-way forward who won't offer much as far as an impact with Vancouver.

The Departed:

Cody Hodgson - Canuck fans everywhere are sad to see him go. Hodgson was enjoying a great rookie season with 33 points, ranking him 5th in rookie scoring. He was an intrical part of Vancouver's offense because he was scoring from the 3rd line. The Canucks definitely lost some offense but he was considered expendable because of Vancouver's depth at center. Hodgson was likely the best player in the deal and Buffalo should be very excited about acquiring one of the best young players in the NHL.

Alexander Sulzer - Sulzer was nothing more than a depth defenseman for the Canucks, so his loss won't be a big deal. He will likely be the 7th defenseman for Buffalo and was likely thrown into the deal to even up roster spots for both teams.

Taylor Ellington - A throw-in in the Pahlsson deal, Ellington is considered a bust as a 2nd round pick in 2007 by the Canucks. He was unable to earn a spot with Vancouver's AHL team in Chicago this year and has been playing in the East Coast Hockey League. Ellington was under contract and team's can only have 50 players under contract at a time, so the Canucks needed to shed a spot in order to obtain Pahlsson. He will likely never play an NHL game.

Two 4th round picks - 4th round picks often never make the NHL, but sometimes a team will find a diamond in the rough. We won't know about the impact of these picks until probably about 3 years after the draft has taken place.

Overall Analysis - Time will tell if this deadline was a good one or a bad one for the Canucks. If they go far in the playoffs again this year and Kassian proves to be a valuable piece of the puzzle, then it would have to be considered a success. I think the winner of these deals will be determined a few years down the road when we find out what type of players Hodgson and Kassian become and what impact those 4th round picks make on the league. As it stands, Vancouver is as deep as any team in the league and stands poised to make another run at the Stanley Cup. It changes our style and dimensions but at the end of the day I think the Canucks may have slightly improved their team for this year. In five years, maybe not.

Canucks trade Cody Hodgson to Buffalo For Zack Kassian

The Vancouver Canucks have traded away their rookie of the year candidate Cody Hodgson, along with defenseman Alexander Sulzer to the Buffalo Sabres for young power forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani.

A shocking deal as Hodgson was coming into his own and was considered a key component of Vancouver's offense.

Kassian, a 1st round pick in 2009, is a huge, mean power forward with offensive skills. He will stick up for his teammates, hit everything in sight and chip in offensively.

The Canucks have said they wanted to get bigger and stronger all season, and with this deal they have certainly done so.

Hodgson was considered expendable by Vancouver because he is a centerman, and was stuck behind Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler on the depth chart meaning he would never crack the Canucks' top 6 forwards.

In Gragnani, Vancouver gets a solid defenseman who can chip in with some points here and there. He was a +10 on a poor Buffalo team and was actually their leader in plus/minus. He is an afterthought in this deal but is a definite upgrade on Aaron Rome and Andrew Alberts and will provide the Canucks with some valuable minutes.

My personal opinion: I was absolutely flabbergasted when I first heard of the deal. I love Cody Hodgson and think he is a great player and will only get better. I think he will be a top 20 scorer in the league in a few years.

Zack Kassian is a monster though and will become a fan favourite very soon. He is a big body who will punish other teams and he can score too.

There were always rumours of a rift between Hodgson and Alain Vigneault and maybe even team management. I'm beginning to think there is more to those stories than I know.

More to come in a bit as I digest the deals....

Sidenote: Vancouver also acquired Andrew Gordon from the Anaheim Ducks. He's a minor leaguer as of now who can provide some depth in case of injury. He had 5 points in 37 games for the Ducks this season.

Canucks acquire Sami Pahlsson from the Blue Jackets

You can't have enough depth heading into the playoffs. Especially at center.

That is obviously Mike Gillis' thoughts as the Canucks General Manager has acquired center Sami Pahlsson from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for two 4th round draft picks in this Summer's Entry Draft (we had the Islanders 4th round pick too).

Pahlsson won a cup in 2007 with Anaheim, so he knows what it takes to win in the playoffs. He is a defensive-minded center who is good on the faceoffs. He has virtually zero offensive ability - he has only 2 goals and 9 assists in 61 games this season - and will certainly be used in a defensive role.

The 34 year old Swede has a cap hit of 2.65 million and is an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of this season, so you'd have to imagine that he's a rental and won't be resigned in the offseason. With that said, if he proves to be a valuable player, Gillis may opt to resign him just as they did with Max Lapierre and Chris Higgins whom were signed last summer after being acquired at last year's trade deadline.

Vancouver now has six natural centers on their roster with Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Cody Hodgson, Manny Malhotra, Maxime Lapierre and Sami Pahlsson.

Malhotra has been playing on the wing already, and now one would assume that one of the aforementioned centers will have to move to the wing too. Obviously Henrik and Kesler will stay as the #1 and #2 guys, so who will move to the wing?

Maybe Hodgson will play wing on the 2nd line with Booth and Kesler?

More to come later.

Failed icing call leads to Canucks shootout loss

With a 2-1 lead and just over a minute left in the game, Jannik Hansen made a great play by sending the puck all the way down the ice with perfect velocity; just enough so that there wouldn't be an icing call.

Not so fast.

Dallas defenseman Stephane Robidas decided to take an indirect route to the puck, and it apparently fooled the linesmen as Robidas' slow loop resulted in the puck crossing the goal line before he touched it. Usually an obvious attempt at creating an icing call would be waved off.

Not this afternoon.

Off the ensuing faceoff in the Canucks zone (which should have never been), Mike Ribeiro tipped an Alex Goligoski point shot passed Roberto Luongo to tie the game with 56 seconds left, and ultimately sending the game to overtime.

In OT, Loui Eriksson converted on a cross-crease pass from Trevor Daley to give the Stars a 3-2 win, and extend their winning streak to four games.

In fairness to the linesmen, they get about 99 percent of the calls right, but it's funny how those blown calls nearly always result in a game-changing play.

Vancouver earned a single point and now hold a two point lead over Detroit in the Conference Standings.

The Canucks, playing their sixth game in nine nights - including their fifth in a row on the road - understandably looked sluggish for most of the afternoon, but were able to stay in the game with great goaltending and a solid overall defensive game.

Vancouver won 2-1 in New Jersey on Friday night, then endured a long flight to Dallas for the afternoon affair today.

The Canucks finish off their six game roadtrip Tuesday night in Phoenix against the red hot Coyotes.

Other News: Keep in mind that the trade deadline is tomorrow (Monday) at noon and Vancouver is expected to make some deals.

GM Mike Gillis announced on Saturday that they have put defenseman Keith Ballard on Long Term Injury Reserve which means his contract comes off the books. This frees up over four million dollars in salary cap room for the Canucks which will allow them to make some additions by the deadline.

Stay informed of all of Vancouver's moves and my analysis of the additions tomorrow here at Canuck City!

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