Salo Injury Watch: We may have #38

So, as everyone in Canuck nation feared when they saw Salo get in a collision with Jamie Benn during the Dallas game last night, Salo may be yet again injured. This would injury #38 if he misses the next game. But since to this weird scheduling of 1 game in 8 days, Salo still has a few more days of recovery time. If he's not ready to go by Friday for the game against Calgary, it is likely that Aaron Rome will dress, with Shane O'Brien getting more ice time again.

But this was expected non?

This and That: Stuff to keep you busy during the 4 day break

Classy Montreal fans

No Canucks game until Sunday. Who designed this schedule? There is a perfectly good Friday or Saturday night that just begs for a hockey game. Alas, there is none, but there is an open practice the Canucks are having on Saturday morning, to tide your hockey fix over. You can find tickets on Canucks.com

Your Canuck news:

• Hodgson has been told to stay off skates for a minimum of a month, maybe more as he deals with his back injury. He will be re-evaluted in Cleveland in 2 weeks and will undergo aggressive physiotherapy.
  
• Shirokov has been assigned to the Manitoba Moose. I think this will actually be good for him to keep his play going since the boys will only be playing 1 game in the next 8 days. Gillis said that "He's not being shipped out on his own," added Gillis. "We're aware and want him to understand that this is part of a process and he's in it and we're very confident about him. And I think he knows that, based on our conversations." I think he will get another shot with the Canucks eventually, so let's hope he gets his play back while in Winnipeg.
• According to Spike TV, Vancouver Canucks fans are 5th on his list of top 10 teams with the most annoying fans. Hate to break it to the writer, but has he not met a Leaf fan before?
• Superfan Michael Bublé is interviewed by the Vancouver Sun and when asked about playing at MSG: “Madison Square Garden . . . it was a really wonderful night . . . [but] I kept looking up and seeing that stupid Stanley Cup banner, and all I could think was, f--- you.” Fantastic. Love Michael Bublé. He has a new cd out too, called Crazy Love.

And for your viewing pleasure, it's Rypien vs. the slow giant, USS Hall Gill

Canuck questions on the Team Marketing Report Fan Cost Index

The new Team Marketing Report is out, which ranks, as the words of PD said "average cost for an obese, materialistic family of four to attend a game". The full pdf can be found here.





The prices for the Canadian teams have been adjusted to US dollars and the previous' years pricing to the current exchange rate.

Now if you can squint, no wait, look below, and look at the Pct. change in the Canucks average ticket for this year compared to last:










Are they are claiming that the ticket price for the Canucks have DROPPED 5.8% this year? Because I'm pretty sure they didn't. Back in March I wrote about how the Canucks are raising the ticket prices to 55% of the tickets, not dropping them. The only thing I can think that happened in their calculation is that in the adjusted of the price for last years tickets according to the value of the Canadian dollar last year vs. this years tickets, something was calculated incorrectly, or the value was compared incorrectly. Any thoughts?

In the end, while this report may be better for comparing the cost going to see US based teams against each other, I can't trust the dollar conversions for the Canadian teams.

Toronto fined for Wilson's comments, but cleared for tampering

Toronto got a slap on the wrist today. In a media release today, Bill Daly issued a statement that said that said that Ron Wilson's comments during the summer about the Leafs' interest in the Sedins prior to their contract being up, violated provisions of NHL by-law 15. The Leafs organization is being fined for his actions.

Though, the NHL has cleared Burke of statements that he made while on Leafs TV. Gillis pursued the NHL to look in to the matter for possible violation of the NHL's tampering rules.

An excerpt from the statement:

"That while unfortunate and inappropriate, the inclusion of a brief reference to the names of a pair of current Vancouver Canucks players in a television segment that aired once on Leafs TV last week did not constitute a tampering offense under League rules, and that no League action will be taken, or League sanction imposed on the Maple Leafs' organization as a result.

The Maple Leafs have been advised that the League likely would impose discipline for any future inappropriate conduct on their part that may cause, or may reasonably be perceived to cause, damage to the Canucks' franchise, or its relationship with its existing players and/or employees."

So the Leafs got away with a warning from the NHL about future conduct. If we know what Brian Burke is like, this issue will come up again. But since the Leafs have deep pockets, if all the team will endure is a fine, will this really stop Burke at a future press conference or media interview?

Bieksa is a Daddy!

Bieksa's wife Katie gave birth to a their second child, a baby girl named Reese today. He will play tonight if he's up for it, but since Cole is will be turning 2 at the end of the month, you can bet he's had no sleep. Hopefully he'll get the night off to enjoy the moment with the new addition to the family.

This & That: Salo missing from practice, Tanner Glass in for Shirokov

*Updated*
Canuck news from today:

• Clearly somebody gave Salo a high five or something because he missed practice today. No official word from the Canucks on whether he's injured, he was just absent from practice.

• After losing 3 straight games, Coach V is making a lineup change with Tanner Glass in for Shirokov on the 3rd line with Wellwood and Bernier. Mason Raymond, who was one of the best Canucks last game, is getting a promotion to the second line. I hope Shirokov takes the game off to regroup and then have a strong game if he gets another chance. Tanner Glass likes to bring energy to the line as well as liking to drop the fisticuffs to protect his teammates...kinda like another Rypien.

• Bob McKenzie didn't like the hit on Jared Boll by Hordichuk last game. Lame how he keeps writing pussy(cat) throughout this article, which just drops his credibility about the whole arguement. And does TSN think it's less offensive writing it like that? Or did McKenzie have to do that to get through TSN's filter?

Update:

• Hordichuck received a $2500 fine from the NHL for his hit on Jared Boll
  

• TSN is reporting that the Canucks are pursuing tampering charges with the NHL because of the comments that Burke made public about a proposed Canucks trade with Tampa Bay
  

And because in Vancouver, if you couldn't get Olympic tickets and think it's a cool idea to watch the game at Molson Canada Hockey House, tickets are only $500 per day! That's right! $500 per day. But why stop there? You might as well buy yourself a "season pass" for the Olympics for $8500!

And the organizers consider that a steal: "Based on the Superbowl, Formula 1 or the Ryder Cup, we're cheap,". Right.

If you buy tickets, someone should remind you, that you are just watching the game on TV at Hockey House. Those aren't even actual hockey tickets. Though it is catered by Wolfgang Puck (no pun intended) and includes "all-inclusive" drinks. Personally, I'm holding out for the Dutch and their Heineken House.

Apparently, this was a "must win"

VC: "Look! They're cheering for Raycroft!"

Tempocrew: "Yeah, that's because he actually made a save"

Luongo let in 3 goals on 3 shots. So I guess if you are paying $100+ dollars to watch Luongo not stop goals, you might as well start cheering for something positive, like Raycroft stopping a puck. Even with Raycroft's puck stopping skills, the Canucks lost 5-3 tonight to the Blue Jackets.



















Jim Jamieson called this game a "must win". It's game #3, and he's calling this a "must win", which was a bit of a stretch. Though I wouldn't want to turn on the Team 1040 right now to listen to the callers talk how the solution to 3 straight losses is to trade away Luongo, or fire Vigneault, or a combination of both them. Relax, it's only the 3rd game.

Something to celebrate? Sami Salo played his 600th game of his NHL career tonight and in 3 games, he hasn't injured himself (yet). It's taken him a bit longer than others, 10 years in fact for him to hit this point, which may have something to do with the 37 injuries he's had in his career. Just don't congratulate him with a high 5 or something, because you might break his wrist.

Next game: Weds Oct 7th, vs the Montreal midgets