Monday, February 23, 2009

Playing himself out of Vancouver?

Burrows - Canadiens

After the gigantically hyped (and rightly so) return of Mats Sundin to the center of the universe Saturday, few people remember the much less publicized (and rightly so) returns of Burrows, Bernier, and Luongo to Montreal. There's a story in The Province which focuses on Burrows' return to his home town. Quotes are taken from that article.
"I've marked that game since the schedule came out," Burrows said. "It's going to be special. I have a lot of friends and family who will be there for me. My friends, my family and people who I have known throughout my career will be there. It's going to be a lot of fun."
It's great that Burrows is finally getting the recognition he deserves. Newspapers are writing about him, tv stations are commenting about him (I swear Pierre McGuire has a man crush on him), and so on. My fear is that Burrows might be playing himself out of Vancouver. As Gary Vaulk said on Sportsnet a couple weeks ago, if Burrows continues his current play, the Canucks aren't going to be able afford him next season. Add on to the fact that the Sedins are likely to get their 200% pay raise, the likeliness of Burrows returning isn't all that high.

All this positive media Burr is getting is turning our secret weapon into a bonafied NHL star, which would be great if we still had him for a few more years on a $525,000 contract. If this guy has any brains in his head, he'll sign a multiyear contract worth around $3.5 to 4 million a season while he's still the talk of the NHL, and the Canucks just can't afford that.
"It feels pretty good," Burrows said. "It's going to be special. There's a lot of people who didn't think I would ever make it to the NHL and now I'm playing with two of the best players in the world on my line. And we're a good team. It all feels really, really good."
Soak it in Alex, it's probably not going to last.

Here's the pre-game report with Kristin Reid from the Bell Centre, focusing on Burrow's, Luongo's and Bernier's return to Montreal. Taken from canucks.com


Sunday, February 22, 2009

Canucks @ Leafs - Post-game

Here's the Canucks TV post-game report with Kristin Reid from the ACC. Taken from canucks.com.



Gotta love the post-game tunes...

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sundin sticks it to the Leafs

Boxscore

I expected a great game, but I don't think anyone expected this.



Most Canuck fans would be content with 2 points against a lowly Maple Leafs team, but Mats Sundin decided to put on a show against his former team, winning it in the shootout in front of 19,000 screaming fans.

Quotes taken from tsn.ca
"There's been a buildup for this game," Sundin said moments after giving the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 win. "All the battles and everything we've gone through over the last 13 years with the Leafs, so many ups and downs and disappointments and happiness. A lot of feelings came to mind on the ice."
"It was a perfect ending," said Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.
Sami Salo (4) and Alexandre Burrows (15) provided the regulation goals for the Canucks.




One more thing; I think it's safe to say Roberto Luongo is officially back. Lui had 37 saves on 39 shots, many of which came at the end of the third period and in the shootout. He did let in a weak one against Matt Stajan, but he rebounded nicely and shut the door the rest of the way.

Other notes:

Alexandre Burrows had his seventh point in four games with that beautiful game tying tip. The Sedins continued their hot streak with Hank getting 2 assists and Dan contributing 1 helper. Henrik is 7th in the league in assists with 45.

Here's the 3 stars:

1) Mats Sundin
2) Vesa Toskala
3) Matt Stajan