Lionbackers.com

Some interesting storylines at the outset:
How good will the Kraken be? It doesn't look like they are poised to be a runaway success out of the gate like VGK in their first season.

High profile starting goalies in new locations--there are several: Frederik Andersen in CAR, after TOR finally gave up on him. Too early to tell. Marc-Andre Fleury in CHI. He was reluctant to go there at first, and the early results appear to be a disaster in the making. Not all of the goals are his fault, but he shows very upset body language after each one. If this goes on, I can see him retiring.

The new VGK starter, Robin Lehner, is in a be careful what you wish for situation. He has gone public with his own emotional problems and how some NHL teams are contributing to the issue. The league is not amused. Meanwhile, his play has not been good enough to warrant the role of starter, and I can see VGK walking away from him. They typically don't have a lot of patience.

Carey Price on indefinite leave to sort out personal issues. The Habs look to be headed to an epic failure of a season. Jake Allen and Sam Montembeault are getting shelled so far. Even if Price comes back, they need to make changes to the rest of the roster.

The Canucks started the season under less than ideal conditions. Relying on Hamonic as a starting D and who knows when/if he can join the team. Pettersson/Hughes missing all of preseason with contract negotiations. Hughes may already be injured. Boeser hurt in preseason; he's back now but maybe he's not entirely ready to return from the injury. Long road trip to start the season, playing mostly lower tier teams. So far results have been mediocre.

I hope the Kraken are a little more down to Earth than the VGK. I thought that was a embarrassment for an expansion team to go all the way to the Stanley Cup in their second season. I understand wanting to get teams off to a winning tradition but there have been more than a few expansion teams over the years that didn't get anything close to the leg up that Vegas did and frankly had I been one of those less favoured organizations, I would be pissed that the NHL finally decided that they might be better off to help new franchises field more competitive teams. But of course way too late for some of them and others have taken years to evolve away from league door mats.

VGK went to the SCF in their first season, losing 4-1 to WAS. The NHL did not change the rules for the Kraken, it's mostly the same advantages that VGK had. The difference is that Ron Francis has not used them the way George McPhee did. Of course, it's likely that the other teams refused to be bullied this time into making side deals to "protect" their players, like they did with McPhee. By all accounts, Francis is taking a nice guy approach, not strong arming.

Whats going on with John Garret. Hes in covid protocol during this road trip. Wouldnt he have to be vaccinated? BB

Ballistic Bob wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:01 pm

Whats going on with John Garret. Hes in covid protocol during this road trip. Wouldnt he have to be vaccinated? BB

I haven't found anything about Garrett's vaccination status, but it is a fact that even fully vaccinated can get COVID (blame it on the Delta variant). The chances of severe illness are much less than unvaccinated. He would have to be vaccinated in order to travel now.

I heard a Jeff Paterson clip on Sekeres & Price where Nate Schmidt talks about 5 teammates in WPG who are in COVID protocol (after he went through the much more serious outbreak last April as a Canuck.) They are all fully vaccinated.

On hour 1 of Halford & Brough this morning John Shorthouse explains the trials and tribulations of the road trip, and what happened to Garrett. Great interview --shows how difficult it can be when travelling across borders with different approved vaccines.
Starts at 28:20
https://podcast.sportsnet.ca/halford-an ... unce-back/

Tried listening but joking and laughing about vaccines wasnt worth getting to the punchline weather JG had covid or not. BB

Ballistic Bob wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 22, 2021 1:04 pm

Tried listening but joking and laughing about vaccines wasnt worth getting to the punchline weather JG had covid or not. BB

https://omny.fm/shows/sekeres-price/oct ... ?t=171m57s
Garrett himself did an interview last night with Sekeres and Price. Just click the link and it will take you right to the start of the interview. (He will also probably explain it all if he is doing the broadcast tonight.)

Thnx So r we to assume he was double vaccinated because i didnt hear a difinitive yes or no on vaccinations. That was not asked. Thnx again BB

Ballistic Bob wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:29 pm

Thnx So r we to assume he was double vaccinated because i didnt hear a difinitive yes or no on vaccinations. That was not asked. Thnx again BB

Right, JG said that he was fully vaxxed in an offhand comment before they started asking him questions. He had mild symptoms--sore throat, but that was enough to cause him to have to isolate in Edmonton. He did not spend any time in a hospital.

In the Shorthouse interview, JS said the mix of vax types he received in BC were not adequate for entry into the US, so he had to hurriedly get a 2nd shot of Moderna in AB (and suffered from side effects of the shot for the first part of the road trip.)

In the second home Seattle Kraken game, there was a pre-game ceremony honouring their 1917 Seattle Metropolitans Stanley Cup win with a banner hung in the rafters of Climate Pledge Arena:



That said, should the Canucks follow suit and hang a banner for their 1915 Vancouver Millionaires Stanley Cup win?

Nah...better not as that will lead to much ridicule.

Unlike Seattle which has the honour of being the very first American-based hockey team to win the Stanley Cup and have a decent record of 1 win out of 2 final appearances notwithstanding the 1919 no contest, Vancouver has a terrible and pitiful record of 1 win out of 7 final appearances as after winning in their first appearance in 1915, it was followed by 6 straight final appearance losses and that's not something to brag about. Real pathetic.

Reports tonight that Canucks HC Travis Green, GM Jim Benning and several other Canucks managerial staff have been fired. Press conference expected tomorrow morning to announce replacements. Bruce Boudreau will be the new HC, with speculation as to the others. After his pathetic press conference last March, I'm surprised Benning lasted an additional 9 months. Maybe the jersey tossed on the ice last night in the 3rd period vs PIT was the last straw for Aquillini.
https://canucksarmy.com/2021/03/05/vanc ... ing-media/

EDIT--interim staff are expected to be appointed while the search for a new GM is ongoing.

Seems like every time I see a canuck in the paper or on line lately, they are in a 90s version of the uniform.

They are now on a 5 game win streak.

Always said the orca uniforms were holding them back.

Having said that, I see they wore the wrong uni tonight and lost, to Arizona no less

Hmmmmmm