Coneck Central Monday. It's Dan recho Satier Shaw here in the Kintec studio. Coneck Central is for enzyme-specific, Vancouver's premier Chrysler, Dodge Ram and Jeep Superstore on 2nd Avenue between Canby and Maine or at enzyme-specific-crisler.ca It's almost like a bi-week for the Canucks now. It's like a bi-month, almost. But this week, yeah, it's a very nicely spaced out week. I mean, the contest gets two days off back to back. It's been time with your families. No wonder they played so well on Saturday. Talk probably went to them before the game. You guys play well tonight. You get the dub two days off. You get two days off. You get to enjoy the beautiful downpour and the wind. I was like, what is it, the Wolverine meme lately? Just looking at my phone and the weather forecast. I see 17 and sunny on the weekend. That's just me. It's supposed to be lovely. I can't wait. Corressing the top corner of my phone, imagining the great sunshine as it's about to be upon us. And the cherry blossoms soon to bloom here in Vancouver. Man, there's so many jokes there. I'm sorry, but they were a family-friendly show right now. We definitely are. I had playoff hockey just around the corner, but as is Canucks tradition, can't be just a nice little stroll into the postseason. There's got to be some speed bumps along the way. Let's get to it. It's the open. Welcome to the open. Oh, that's your home. Are you too good for your home? Answer me! Yes, the open. The latest on the Vancouver Canucks and our take on it. And the news is on Thatcher-Demko. Now, we don't have official word of what is going to happen with Thatcher-Demko or how long he is going to be out, but there has been multiple reports suggesting it is a knee ailment of some kind for Demko. And the timeline is around a month for the Canucks-Vesna-caliber-Netminder. So, Casey-Dismith about to get a big run as the Canucks starter for the next little while. Yeah. I mean, it's obviously concerning. Anytime one of your top guys goes out, and also where you're talking about it's going to be a week-to-week situation, and we'll see ultimately how long it's going to take. My reaction number one is I'm not sure when he's going to return and we'll see. And we've seen a timeline shift positively and negatively before. Well, the Canucks have used week-to-week quite a bit this year, and week-to-week can mean as long as two months if you're Carson Soussey, it can mean just a couple of weeks if you're Dakota Joshua as it would appear. So, week-to-week could mean a lot of different things for Thatcher-Demko. We'll see. I imagine that's probably what we get from coach tomorrow when they officially speak at Canucks practice. They are playing the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday. It's, you know, I think in prior years, this would be the "Oh my God" type of moment, you know, the George Costanza throwing the kids out of the way as he tries to get out of the burning apartment type of situation. Just checking them aside. Michael Scott in the office, you know, no, no, please God, no, no, no. All of those things were felt on Saturday when Demko initially left the five-nothing win against the Winnipeg Jets, but Saddam, I want to see Demko get back into games before the end of the regular season, but I don't think this changes the trajectory for where the Canucks finish the season. Do I see them completely crumbling and missing out on top spot in the Pacific Division? Not really. I mean, they've played well enough defensively that they should be able to still put together a pretty good record in front of Casey Desmith, assuming he is the most common starter for the Vancouver Canucks. And I think positive spin on this. It could even be one of those situations where, all right, now you have to buckle up and tie it down even more defensively in front of your backup goalie, and that can, in turn, be a positive going into the playoffs where you have to be ultra-conscious of your defensive posture and not making those mistakes, because I'll be at even on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. There was the Kyle Connor breakaway, or sorry, the Mark Schifley breakaway early in the second period, the chance for Mason Appleton right before Fieldie Giuseppe scored the three-nothing goal. Like, Demko made some big saves even though he didn't have a ton of work early in that game. It's just now you might have to dial that up even more on the defensive side of the puck. Yeah, I agree with what you're saying, but also, it's not like they're not going to give up any chances. Like, in hockey, you are going to give up some chances. No, it's not one high danger chance against for the whole game. That's it. That's all you can do, right? No, that's it. You're allowed one great A game. That's it. So, the Canucks right now are what? I think the fifth best team in the league, or sixth best team in the league, in terms of high danger scoring chances against per 60. Yeah. So, they already allow some of the fewer high danger chances, few as high danger chances in the league. They don't give up a ton of rush chances. No. And even in front, they don't give up a ton, right? Yeah. So, I think they've done a good job in that regarding you're right. Right now, that forces you to hone in on those things a bit more, but mistakes are going to be made. And honestly, my biggest thing with this situation is all that stuff's positive, but unless they have Demko be able to be healthy and up to speed in the playoffs, your system can take you a long way. Can Casey the Smith be that good where he leads you around or two? Like, I don't know, you know what I mean? Like, I think it's one thing to rely on him down the rest of the season, and perhaps rely on him in a game or two in the postseason if you need be or if things happen. I feel comfortable doing that. Riding with him, that's what I'm concerned about. Now, none of us know when Demko is going to be back, what it's going to look like, where his game is going to be. But I do think, like, if they don't get Demko up to his top potential in the playoffs, it's a huge, huge damper on their chances to go deep in the postseason, right? Like, they need him to be up to speed. Now, I agree with how they've played. It alleviates any concern I have the rest of the regular season. Yeah. I'm not worried. Not having Demko, even if he doesn't play, only plays another game or two. My concern is, can you get Demko up to speed and to his peak performance by the time the postseason comes around? We don't know the answer to that. And that's my biggest concern right now. Get him in rhythm for the start of the postseason. Yeah. And that's ultimately what you need. You know, Demko is, I wouldn't say, not a wild card. That's the wrong term. But he's a bit of an X factor for the Canucks that maybe other Western conference teams don't really have. Maybe other Pacific division teams really don't have. I mean, look at, okay, yes, Aidan Hill's had a pretty good year, but it's tailed off quite a bit lately. It didn't look that great against the Canucks last week, if you, if you ask me. So he's tailed off. Connor Hellebuck has tailed off a little bit as well in these last few. He's given up three plus goals and five straight games after he went like basically the entire season before that without giving three plus goals in a game. So he, his game has fallen off. Sorrows hasn't been his Vesna caliber self this season either. So even when you look over at the central, it's like Jake Ottinger and Thatcher Demko are playing as the two best goalies in the conference at this moment. And certainly in the Pacific division, where you're probably going to be in the Pacific division side of the bracket. Well, you are going to be a Pacific division side of the bracket. Demko is your X factor. He is the thing that the other teams don't necessarily have. Yeah, you can say Vegas has Aidan Hill, but he hadn't played that well lately. Demko is by far and away the best goalie in the Pacific division. And that's an X factor that other teams don't have. And that might now be taken away from the Vancouver Canucks a little bit. He's a Vesna caliber goal right now. Right. And if he was able to play the season out and not get injured, he is most certainly a finalist for the for the Vesna. Now, I don't know who's going to win the Vesna. My guess is Connor Hellabook this year, just because I'm guessing what NHL GMs are going to do. Yeah. And that seems like a layup for NHL GMs, even if you don't agree with him being the best goalie. Again, like I'm not saying he should win it. I'm just saying I can see NHL general managers just salivating over Connor Hellabook and just being like, he's the best goalie in the league, right? So I can just see with how they think that that he ends up getting it. But this is a Vesna caliber goal tender. And if you don't have a player that's that big of a difference maker. And listen, we can't sit here and talk about Thatcher Demko being a core player, franchise caliber goalie and say, Hey, it's not that big of a deal if you don't have them. Like you can't have it both ways. And I'm just hopeful that it is a minor injury that he's back. One of the things I heard was that maybe he's back on the shorter end of things, like the thought is a month, but it may not be a month, but it's all hopeful right now. We're like, what, 24 48 hours removed from when the injury was suffered. And we don't know enough yet. And these things take some time to develop. As long as he gets back and plays three or four games, I think you can feel like, okay, maybe you get you can get the best version of him. But that's my only concern here, guys. That's it about about the rest of the season. Because the way they're playing defense, the way Carson Soussies played since coming back defensively, I think you should feel really good about the system that connects have in place and and the buy and they're playing with. And yes, listen, Winnipeg was a bit tired, play one of their worst games or whatever. But the Canucks now three games in a row have beat the Kings beat the Knights beat the Jets. And they did it with a lot of pressure. Four games, four game win streak, they've allowed three goals in the four games. Now the first one was against Anaheim, you can call that a layup call it whatever you want. But after that, it's the LA Kings, Demko was brilliant in that one, made some big saves certainly in the third period, the one on Tercotte, you remember well, the game against the Vegas gold the Knights, couple of big saves in there. But again, Canucks played really well defensively, didn't give them too many great days. And then on Saturday, I mean, yeah, couple of great days, but not a ton. And it is defensively that this team has really improved under Rick Talkett. I mean, as a team, it's night and day, how much better they are defensively. Some of that is the personal players, you know, the personnel that they have that have upgraded their ability to defend as a team. And I do want to talk about Carson Susie in a second. But my point is on the defensive side of the puck, and even during the slump, this is this is what what's interesting looking back at the slump for me. Their defensive game didn't completely break down. It was more uncharacteristic mistakes, giving up a few more of those rush chances, taking too many risks with the puck, their puck management went out the window a little bit. And that started to lead them to bleeding a few more rush chances and some uncharacteristic chances given up on the defensive end. But it wasn't like their in zone coverage completely lost itself. They've they've they've become comfortable in their foundation and comfortable in their I hate using overusing the word, but comfortable in their structure. In chaos, they still revert to taking care of their line marks, right? And by that, I mean, being in the spot you're supposed to be, and at the very least, protect the guts of the ice, right? That's what the coach mentions. And that's the slot, protect the middle. And if they protect the middle, they they're more than fine, even when they allow pressure from the outside. And if you look at the the Canucks numbers too, and the public data, like we've been mentioning isn't as indicative as people want it to be. But if you look at that in conjunction with the NHL edge data and start piecing things together a little bit and get a little bit of stuff from sports logic, it shows the stuff the Canucks are giving up is from the outside. So give up some volume, quality, they don't give up a ton. And there even their analytics look fantastic in terms of high, great chances in front of their net, what they do, what they do generate in the offensive zone. Again, they're not this overwhelmingly high volume scoring chance team, but they create a good amounts high danger scoring chances. And they all come from the middle of the ice generally speaking, right? And that's one of the reasons why they have been able to score. Now again, they've had puck luck going their way. But if you play to that way, you can win a lot of two hockey games, three one hockey games. And what are the types of games I've been winning lately? Two, one, three, one hockey games, right? So I think that style, I feel really good about but also because not only do they have the defenseman, their forwards right now are terrific. You have a lies Lindholm, his two way ability inserted into the lineup. Ilya Mikayev is coming to life, at least in terms of being a forechecker, his defensive presence. Yes, we all want him to score, but he is a net positive right now with how he plays. Yes, this is a very stout defensive hockey team. And it goes beyond just the defenseman. And that's always what needed to happen for this club. So yeah, they should be able to manage Demko's absence better now than they would have 14 months ago, better than they did at the beginning of last year with Bruce Boudreau as coach. Well, that's why if you have Demko healthy and you play this way defensively, you're not a cup favorite, but you have a chance. You have a chance when you go into the playoffs. And you having a chance in the postseason, to me is, yes, you want to get to the point and hopefully they can actually get there in the next couple of years where they are favorites. Yeah. They're knocking on that door every year. But this year, I mean, the regular season has been fantastic. But even with the other teams loading up, even if they're not top two or three in terms of overall talent in the league, if they play the way they play with the foundation they have, and a goaltender who gets hot in the playoffs, that's a, you know what, I'll take my chances with that. It's a tough team to beat is what it is. And that's what they've become this year. That's why they're number one in the West with 91 points and right there for the president's trophy. It's so I was looking at a couple of different things because I know I heard you guys after the game. I'm walking home from the game and I hear you and bick waxing poetic and even Brett Festerling waxing poetic about another Carson Susie viewing experience. He's so good to watch a lot. Ultimately, Quinn Hughes was the best player on the ice Saturday and in the first period, he was just went full supernova. He should win the Norris. Yeah. And it's like, I'm winning the Norris this year. That's that was the kind of first period Quinn Hughes had. But to see that the Canucks have now chronic as their number two. And when Carson Susie's been in the lineup, the record speaks for itself, three regulation losses and 22 games now, 23 games. But yes, it's it's unbelievably remarkable what he's been able to do. And when you watch him, it's like it tracks. It's not like a fluke that the record is that with Carson Susie on the team. No. And the confidence he has, I think, is really, really underrated. And you hear the coach mention it, but you also hear it when you're talking to him. Like he tries to be humble. Like we had him on during the intermission as well. And you know, we asked him about, hey, it's been seamless for you. You're playing the right side, having a lot of success and everything. And you know, he said, he's like, I'm not trying to sound, you know, cocky, but you know, I feel good about where my game is at. Like he's he's a very confident hockey player. Yeah. And he plays like it. You know, the coach mentions meat pressure with pressure, but also don't fold under pressure. Yeah, this is a guy who does not fold when there's a four checker right in his face. He's not afraid of taking a hit. He makes the subtle plays all over the ice. His stick defending, honestly, is a sight to behold, like off to rush. It's so good. It's honestly fantastic to watch. And just his spacing, like how well he plays off of his his D partner, how he's there for support as well. I mean, honestly, like he's such a fundamentally sound hockey player. Yeah, it's ridiculous. And he's he covers so much ground. Like he'll he'll bomb into space and join the attack. And then you'll notice he'll get back and and help defend at the same time. It's just it's remarkable how well he is able to do all of the things that he does and how well he's just like fit right back in as if he hasn't missed a beat, even though we're in, you know, the Canucks have played 66 games and he's only played 24. It looks like he's in mid season form coming straight off of injury. And I started going through free agent signings over the summer. And I know he's only played 24 games. So there's a big asterisk here. But I'm not sure there's too many better free agent signings that happened over the course of the summer than the Canucks signing Carson Sousie to a three year deal. Like it's a very reasonable contract. Of course, they beat out some other teams to get Carson Sousie and paid him 10 million bucks on a three year deal. He doesn't play a ton of minutes for them. So maybe there are other guys, Ryan O'Reilly, Matt DuShane that come to mind some of those that are on the bigger end of free agency. But as far as Carson Sousie goes, I'm not sure there was a better free agent defenseman signed in free agency this past summer. Like look at Detroit with Justin Hall. They want to get rid of him already. You know, Shane Goss despair has been okay, but whatever, you know, like a lot of these teams, Dimitri Orlov, I mean, he kind of just like fits in in Carolina, but he's not making a big difference from what they already had. No, but also like it's a system thing there too. It's not like there's this huge impact on, yeah, you're right. And they also have shifted guys out on their blue line over the years too. It's not the same blue line. So they add a guy, subtract a guy. I don't know if Carson Sousie has been the best free agent signing. The only reason I say I don't know if he is is because as good as he's been, he's been terrific. Yeah, the Canucks have an ask of him to play a more elevator role. He's playing 18 minutes a game, which is kind of like number four, five, five D men numbers kind of the Canucks kind of treat all of their defensemen that aren't Hughes and Ronik as a four five. Yes, but that also is because you have Hughes and Ronik. Yes. Again, my only thing is, I love what he's done. And I actually wish they would have given him an extra year, right, on his contract like four years instead of three. Like I love everything he's done. The only thing I want to see is if he's asked to play 21, 22 a night. Yeah, if he has to do that, what does that look like? Because that's a, you know, if you get into the playoffs and you need him to do that or something, yeah, there's a big jump to go from being like a, you know, six, seven defensemen who plays 12, 13 minutes a game to a guy who plays 16 minutes a game every night on the third pair. We've seen Noah Julesen make that jump this year. And then there's another jump from 16 to 18, 19 a night kind of being like another like higher end guy. And then it's another jump to be like a 20, 21, 22 minute a night guy, right? And maybe you don't need to ask that of him. And maybe you have enough depth that that it's fine. But that's my only hesitancy to say like he's the best free agent signing because as good as he's been, you're not asking of him the same, you're asking of a lot of other guys, like say, even Orlov, who's playing a bigger role for instance, right? But I do agree. He's been an incredible, incredible for agents addition. And you could make the case outs, you know, that since this offseason, he was the best edition that connects made. It's, you know, and there was a lot of good ones. Ian Cole has played a big role for this team, obviously, but blue girl's metrific. Susie is just absolutely one over a lot of people and is probably going to get a good shout for the unsung hero award, even though his praises are getting sung quite a bit lately. All right, got a lot of texts. We're going to read some of them as the show goes on Don Taylor is going to join us as well. But let's get to the Canucks central roundup, a couple of news bites from around the league. Interestingly enough, Demko Thatcher Demko named third star of the week by the NHL with a 0.81 goals against average and a nine six nine save percentage. As mentioned earlier, he's out approximately a month could be less with an Ian. Yeah, listen, and people are asking, where'd you guys get the month diagnosis? What do we've heard is supposed to be less than a month, right? And there's no official reports like they're two to four weeks a month. Like that's kind of what two to three weeks, three weeks, four weeks. It's kind of been thrown around again. Let's see what happens. I know Dolly wall mentioned stuff and a far hand mentioned stuff too. And I would take what they were saying seriously, of course, right? Again, we've seen stuff timelines get extended, be shortened. So we don't quite know. But yeah, you should probably brace yourself that he might be out anywhere from three to four weeks. So you have to you have to approach it that way, especially with where the Canucks are in the standings. Yeah, there's no rush to bring him back. So you have to also, you know, play it very wisely here on the longer end of the timeline a month would be essentially the final week of the regular season, right? Because the final game of the regular season is April 18th. We are currently at March 11th. Hopefully it's a little bit less than a month, but I tend to lean longer with injuries than shorter on the term. Nathan McKinnon named the first star. He'll be at Rogers Arena on Wednesday, our first viewing of Nathan McKinnon live this year at Rogers Arena leads NHL scoring with 111 points. Good thing though, abs play the flames tomorrow night. So they will be on the second half of a back-to-back when they visit Vancouver. Also mentioned this weekend that Gabriel Landescog will not return for them until at least May. So it's already been two years, plus that he hasn't played a hockey game. And now you'd be asking him to show up in the second round of the playoffs. It's it's been a tough go for Gabriel Landescog. Yeah, it's tough. And I just find it May 10. I just I love the the actual dates. Yes, like May 10 is a targeted return. Like what what about May 11? Could it not be May 8? Yes. What about May 12? That's kind of what I was saying about, you know, the the Vegas cold tonight with Mark Stone. It's like it's definitely not before the regular season finishes, but it's impossible to know when he's going to return. Yeah, but no, and it makes definitely not before the end of the regular season. But to me that makes sense because like on the short end, his injury is a three month injury. So on the short end at the very least, it's going to get you through the regular season. The question is, is he going to be ready in the first round? And I have concerns about Vegas too. Yeah, we'll have to get into that a little bit later on. John Torner Ellis suspended two games fine, $50,000 for having a classic Italian rant. It was great. Loved it loved every second out of it, but he's got two games and $50,000 fine. All right, that's going to be it for the round up coming up. Don Taylor is going to join us. Donnie and Dolly, his take on trade deadline, Thatcher Demko's injury and much more still to come here on Canucks Central.
