Tanner Glass Won the Trade Deadline

Every year, the pundits analyze the winners and losers of the NHL trade deadline, reflecting on the moves made and pointing to organizations that got stronger or weaker, as a result. This convention is valuable, to an extent, but it ignores the smaller effects these trades have on individual dressing rooms. Here in Vancouver, for example, we had a brief look at the impact Maxim Lapierre won't have as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, but the impact he will have remains to be examined. Even within the locker room, these small moves have created winners and losers.

But who, exactly, are they? We ask you (rhetorically, as we already have an answer ready), who's the winner?

Tanner Glass.

Glass deserves a win too (especially after his recent public defeat at the hands of a blogger who will remain nameless... and sexy). All year long, Glass has been the only regular on the 4th line, a line that's shuffled young, inexperienced players in and out, with a focus on development. Its been good for the prospects, but the lack of consistent linemates has foisted leadership and defensive responsibilities onto Glass that, while welcome, have mitigated his individual game and his icetime.

Sure, he continues to get penalty kill time, but when your coach doesn't really trust your linemates in tight game situations, you're not jumping the boards too often at even-strength unless it's a blowout. Glass recently admitted playing with the inexperienced Cody Hodgson could be nerve-wracking, and you have to think that, if he felt this way, coach Vigneault felt similarly. As a result, the 4th line saw sheltered and sparing minutes during Hodgson's brief stint with the big club.

Things changed at the deadline, however, when Gillis went out and, effectively, bought Glass a complete line. The acquisitions of Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre give Glass two NHL-calibre players to play with. They push the Canucks to 12 deep at the forward spot, and allow them the option to roll four lines. That should mean more minutes for Glass and less time covering for inexperienced linemates.

The evidence is already showing. In Lapierre's second game with the Canucks, Glass skated for over ten minutes, nearly double what he got during Cody Hodgson's three-game pre-deadline stint.

Glass would never say it, but I suspect he's pumped.

Plus, if Lapierre's as big a douche as some say he is, Glass is going to have to fight for him. Said Glass, "Hopefully, he chirps a bunch and I can get in more fights." More fights with humans? This can only be a plus. I have to imagine recreational bare-knuckle bear boxing is probably not a Canuck-approved activity.

Raffi Torres, Human Bowling Ball: Photoshop Gallery 3

As you may know, PITB is making the California road trip this year, but we'd hate to leave you with nothing new to peruse in our absence. With that in mind, we'd like to welcome to round three of the Raffi Torres bowling ball photoshop gallery.

If you're new to this series, I recommend starting at the beginning. If you're not new, then I'm sure you'd rather not have to listen to me rambling on about this and that when you could be mad gawking the radness of these awesome 'shops. So let's get down to business. After the jump, the many uses of BallTor will astound you:

I Watched This Game: Canucks vs Predators, March 3, 2011

Canucks 3 - 0 Predators

The Canucks didn't score, so I used this video from a year ago.

With Daniel and Harrison out on a road trip in Oregon, enjoying the thrill of having your gas pumped by someone else, it fell to me to cover this game. Like anyone swapping footwear with Sideshow Bob, I've got some big shoes to fill. So far, the Canucks have 0 points in games that I cover. I am the worst of the lucky charms. That's right -- I'm the red balloon. Just like the last game, this game was a throwback to a previous era of the Canucks. Actually, since February began, it's felt like we've been watching a different hockey team. These are the Canucks of 07-08. Think about it: injuries so bad on the blueline that they have to go further down the depth chart than they should ever have to. Failure to gain any kind of traction or get onto any kind of roll. Scoring chances that just won't go in, no matter how much they should. Long, grinding games where the Canucks just hope the other team makes the big mistakes first. Luongo as the only reason the Canucks stay in the game up to the third period. I get that this is the 40th season and the Canucks are looking back on the past, but I'd rather re-live last December than 2008. That season, like this game, sucked. And I watched it.

• This makes the 12th game that the Canucks have alternated between win and loss. Some have laughed that fans would consider this a slump, but those who've been watching the team know it really is. The Canucks are playing frustrated. Passes aren't connecting, shots are missing, coverage is failing, and the Canucks are getting hemmed into their zone more often than they should. It's a testament to the skill of the team that they can stay at the top of the conference while playing like this, but as @mozy19 observed, we've got to hope this doesn't keep up in May, or we can swap John Garrett out for Bob from ReBoot.

• The Predators surprise a lot of people by being a good team. When you consider their leading scorer heading into the game was Shea Weber, with 39 points, and the Canucks' leading scorer has more than double that total, you'd expect the skill level of the teams to be pretty lopsided. And you'd be right. Still, you won't find a more hard-working team than the Predators. The Canucks got outworked, plain and simple, but that happens to a lot of teams who play the Predators. The Canucks need to be harder, better, faster and stronger. Daft Punk may be the cure -- with all the distortion, how do you know that's not really Robert Smith's voice?

• Really, though, what's going on with the Canucks? They just don't look as dangerous anymore, and their transition game is a big part of what's wrong. With Edler gone, it's not hard for the opposition to predict who's going to be counted on to make a breakout pass. And to all those who cursed Bieksa and his pinching, notice how often the Canucks lose the zone while trying to get set up now. Bieksa and Edler did a lot that doesn't show up on the scoresheet -- they had a way of making the Canucks spend more time in the offensive zone. Give Alain Vigneault credit for making things work without them.

• But then, take that credit away again. He's not making it work. The Canucks are finding ways to win despite horrible play, but it's not like Edler and Bieksa were the only defensemen on the team that can do what they do. Ballard was counted on as a puck-moving defenseman on every non-Canuck team he's played. Hamhuis played a similar role in Nashville when they lost Weber and Suter to injury. Gillis gave AV six defensemen who can play his system. Losing two should not mean the system falls apart -- especially not for a Jack Adams candidate. Get it figured out, Alain.

• The Predators commentators predicted a goaltending duel before the game began, and had to feel smart about it after the game. They shouldn't. "Goaltending duels" are the most ridiculous concept ever created to hype up a game, as goaltenders don't interact with each other. Luongo would have played the same way if the Canucks had scored 6 or 7 goals. I bet he misses the times when they did. All in all, Luongo was tested a lot more than Rinne. When the Canucks buzzed around Rinne, it wasn't Rinne that kept the puck out, but the Canucks' inability to hit an open net.

• There have been some ridiculous almost-goals, haven't there? Another thing reminiscent of 07-08, where the likes of Taylor Pyatt would consistently miss open nets. This has gone on for a few games. The Canucks have had some really bad puck luck, of late. They keep getting close, but like Hall and Oates, all they see is missed opportunity.

• I'd forgotten about Shane O'Brien's "aw shucks" look after taking a penalty. The Canucks still have a feared power play, so opposing game plans tend to include not taking penalties (for the Predators broadcasters, it was one of their "Ford Keys to the Game"), and leave it to O'Brien to forget where he is. I remember how angry that look used to make me when he took bad penalties. I bet Nashville fans everywhere hate that look now.

• No players particularly deserve credit for the loss. Ehrhoff finished a -2, but that's because he was on the ice once the Canucks really needed to score, which includes the whole of the third period. It could be argued that Hornqvist's goal was the backbreaker, but the Canucks had gone 57 minutes without being able to score, and I'm not convinced the last three minutes would have been any different. Shame on Dan Hamhuis for losing the puck there, but it's hard to stay mad at him. He probably knew the Canucks weren't going to score, and wanted Hornqvist to think he was a nice guy. Did you see the way Hornqvist cheered when he scored? Poor guy needed that goal more than the Nucks needed to stop it.

• There were only two Canucks last night who seemed like they wanted to win. One was Roberto Luongo, the other was Jannik Hansen. His display on the penalty kill, getting the puck in the offensive zone and then retrieving it on the forecheck three times got well-deserved cheers from the crowd. That could have been a momentum changer, but the game had more inertia than Homer Simpson.

• Speaking of the crowd, why so quiet? The "7th man" was useless last night. The Canucks would have done better going with an actual seventh man, like the Avalanche did. I understand it was a boring game, but the crowd could help out if they gave the Canucks something to feed off of. They could have at least shouted "Off-ui," which is well-known as the cure for ennui.

• While I usually immediately believe everything Vigneault and Gillis ever tell me, I wasn't buying the bit about the Canucks being in good shape after two periods. The score was tied, but the game was not going well. The Canucks were content to play Nashville's game of trying not to make mistakes. The Canucks are best when they generate chances, not when they wait for them. The team used to be saying during this quasi-slump that they were getting away from their game. Now Vigneault is saying that tight-checking hockey is just what's going on in the league right now. What gives?

• I barely noticed the fourth line, which is good. Maxim Lapierre took no penalties, and there wasn't much in the way of rough stuff between whistles, either. To all those doubting Lapierre could fit in, we now have the incontrovertible proof in the 8:13 he played last night. Cower before my anecdotal evidence.

• Finally, let's note that the injuries and the slump, these qualify as adversity. I'd like to see the Canucks rise well to face it. I haven't forgotten the Sharks of 2009 saying they lost in the first round because they weren't well-equipped to find ways to win when things were going poorly. The Canucks have managed a .500 record since things have been going poorly. It's not awful, but it makes for a lot of Game 7's. This is a team that has never won when trailing after the first period. Let's hope they discover some resilience before the postseason hits.

Canucks Bandwagon Fan Cheat Sheet Appendix

Back in January, we posted our second annual Canucks Bandwagon Fan Cheat Sheet, a guide to all of the players on the Vancouver Canucks for the recently baptized Canucks fan. It was an excellent introduction to the team for wives of diehard fans, Vancouverites who just noticed that the Canucks are at the top of the NHL standings, and Canadian hockey fans whose teams haven't won a game in the last 5 weeks.

The cheat sheet, unfortunately, is a little out of date. With the plethora of injuries to the Canucks' defensive corps, a number of prospects unexpectedly made their NHL debut. Additionally, the trade deadline brought two new players into the fold. With that in mind, we are introducing the first ever Appendix to the Bandwagon Fan Cheat Sheet.

Jersey Foul Bingo, For the Hockey Fan With Standards

Are you going on the Canucks' California road trip? We are! We're looking forward to it too, namely because that many consecutive hockey games simply guarantees that we'll see our fair share of Jersey Fouls. With that in mind, we've created the PITB Jersey Foul Bingo Card, so as to double the joy we derive from judging people with no taste. Print it out and use it on your next trip to the stadium. Let us know how you did in the comments.

Stick tap to our friend Lisa for the fantastic idea for Jersey Foul Bingo.

I Watched This Game: Canucks vs. Blue Jackets, March 1, 2011

Canucks 2 - 1 Blue Jackets (SO)

It's a shame that the Canucks weren't wearing their retro jerseys, because this game was a total throwback. The team played poorly, showing a complete lack of offensive flair and a general disarray throughout, but thankfully, Roberto Luongo stood tall and singlehandedly kept them in the game. You'd have thought it was 2006. Funny Bob made 30 stops on the night, and it seemed as though every other one was a game-saver. He was in perfect position all evening, too, making partial breakaways and point-blank chances look completely non-threatening. And his reward for perhaps his best effort of the season? The longest shootout ever. Lucky Lou, you know how he loves a breakaway competition. Thankfully, he was game for that too, just like I was game to watch him, when I watched this game:

• Luongo had tiger blood tonight (second only to unicorn blood from blood unicorns). His best save of the evening came when he stopped RJ Umberger on a breakaway, but it wasn't just about the save. It was the way he made sure to get a piece of Umberger's ankle as the center went past, putting him off-balance and sending him, spinning, into the corner, so as to prevent any rebound chances. That was most definitely on purpose.

• Aaron Rome took an interesting "illegal stick" penalty at 6:14 of the third period. His stick hadn't broken; he merely lost it. As he skated to the boards to cut off the Blue Jacket puck carrier, he picked up Scotty Upshall's stick, also-dropped, and used it to tie up the man. Originally, it seemed like a heady move, but the referee blew play dead immediately to call an infraction. What was it? Rule 10.3 of the official NHL rulebook states: A player who has lost or broken his stick may only receive a stick at his own players’ bench or be handed one from a teammate on the ice. Hence, Rome can't pick up Scotty Upshall's stick without getting a penalty. You can't play with an opponent's stick. For instance, Mikko Koivu is not allowed to lose his stick, then rip Bobby Ryan's stick from right out of his hands, and use that instead. And neither can Ryan then pick up Mikko Koivu's dropped stick, score a goal, and taunt Koivu with his stick immediately afterwards. That would be a penalty for sure.

• The crowd was eerily quiet. It was like classic Buffy episode Hush; you'd have thought all their voices had been stolen by The Gentlemen. I can't help but wonder if a little home crowd support might have spurred the team to, you know, play well, but on the plus side, the muted crowd allowed the play cameras to pick up a number of on ice F-bombs.

• I love when power forwards like Rick Nash have full beards. They look so freaking intimidating. Mind you, it's not just posturing with Nash. Any time the puck is on his stick, it's concerning. It's a shame he plays in Columbus. Imagine if he played in a city that knew they had an NHL team.

• Mason Raymond finally broke his scoring slump with a pretty little backhand goal (above) generated by some great board work by Ryan Kesler. Watching a player break an extended scoring drought like that is one of the rewards of following a team closely. Knowing the context, it was hard not to feel his joy, to beam while he was beaming. He was visibly excited, letting out a triumphant "Woo!" on the bench after the goal. I haven't seen Raymond that excited since the team pitched in to buy him a new alarm clock (joke explained: Mason Raymond is boring). Raymond seemed inspired by the goal, and he netted another beauty in the shootout with some fabulous stickwork and skate control to freeze Steve Mason. Raymond had four shots on goal, tops among forwards. Raymond wasn't perfect, mind you. He missed a whopping five shots on the night. In perspective: the rest of the team, combined, missed eight.

• Mind you, that's not as bad as Ryan Kesler, who had zero shots on net last night, with seven attempts blocked. Do you think getting in front of his wrister has become a top priority? Now that he's a known sniper, he's going to have to work a lot harder to create a shooting lane. Later that night, in the shootout, Henrik Sedin showed exemplary leadership when he modeled for Kesler how to get people to quit respecting your shot.

• I liked Alain Vigneault's smirk at the bench during the shootout. What was so funny? My guess is he was imagining the Bluth family do their various chicken dances.

• Keith Ballard had five blocked shots and three hits in three minutes of icetime fewer than Aaron Rome. Aaron Rome may be a forgotten Scrabbler, but Alain Vigneault never seems to forget to play him.

• The great thing about having a shootout go on for so long is that you're guaranteed an unlikely hero. Seriously, Vigneault's next shooter was Frodo Baggins. That said, this thing could have been over much sooner if one of the coaches had realized the secret to the shootout: send out guys who used to play for the opponent. Instant win. No surprise, then, that Raffi Torres was the game's unlikely hero.

• You have to feel bad for Maxim Lapierre, whose first game went about as poorly as it possibly could have. He only played five minutes, but boy, were they eventful. In his first shift as a Canuck, he took a minor penalty. During the first intermission, he likely told himself to calm down, because the worst was over. Then, in his first shift of the second period, the Blue Jackets scored. During the second intermission, he probably told himself things could only improve, and he was likely quite excited when nothing untoward happened on his first shift of the third period. Unfortunately, this would be last shift of the game. On the plus side, he finished on a positive note, and was named the game's thirty-first star.

• Scotty Upshall was kind of amazing last night. His shot on Columbus's lone goal was downright unstoppable, like picking a fight with a warlock.

• Dan "Community Man" Hamhuis's hipcheck on Jakub Voracek was a real thing of beauty. I like how, when Keith Ballard pulls off a hipcheck, the recipient gets pissed, but when Hamhuis does it, the recipient just understands. Mind you, maybe it's because Hamhuis is such a nice guy, he only hipchecks when he suspects a guy need a minor spinal adjustment. Hamhuis runs an on-ice chiropractic clinic. Of course it's free.

• The Canucks' powerplay is beginning to dry up in the absence of its quarterback, Alex Edler. There have been games where Mikael Samuelsson has been able to keep it humming along, but when he has a lackadaisical outing like last night, the unit falls apart. Sami Salo saw a promotion to the top unit in the third period, but it wasn't enough to get the game-winner during a four minute powerplay to close out regulation time. There was a lingering sense that this would come back to haunt them, like some sort of powerplay poltergeist, bringing clowns to life and whatnot.

• And finally, we would be remiss not to talk about the high number of pratfalls in last night's game. People were running into one another, tripping over blue lines, and flubbing on shots and passes all evening. It was high octane physical comedy. Halfway through the game, the organist abandoned the setlist and started playing music from Buster Keaton's The General.

6 Reasons Maxim Lapierre Will Fit In Just Fine

Some have voiced concern over Maxim Lapierre's potential effect on the dressing room. He'll be fine.

By now, you're probably aware of deadline acquisitions Chris Higgins and Maxim Lapierre, the two forwards the Canucks picked up at yesterday's trade deadline (and also: MacGregor "NC" Sharp, where the NC stands for "Nobody Cares" but, true to the nickname I just gave him, nobody cares). It's been almost 24 hours since the deals went down, so we apologize for being a bit slow on the take. Now seems like a good time to point out that PITB's not in the business of strictly covering the news. News reporters do that. We're bloggers, and as such, we're much more adept at waiting in the weeds to disagree with people. And being unemployable.

Anyway. Speaking of disagreement, I'd like to take a moment to address the negative reactions to the Maxim Lapierre acquisition. On paper, Lapierre fits the Canucks' needs. It was well-known that the team was after a gritty, depth center with some recent playoff experience, and Lapierre met those requirements while coming relatively cheap, both in asking price and cap hit. However, Lapierre also has some attributes that give pause. Most assumed the Canucks would pick up a mature, seasoned, veteran type--quiet, likable and disciplined. Lapierre is not those things. He's got a reputation as a yapper and a pest, prone to infuriating as well as the occasional undisciplined penalty. These, of course, are qualities from which the Canucks have successfully moved away in recent times. The immediate concern is that Lapierre might disrupt the delicate balance in the dressing room.

But that's probably not gonna happen. Here are six reasons I suspect Maxim Lapierre will fit in just fine:

Canucks and Panthers: Trade Buddies

Back on June 25th, at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Canucks traded away Michael Grabner, Steve Bernier, and their 1st round pick to the Florida Panthers for defenseman Keith Ballard and forward Victor Oreskovich. The Panthers turned that first round pick into Quinton Howden, waived Grabner out of training camp, then waived Bernier recently as well. Grabner got picked up by the Islanders and has scored 25 goals this season. Bernier cleared waivers and still plays for the team. All told, pretty poor return for the Panthers on Ballard; they clearly just saw the trade as a chance to clear salary. But the two teams were not finished.