Author Archives: Kyle Dalla Zanna

Canucks Re-sign Pettersson and Hughes

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Canucks fans, the wait is finally over.

Multiple sources are revealing that star players Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes have agreed to new contracts.  Pettersson’s new contract is for 3 years and $22.05 million. Hughes is locked up for 6 years and is being paid $47.1 million. Both players were restricted free agents and missed the beginning of training camp while negotiations were in the works. They caught the attention of many Canucks fans while training together in Michigan, where Hughes played college hockey for 2 years. Talks with each player began in April and really started heating up over the last couple of days after both sides were coming closer in agreement on both term and money.

It would’ve been nice to see Pettersson sign a longer deal to give the Canucks increased roster stability moving forward, but it is what it is and I’m glad to see it’s all over with. The bridge deal will certainly benefit him if his performance continues or even trends further upwards. Pettersson only dressed for 26 games last season due to a wrist injury, but still recorded 10 goals and 11 assists. He was the Canucks’ 5th overall pick back in the 2017 NHL Draft and has dazzled fans since winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2019.

As for Hughes, it’s great to see the Canucks invest in him long-term. He’s the most exciting blueliner the Canucks have had since I started watching them and will be a core piece of our back end for years to come.  Hughes finished last season with 3 goals and 38 assists in 56 games. The Canucks selected him 7th overall back in 2018.

Expect the official team announcement to come later today.

With Pettersson and Hughes now taking part in team activities, the Canucks shift their attention to Hughes’ potential defense partner Travis Hamonic. Hamonic signed a new 2 year, $6 million deal this summer but is considering opting out for this season due to COVID-related concerns or even retiring due to family matters. He flew back to his native province Manitoba to discuss his possibilities and has until later today to make an official decision.

Sportsnet Radio Host Laid Off

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It’s been another tough day for Vancouver’s sports radio scene.

After Bell Media ruthlessly canned all of its TSN 1040 roster in February, the only remaining local sports station announced it let go of a couple of staff members.

Scott Rintoul announced yesterday on Twitter that he was one of the departures from Sportsnet 650, which is owned by Rogers. Rintoul was one of the original hires at the station when it launched in 2017 and hosted a four-long show from 9 am to 1 pm with Karen Surman, who joined the show back in March. Surman is currently on medical leave for an injury she sustained a few weeks ago. Their show was simulcasted on Sportsnet 650 and Calgary’s sports station, Sportsnet 960.

With Rintoul’s absence, the station is left with two remaining broadcasters from its premiering lineup: Satiar Shah and Randip Janda. His time is now partially occupied by Sportsnet insider Jeff Marek, who will host his own solo show which will talk mostly about news surrounding the NHL from 9 to 11 am. The remaining two hours will be occupied by local shows. Marek is known for co-hosting the 32 Thoughts Podcast alongside insider Elliotte Friedman.

Adam Forsythe also announced via Twitter that he was let go by Rogers. He mostly worked at News1130 as a mid-day anchor but often filled in as a host on Sportsnet 650. Forsythe joined the stations in June 2010. Surely he and Rintoul will land elsewhere, they would both be assets to any radio station they work for and I imagine they won’t be unemployed for long.

As for the remaining shows, Mike Halford and Jason Brough continue to host the morning show from 6-9 am. The People’s Show, hosted by Shah, Janda, and Dan Riccio in the afternoon from 3-7 pm will also remain the same.

Toronto’s sports station, Sportsnet 590 The Fan, also announced major changes, including the return of former Hockey Central analyst and NHL player Nick Kypreos.

 

No Fans For the 2022 World Juniors?

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One of the world’s most exciting hockey tournaments could be played without fans in attendance for the second year in a row.

Last year, the IIHF announced the 2021 World Junior Hockey Championship would take in a bubble environment in Edmonton due to the ongoing threats of COVID-19. Unfortunately, the same might be said for this upcoming tournament, which takes place in Edmonton and Red Deer.

TSN Hockey Insider discussed some of the details on “Insider Trading” yesterday. “It is possible, that is obviously worst case scenario for all involved. Hockey Canada and the governing bodies are paying close attention to what’s happening in the province of Alberta right now. They’re going to continue to monitor the NHL clubs, the Western Hockey League teams as well. The good news is that 75% of the tickets have been sold, so Hockey Canada can wait until the beginning of December to ultimately make the decision on what the capacity issues are. You might see some unique travel twists, maybe you charter the teams in and then they fly commercial out. So, there’s still work to be done.”

It would be a real shame if Canada’s youngest stars were unable to play in front of fans two years in a row. There’s nothing like watching them play in person with all the energy and passion while representing our country, but the health and safety of fans, players and other personnel is the top priority. Earlier this week, Hockey Canada announced cancellations for 3 national tournaments because of the pandemic. In April, Canada opted out of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, an international Under-18 tournament featuring the best players eligible for upcoming NHL drafts, for similar reason.

The World Junior Championship begins on Boxing Day as it has almost every other year. Canada is in a group with Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria. Last year’s finish in the bubble was quite disappointing for the host nation, as they lost 2-0 in the gold medal game to the Americans. Fans or not, Canada will look to rebound this year and win their 3rd gold medal in 5 years, and their first on home soil since 2015 in Toronto and Montreal.

 

 

 

 

 

My Predictions for Canada’s 2022 Olympic Men’s Hockey Team

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I remember seeing hockey analysts sharing their projecting for the men’s Olympic team earlier this month and thinking “man, the Olympics are still so far away, why are we taking guesses now?”

And then I realized they’re only 6 months away.

I’ll admit I enjoy reading criticism that people post on social media when they disagree with Player A being on the roster or leaving Player B off. But at the same time, there are some pretty, uh, interesting takes out there.

Now it’s my turn to hop on the bandwagon and create my own lineup for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

I’m sure you know by now that the NHL is sending their players to Beijing next February, unlike the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang in which Canada basically iced a Spengler Cup roster and walked away with a bronze medal after suffering defeat to an even German squad. But this year will be a best-on-best tournament and that’s how the Olympics should be, in my opinion. In the last two years the NHL has participated, Canada took home the gold medal and I could definitely see them going for the trifecta.

Without further ado, here’s who I think should be on Canada’s Olympic Team.

Goalies:

Carey Price

Marc-Andre Fleury

Darcy Kuemper

No surprises here. Kuemper is a better goalie than you think, but I’d expect to see the games split by the top 2 goalies.

Defenceman

Shea Theodore                        Cale Makar

Jakob Chychrun                      Alex Pietrangelo

Thomas Chabot                       Dougie Hamilton

Adam Pelech                           Kris Letang

Adam Pelech might be an outlier on this list, but he’s one of the league’s best shutdown defencemen. I considered Morgan Rielly, Aaron Ekblad, and Ekblad’s teammate Mackenzie Weegar, who showed he’s capable of being a top defenceman when Ekblad suffered his horrific injury last season.

Forwards

Nathan MacKinnon                 Connor McDavid         Mitch Marner

Jonathan Huberdeau              Sidney Crosby             Brayden Point

Brad Marchand                       Patrice Bergeron         Mark Stone

John Tavares                           Mat Barzal                   Steven Stamkos

Ryan O’Reilly                           Mark Scheifele

I’m drooling at the thought of Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon on a line together. They played together at the World Cup of Hockey but that was before Mack had his breakout season and McDavid was only a sophomore in the NHL.  That third line would make an elite shutdown trio. I want to put Sean Couturier on this roster, but I couldn’t decide who to omit. I don’t think it will end well for Canadian GM Doug Armstrong if his own NHL player Ryan O’Reilly doesn’t make that team, even if that involves cutting an elite two-way forward like Couturier.

A Look at the Vancouver Giants’ Import Situation

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The Vancouver Giants have an interesting decision to make.

The Western Hockey League states that teams can only carry two players from outside North America on their roster. The Giants currently have three. The club had commitments from Marko Stacha and Jesper Vikman this summer. However, last week, the Boston Bruins’ GM announced their top prospect Fabian Lysell will play for the Giants. The Giants are going to have to cut ties with one of these players within the first 2 weeks of the regular season.

Out of the three names, Marko Stacha is the only returning import player. The Giants picked the Slovakian d-man in last’s year’s import draft. He played the beginning of the season in his home country when the pandemic put the WHL on hold and joined the Giants when their last season started. In 22 WHL games, Stacha tallied 1 goal and 5 assists. He has not been selected in the last two NHL drafts and is expected to play a key role on the Giants’ back end this season.

Jesper Vikman was the club’s lone selection in this year’s import draft. The Swedish goaltender split last season between 3 junior and professional leagues back home. The Vegas Golden Knights selected Vikman in the 5th round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, 125th overall. He’s the likely choice to be the Giants’ starting goalie after Trent Miner turned pro with the Colorado Avalanche.

The most interesting player out of the trio is Fabian Lysell. The Bruins selected the Swede 21st overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and his entry-level contract with them in August. Lysell was the other pick at Giants import draft last year but opted to play in Sweden. Lysell’s dynamic skillset is an instant upgrade to the team’s forward group. I’d say the Giants were pleasantly surprised to hear about Lysell’s commitment, given that he also had other options of playing pro in Sweden or suiting up for the Bruins’ farm team. The Giants likely selected Vikman for this reason.

Stacha and Lysell are both eligible to be traded because Vancouver has held their negotiation rights for 2 years. On the other hand, Vikman would have to be released by the Giants to stay at the limit. It’ll be a tough decision, to say the least.

Connor Bedard: Remember the Name

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Move over McDavid, there’s another Connor that’s being labeled as hockey’s next generational talent.

Introducing 16-year-old North Vancouver native Connor Bedard. Last year, BC Hockey granted Bedard with early entry to play in the WHL under the league’s exceptional status rule. This permitted him to play full-time in Canada’s highest level of junior hockey as a 15-year-old. All other players in major junior hockey range from 16 to 21 years old. What makes this even more impressive is that Bedard is the first player in WHL history to be given this privilege, which accepts applicants based on not only hockey performance, but also off-ice factors such as academic abilities and mental and physical maturity. The process involves essay writing, teacher and coach interviews, and having the player and their family meet with a psychologist to discuss the transition to the league. It’s a very thorough procedure and shows how difficult it is for players to get the green light and play in the league before they’re typically eligible.

Following Bedard’s exception, the Regina Pats unsurprisingly drafted him with the first overall pick in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft. After the pandemic delayed the start of the WHL last season, Bedard made his debut in March of this year. It didn’t take long for the superstar to get on the scoresheet. He sniped his first career goal from the top of the right faceoff circle 5 minutes into the second period.

And then he scored again. 48 seconds later.

Little did we know that was only the beginning of what would be a historic season. Bedard finished his rookie campaign leading the league at the time with 28 points in 15 games, capping it all off with an emotional game-winning goal in overtime just a few days after his grandfather passed away in a car crash.

His WHL season was cut short after being named to the Canadian team at the U18 world championship, where he was also the youngest player. He finished tied for second in tournament scoring with 14 points in 7 games as Canada took home the gold medal. All things considered, Bedard deserves way more than a Pat on this back for his efforts that season. Pun intended. He’s not eligible for the NHL Draft until 2023, and people are already predicting he’ll go first overall.

With his phenomenal rookie year in the books, I can’t imagine the damage he’ll do in a full season. Unfortunately, the Regina Pats won’t be playing against the Vancouver Giants this season, or, should I say, fortunately for the Giants.

But that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to watch him. The Pats play their home opener against Prince Albert Raiders this Saturday, October 2, at noon on CBC.

Trevor Noah is Coming to Rogers Arena

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They say, “laughter is the best medicine”. Unfortunately, laughter won’t cure the world of this pandemic. But having a good laugh can certainly act as a good distraction while we continue to deal with these difficult times. So how does watching one of the world’s most popular comedians live at Rogers Arena sound?

Just For Laughs announced their sixth JFL Northwest comedy festival for next year. 10 consecutive days of stand-up comedy will be coming your way, headlined by The Daily Show host Trevor Noah. This year, The Daily Show became the number 1 most engaging late-night show with over 118 million engage across different social media platforms.

The festival begins on February 17 of next year and wraps up with Noah’s performance on February 26. His appearance will be part of his “Back to Abnormal” tour, which couldn’t be a more fitting title to describe the world’s current state. With live entertainment such as concerts and sporting events returning this fall, hopefully things won’t be as “abnormal” by the time this comedy festival hits. It’ll be the South African comedian’s first Vancouver performance since his appearance at the same festival in 2018.

The full event will feature local, national, and international comedic talent in different Vancouver locations. Just For Laughs announced that there will be an update on additional guests for the festival in the coming months.

Noah has an extensive resume in addition to his hosting duties. He’s a writer, producer, actor, and of course, a stand-up comic. He has a clever, witty sense of humour, and his style of comedy has an emphasis on current events and political satire. In addition, Noah has received awards for his number 1 New York Times bestselling book Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, which has sold over 1 million copies since it was published in 2016.

He started his tour in London with two sold-out shows before adding 21 more shows across North America.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 1 at 10 am via ticketmaster.ca.

Which Netflix Shows Are Filmed in B.C?

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Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re watching a scene from a movie or TV show on Netflix, and you recognize the location it was filmed?

Well, the giant streaming platform released a new video titled “Netflix in your neighbourhood”, which showcases the locations of some of their most popular original shows shot in Canada, along with an interactive website that shows a map of Canada. This map allows users to click on each province and browse the corresponding films that took place within.

Netflix has shot films across the country, from B.C. to Newfoundland. Not only does this map show you which movies were published in each province, but it goes into detail about the city and even the exact location of that scene in each film. The interactive website offers a brief description of each featured location along with how it’s depicted in each show.

The website lists 5 shows and movies under British Columbia, along with each city:

Virgin River (Vancouver, Snug Cove, Squamish, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam)

To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (Vancouver)

Restaurants On the Edge (Kelowna)

Always Be My Maybe (Vancouver)

Firefly Lane (Langley)

Have you seen any of the shows listed above? Did you know that one episode of Virgin River was shot at Deer Lake? Or that there are 14 different locations throughout Vancouver in Always Be My Maybe?

Netflix believes that this website has the potential to help Canada’s tourism sector while allowing Canadians to form deeper connections with their culture. It mentions that the global population is 2.1 times more likely to travel to Canada and 2.7 times more likely to French after watching films featuring Canadian content.

Feel free to search around the site and browse some of B.C’s locations used in film, or check out if your favourite show was recorded in Canada.

 

 

 

 

3 Players to Watch in Vancouver’s First Pre-season Game

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The Vancouver Canucks are back. It’s about damn time.

The Canucks are set to take the ice tonight in their first preseason matchup against the NHL’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, at 6:00 in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. It’s their first game on American soil 575 days(!) and hopefully the beginning of an exciting rivalry in the Pacific Division. Because it’s preseason action, the Canucks are expected to dress a team heavy on young talent looking to fill a spot on the roster in time for the regular season. Here are 3 young players to pay attention to in tonight’s game.

  1. Jack Rathbone. Likely the top defensive prospect in the Canucks pipeline, Rathbone had 3 points in 8 games last season and is in the running for a spot on the left side of the Canucks’ third pair. He’s a great skater that can pass, shoot and move the puck well and plays a reliable 200-foot game.
  2. Will Lockwood. When I think of Lockwood, one thing comes to mind: compete level. His speed, energy, and ability to win puck battles were on full display at camp, and those qualities are things the Canucks could always use more of. He’s an underdog pick to make the Canucks fourth line on opening day after suiting up for 2 games with them last season.
  3. Danila Klimovich. The 18-year-old Belarusian was the Canucks first selection, 41st overall, in the NHL Entry Draft this year. Klimovich hasn’t wasted any time making a name for himself at camp. He had no problems showcasing his hands, an NHL-calibre shot, and lots of confidence against experienced competition in scrimmages. He seems like a long shot to make the NHL roster due to his age and is expected to play this season for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the QMJHL. However, Klimovich has the potential to be an impact player in a couple of years.

Here’s the full roster for tonight’s game.

Unfortunately, the game won’t be available on Sportsnet Pacific, but you can still tune in on the radio via Sportsnet650.