INTO THE FLAMES 10 Apr 2015 The Province Ed Willes

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1 INTO THE FLAMES The Province Ed Willes Kings are out of playoffs and Canucks take on Calgary in the first round Following the excitement of the Canucks overtime win over the L.A. Kings and subsequent events that landed them a playoff spot, there was every reason to think Thursday night s game would be a bigger letdown than the Star Wars prequels. And you can say this for the Canucks-Coyotes tilt. It lived up to its advanced billing. But, for a team that is trying to nail down home-ice advantage in the post-season, there was still a bottom line, and while most of the excitement on this night was provided by the out-of-town scoreboard, the Canucks punched the time clock and got the job done. As a result, they can now start preparing for the Calgary Flames in the playoffs site and date to be determined and those games promise to deliver a little more drama. Against an empty shell of a Coyotes team, the Canucks blew the game open with a pair of power-play goals 1:28 apart by Yannick Weber, then kept everyone healthy and Eddie Lack s shutout intact en route to a 5-0 win. The more eventful development from this night, however, occurred in Calgary, where the Flames bounced the Kings 3-1, eliminating the defending Stanley Cup champions from the post-season and setting up a dandy first-round matchup between two old rivals. Home ice won t be determined until Saturday when the Canucks close out the regular season against the Edmonton Oilers, but after battling like Huns for six months, there is suddenly clarity of purpose for Willie Desjardins team. After a slow start, Daniel Sedin s goal late in the first period propelled the Canucks. Weber then iced things with his power-play goals, slappers from a near-identical spot into a near-identical part of the net, which gave him 11 goals on the season. The much-maligned Canucks power play, meanwhile, has moved into the top half of the league, largely because the Sedins have been hotter than microwaved pizza lately. The brothers each picked up two points on Thursday night, and while you don t think of them having stellar offensive years, Daniel is now in the top-10 in NHL scoring with 74 points and Henrik is just outside with 71. It s been a big bounce-back year for the twins. It s been an even bigger bounce-back year for their team. Howling after dumping Desert Dogs The Vancouver Sun Bring on the Flames: Sure, the Oilers are here Saturday, but excitement for playoff clash with Calgary on players minds The nearest team to the Vancouver Canucks was the farthest thing on anyone s mind last September when people discussed playoff projections. Of course, the Canucks weren t in most of those conversations, either. But here they are, getting ready to face the Lazarus-like Calgary Flames in a revival of an old playoff rivalry. One of them should even get to the Stanley Cup Final because that s where the winner finished the last three times 2004, 1994, 1989 the Flames and Canucks met in the opening round of the National Hockey League tournament. Vancouver took care of new business Thursday, diligently dismissing the Arizona Coyotes 5-0, to bring back some old business against the Flames. Calgary eliminated the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings with a 3-1 win on Thursday, returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

2 I think this is awesome, two Canadian teams, Canuck winger Chris Higgins, an American who has played on three Canadian teams, said after Vancouver s win. It will be my first time playing against a Canadian team in the playoffs. I m looking forward to it. Calgary is a great hockey city and a team that surprised a lot of people this year. It s a great matchup for Canada. Reminded that the Canucks, two points ahead of the Flames with one game remaining in the regular season, also surprised a lot of people, Higgins said: That s why it s so fun. It s probably a matchup that no one picked. I can t wait. The series will start Wednesday or Thursday, but we won t know where until Saturday. The Canucks will clinch second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage if it collects at least a point against the Edmonton Oilers or Calgary loses its final game against the Winnipeg Jets. It s going to be a tough matchup, Canuck veteran Jannik Hansen said. I don t think there are any good draws in the playoffs right now. You see how hard everyone is playing; it s taking 97 or 99 points to get into the playoffs. The Canucks have 99 points 16 more than last season when they crashed under former coach John Tortorella and missed the playoffs for the first time since It s what we wanted, Hansen said of another chance to play for the Cup. We believed in it in here. There were a lot of doubters around this team, thought this team was done and needed to get blown up. We never had that thought. We knew last year was a hiccup. We re back in the playoffs, but that s it so far. We haven t done anything. We re well aware of that. The real work is going to start next week. Canuck captain Henrik Sedin said: It s been a great year from the get-go. We ve been battling hard. There s been a few occasions where I think people counted us out and we stepped up and played really good against some tough opponents. And here we are. It might be better if the Canucks were there, in Calgary, next week. Vancouver has done its best work this season away from the pressure and distractions of Rogers Arena. The Canucks are tied for second in the NHL with 24 road wins. That s 24 more wins than they have in their last six home playoff games. Their last playoff win at Rogers Arena was in Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Who knew Max Lapierre s winning goal against the Boston Bruins would be the last great playoff moment here? The Flames may be the only playoff team in the Western Conference against whom the Canucks, if they finish second, will be considered a favourite. Yet, Calgary won the season series with a loser point, going against Vancouver s And the Flames, of course, have been at their best when people thought their magic act was done. Like when they lost seven straight games in regulation in December, then won eight of 11. Like when captain and top defenceman Mark Giordano, a potential Norris Trophy candidate, was lost for the season at the end of February right before the Flames went without him. Like any game in which Calgary trailed in the third period. This was a Flames team expected to be in the Connor McDavid draft derby with the Oilers, but instead is going to the playoffs for the first time in six years. The Flames haven t won a playoff series since they lost the Stanley Cup to the Tampa Bay Lightning in That was two lockouts and five head coaches ago. That was the year the Flames eliminated the Canucks from the playoffs in the opening round with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 7. In Vancouver, of course. That loss merely cost the Canucks a general manager, Brian Burke, who seems to be doing just fine these days as the Flames president of hockey operations. No teams get to choose their opponents in the playoffs. If they could, the Canucks and Flames probably would choose each other. I don t know about pressure, Sedin said. I don t think anyone would have put us in the playoffs before the season started. If they want to put pressure on us now, that s up to them. We just want to keep playing the way we have and we ll see where it takes us. GAME ESSENTIALS The Vancouver Sun THE SKINNY The Canucks scored first for the first time in five games as Daniel Sedin converted brother Henrik s backhand pass. The Canucks then broke it open in the second on a goal by Ronalds Kenins and two

3 power-play tallies from Yannick Weber. Dan Hamhuis, pictured, completed the scoring in the third with his first of the season, also on the power play. Eddie Lack made 28 saves to pick up his second shutout of TURNING POINT With the Canucks leading 2-0 late in the second period and the Coyotes still within striking distance, Kyle Chipchura, pictured, took an offensive-zone holding penalty on Kevin Bieksa, which was followed by a penalty to defenceman Andrew Campbell for closing his hand on the puck, giving the Canucks a 5-on-3 for 13 seconds. Weber scored on the 5-on3 and then again on the 5-on-4 to put the game out of reach. BY THE NUMBERS The Canucks led after the first period for the first time in 13 games and just the 22nd time in 81 games Ronalds Kenins ended a 21-goal famine while Bo Horvat ended a ninegame pointless streak Jannik Hansen s assist on the Kenins goal was his first helper in 13 games The Canucks improved to when leading after two periods With Ryan Miller expected to start Saturday, Eddie Lack, pictured, will finish the regular season at QUOTABLE I think Calgary is a really good team. I have a lot of respect for them. They play hard every night. If you look at the games they ve won, they ve won a lot of tough games. So they didn t get in by luck. They got in because they re good. Canuck head coach Willie Desjardins on his team s first-round playoff opponent. NEXT UP The Canucks will wrap up their 82-game regular season on Saturday night at home against the lowly Edmonton Oilers, a team they haven t played since Nov. 19. The Canucks are against the Oilers this season, winning 5-4 in a shootout at home and 2-0, 3-2 and 5-4 in Edmonton. The Canuck power play is 4-for-18 against the Todd Nelson-coached Oil, pictured, while the penalty killers have allowed two Edmonton power-play goals in 15 opportunities. Dorsett, Sbisa elated to fit in, help playoff push The Vancouver Sun The hockey world is a relatively small one for the elite player, but not everyone is palsy-walsy, which is why Derek Dorsett and Luca Sbisa admitted Thursday they had some apprehension about entering the Vancouver Canucks dressing room for the first time last fall. Maybe their personalities wouldn t mesh with the leadership group. Maybe the coaches wouldn t like them. Even worse, maybe they wouldn t like the coaches. Fortunately for winger Dorsett and defenceman Sbisa, things have worked out fine. Both received contract extensions this week, Dorsett signing for four years at $10.6 million, Sbisa for three at $10.8 million. Yeah, for sure, there was uncertainly, Dorsett said Thursday, speaking for the first time after agreeing to his new deal. Any time you come to a new organization and a new team, you re not familiar with anybody. The only guy I knew was Tommy Sestito. Obviously when you come into a locker-room full of guys you ve had some pretty good wars against, it can be a little difficult and nerve-racking. But the guys were here with open arms and it just shows what kind of leaders are on this team. It s been a lot of fun. As soon as I got here, they were welcoming to me and my family. It just made me realize I wanted to be here a long time. At 28, and with a lot of tough miles and fights behind him, Dorsett could be a risky investment in the contract s latter years. Naturally, he doesn t think that will be an issue. I believe that I can keep going upwards, he said. It s going to take a lot of commitment and work in the off-season to make sure the body stays healthy and I m more than ready to do that. I m going to do whatever I can to stay healthy throughout my whole career. It was great that we could come to terms and keep both sides happy. Going into playoffs, all you want is that to be your main focus. It s a great relief to get the contract over with.

4 Sbisa struggled through much of the season s first half but seemed to find his groove in mid-february when top-four defencemen Alex Edler, Chris Tanev and Kevin Bieksa were all out of the lineup. He has also been an integral part of the team s outstanding penalty-kill unit. From a personal standpoint, the contract is huge, said Sbisa, 25. There were a lot of question marks coming into this year and joining a new team, so it s great to have the confidence from management and coaches to be here for another three years. Sometimes it kind of takes a while to find your identity and see where you fit in, he continued. I think when those injuries happened on the back end it was an opportunity for some other guys. I think that s when I stepped up a bit and started playing better hockey. It s nice to get rewarded with the contract. Meanwhile, forward Shawn Matthias, who sat out Thursday s game against the Arizona Coyotes with a minor injury, insisted he ll be ready for next week s playoff opener. I don t think there is anything that is going to stop me from being ready for next Wednesday, Matthias said. I ve played in the playoffs once (with Florida) and it was amazing. I m so excited. Weber, Lack lead Canucks over Coyotes Joshua Clipperton VANCOUVER The Canadian Press Published Friday, Apr Eddie Lack continues to make a resounding case for being the Vancouver Canucks starting goaltender in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 27-year-old Swede made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season as Vancouver downed the Arizona Coyotes 5-0 on Thursday as Ryan Miller dressed as the backup after missing 21 games with a knee injury. The Canucks have yet to name a starting goalie for the post-season, but it s hard to imagine a scenario where Lack who is with a.927 save percentage since Miller went down on Feb. 22 doesn t get the call. I ve always stuck to my own business and worked hard, said Lack. I ve always thought that if I keep working hard my chance is going to come eventually. But playing such a big role in the playoff hunt, I didn t expect that. Yannick Weber scored twice and Daniel Sedin, Ronalds Kenins and Dan Hamhuis had the other goals for Vancouver ( ), which clinched a playoff spot Tuesday without even suiting up when the Edmonton Oilers downed the Los Angeles Kings 4-2. Alexander Edler added three assists, while Henrik Sedin chipped in with two of his own for the Canucks, who missed the post-season in for the first time in six years, but have rebounded under rookie head coach Willie Desjardins. Depending on what the Calgary Flames do in their finale Saturday afternoon against the Winnipeg Jets, the Canucks still might need a victory in their game later that evening at Rogers Arena against Edmonton to lock up second place in the Pacific Division and home ice advantage in the first round. The Flames beat the Kings 3-1 on Thursday to secure a post-season berth and guarantee an all- Canadian opening-round matchup against the Canucks. On the Vancouver goaltending front, Desjardins did give a strong indication that Miller would start against Edmonton. You have to have two goalies going into the playoffs, said the coach. It would be tough on Ryan if he ended up playing in the playoffs without having played in so long. Lack, who picked up the sixth shutout of his career, has played 22 of 23 games since Miller went down, but was rarely tested against lowly Arizona. Fans saluted Lack with chants of Eddie! Eddie! after a couple of saves on an Arizona power play midway through the third period, his busiest sequence of the night. We ve had a connection from the start, me and the fans, said Lack. It s been a fun ride and they re going to be a big part of any playoff success. Mike Smith allowed four goals on 24 shots before getting pulled late in the second period for the Coyotes ( ), who will finish their miserable season on Saturday at home against the Anaheim Ducks.

5 Louis Domingue finished with seven saves in relief for the Coyotes, who are second last in the overall standings and can still finish below the Buffalo Sabres in the race to pick Connor McDavid first overall at June s NHL draft. Poor execution, some penalties we couldn t kill and we chased the game, said Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett, whose team gave up three power-play goals. Vancouver opened the scoring with 3:38 left in the first when Daniel Sedin s off-speed shot knuckled its way past Smith for his 19th of the season. After Kenins doubled that edge 6:51 into the second with his first in 22 games, Weber blasted his 10th and 11th goals of the season on one-timers from almost exactly the same spot. The first came on a 5-on-3 power play at 15:42 before Weber fired home his second on the subsequent 5-on-4 advantage just 1:28 later. Hamhuis rounded out the scoring with his first of the season on another power play with 3:11 to go in the third. The Canucks know they can t look past the Oilers on Saturday, but Henrik Sedin took a moment to reflect on the last time Vancouver played Calgary in the playoffs back in 2004 a series the Flames won in seven games. It was a tough series. I think we were the favourites, he said. Two good teams. Big rivalry. To play in the Saddledome with the fans they have there and the sea of red and everything, I think for the young guys it s going to be amazing. Canucks crush Coyotes; will face Flames By Eric MacKenzie Thursday, April 9, 2015 They crushed the Coyotes, and soon the Vancouver Canucks will be facing the Flames. Partway through the Canucks 5-0 win over Arizona on Thursday at Rogers Arena, the Calgary Flames finished off the Los Angeles Kings with a 3-1 triumph eliminating the defending Cup champs from the playoff race and guaranteeing a Vancouver-Calgary series in the first round. The Canucks certainly looked playoff-ready through most of their Thursday win. Granted, a victory over the awful Coyotes isn t really a great gauge of such things, but Eddie Lack was sharp in making 28 saves for his second shutout of the season, while Yannick Weber scored power-play goals 88 seconds apart in the second period to help Vancouver reach 99 points on the season. Daniel Sedin, Ronalds Kenins and Dan Hamhuis also scored for the Canucks, while Alex Edler finished with three helpers. Although the Canucks have had letdowns against inferior opponents at times this year, including the Coyotes, Weber said they were determined not to let that happen again on Thursday. After you clinch, sometimes it gets a little bit into your head that you re not supposed to go as hard anymore, said Weber, who leads all Vancouver blueliners with 11 goals. But for us, there s still a lot on the line. We want to start at home and go into the playoffs with good habits. All that s left to decide now is whether it s the Canucks or Flames who get home-ice advantage for the series, and that will be determined on Saturday. Calgary will be facing the Winnipeg Jets who also clinched a playoff berth Thursday on the final day of the regular campaign, while the Canucks host the Oilers. The Flames will need a win over the Jets and the Canucks to lose in regulation to wrestle second place in the Pacific Division away from Vancouver. NOTES: -Goaltender Ryan Miller dressed Thursday for the first time since injuring his knee on Feb. 22 against the New York Islanders, and backed up Lack. With Miller back healthy, Jacob Markstrom was reassigned to the AHL s Utica Comets. And head coach Willie Desjardins will be giving Miller the start on Saturday, regardless of whether the Canucks need a win to secure home ice. You have to have two goalies going into the playoffs. You have to have two guys, said Desjardins. It would be tough for Ryan to end up playing in a playoff game (when) he hasn t played in however long. Eddie s played great. He doesn t have anything else he needs to prove right now but we need both goalies ready to play.

6 -Shawn Matthias was held out of the lineup on Thursday to a minor injury, and was replaced in the lineup by Sven Baertschi. Playing his first home game as a Canuck and second since being called up from the Comets last week, Baertschi drew praise from Desjardins. He s really skilled, said Desjardins. He makes lots of good plays, he s quick. I like him because he s excited about playing. Maybe there s a few things he has to get better at, but he s a guy that can be a top-six forward and that s exciting. -Weber now has five goals since March 22, and four of them have come with the man-advantage. Henrik Sedin spoke at length after Thursday s game about how the right-shooting Weber has given Vancouver s first power-play unit a different dynamic. Early on, we were successful with (Radim) Vrbata back door, but teams are so good at scouting now, so they started taking him away, said Henrik, who can set up one-timer for a right-hander at the point much more simply from where he generally sets up. And every time we gave it to (left-handed Alex Edler) up top, he doesn t have a one-timer. There s nothing against him, but he can t shoot it from there. With guys taking away shooting lanes, it was tough for him to get pucks to the net. I think he enjoys playing back door now too, coming up and down that side, and can make a lot of plays happen from that side. Kings ouster trumps Weber heroics The Province JASON BOTCHFORD The only question that remains is home ice. Well, that and whether John Tortorella is available to drop the opening faceoff for the Canucks postseason. What we do know is that Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley won t be starting five goons for Game 1. What we don t know is where the Canucks and the Flames will be playing. When the Flames sunk the Los Angeles Kings out of the playoffs Thursday, it gave the Canucks the first-round matchup they would have wished for. That would have been right after they wished the Kings into the draft lottery. Both the Flames and the Canucks have one game left. The Canucks are two points up on Calgary. If they finished tied, the Flames get home ice because of the headto-head tiebreaker. Now, think for a moment what the Saddledome is going to look like if the opening two games are in Calgary. Then think about how the Canucks have started slowly in two-thirds of their games since the new year. Suddenly, Saturday s curtain-closer against the Edmonton Oilers has implications. Significant ones. And here s the kicker goalie Ryan Miller will be getting the start, his first game since Feb. 22. As far as last games go, with the matchup already set, that s some pretty good drama. Maybe the Oilers will provide more push back than the Coyotes had Thursday. The Canucks actually should be hoping so if they want that game to help get Miller up to speed right before the playoffs. The Coyotes were a low-quality sparring partner Thursday, rarely threatening. They played like a team that s come to terms with its fate and is embracing the tank. The Canucks weren t anything special, but they didn t need to be. Yannick Weber scored two power-play goals, which was the biggest story on a night that was overshadowed by the news that the Kings are out of the playoffs. That alone is enough for a banner. What this means The Province

7 Ryan Miller is officially an option. Having skated without a knee brace for a couple of days, Miller backed up Eddie Lack and in doing so significantly shortened Lack s playoff leash. How long Willie Desjardins will stay with Lack, the presumed Game 1 starter, is one of the most fascinating questions heading into the playoffs. If Lack has earned the start to the postseason, and he has, he has also earned at least one mulligan. It s to be expected the Canucks will turn to Lack if he loses two straight. But what if he loses Game 1? The Canucks acquired Miller for big games, like all the ones that come at this time of year. In a word DÉJÀ VU Nick Bonino thought he had it licked on the last road trip. He finally scored after missing four nets that were essentially empty. It happened again when he hit the post in the first. DOUGHNUT Remarkably, or not, that was Dan Hamhuis s season. He nearly scored his first goal with a dramatic spin move in the first. Then did it for real with a snipe that made it 5-0 in the third. DIVING Where was it? A game without any diving from Coyotes goalie Mike Smith seems anti-climatic. Usually you get a couple flops a game as he tries to get his team a power play. Advanced stats 51.3 This is Yannick Weber s goals-for percentage. It s the ratio of goals the Canucks score when he s on the ice. Of the Canucks regulars, he ranks sixth This is Luca Sbisa s goals against per 60 minutes played at even strength. It s the second worst in the NHL among regular defencemen. In other words, he s the second best D-man in the league at getting scored on. 63 This was Yannick Weber s Corsi-for percentage. For the second time in the past three games, he led all Canucks defencemen. 55 This was Kevin Bieksa s Corsifor percentage, or ratio of shot attempts. Among the Canucks defencemen, he was last. What we learned Well, it s now at least conceivable the Canucks could have a difficult time re-signing Yannick Weber. Not only has the pending restricted free agent scored 11 goals, he s proven to be comfortable and capable in the Canucks top four D. He s been excellent playing alongside Dan Hamhuis since mid-february. Weber is currently making $850,000, which puts him in a different starting point than Luca Sbisa, whose cap hit is $2.9 million. Still, if Sbisa got $3.6 million, what is Weber worth? Is there any cash left for Matthias? The Province Steve Ewen Canucks recent signings could make it that much harder for 18-goal man to get his payday For many a Vancouver Canucks fan, it was the next logical question. Do the signings Wednesday of winger Derek Dorsett and defenceman Luca Sbisa mean that the club cannot afford to bring back Shawn Matthias, the winger who is an unrestricted free agent this summer? It s far from an easy answer. According to nhlnumbers.com, the deals for Dorsett ($2.65 million per for four seasons) and Sbisa ($3.6 million per for three seasons) push Vancouver to $66.64 million committed for , on 10 forwards, five defenceman and two goalies.

8 The salary cap is expected to be $73 million, which means Vancouver would have $6.36 million to spend on six more players. That, of course, can change drastically via trades. As well, there are other additions. Centre Brad Richardson is also a pending unrestricted free agent, while defenceman Yannick Weber heads the list of restricted free agents with the Canucks. Matthias, 27, who came to the Canucks in the Roberto Luongo swap, is making $1.85 million this year and due a healthy bump in pay. Going into Thursday, he was in a four-way tie for second on the Canucks in goals with 18. He was 10th among forwards in ice time, at 13 minutes, six seconds per game. He s managed all this with just one power-marker on the season, just 7:15 of man-advantage playing time on the campaign. Did the Dorsett and Sbisa signings affect him at all? Did they make him think? I don t look at those things. I don t worry about it, he said after the morning skate on Thursday. That s about all you could expect him to say. Matthias isn t about to show his hand at all. The smallest hint at which way he s leaning could affect his bargaining power. He s a big, rangy guy (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) who drives the puck to the net and can perform in traffic. He s capableofplayingwingorcentre.he s had a career year without the benefit of extensive power play time. It s not a bumper crop of UFAs, either, with the likes of Martin St. Louis, Jaromir Jagr, Antoine Vermette, Jiri Tlusty and Chris Stewart slated to be available this summer. Matthias seems to be the type that should have a strong postseason, considering his skill set. That would further enhance his value. Just getting in the playoffs is exciting. It s hard to get there. I don t think it matters if you have a five-year deal or any of that. You re just excited to get in there and have a chance at the ultimate prize, he said. Matthias added: It s a tough league to score in. I was happy with my year, but I have to pick it up a level if I want to perform in the playoffs. I think everyone does. Before coming to the Canucks, Matthias was with the Florida Panthers for parts of seven seasons, totalling 312 regular-season games. He played just seven playoff contests for the Panthers, all coming in a first-round series against the New Jersey Devils in the spring of The Devils went on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in five games and the New York Rangers in six before falling to the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the Stanley Cup final. Just my whole life, this is the type of hockey that I look forward to, said the Mississauga, Ont., native. There are lots of guys in here that can say the same. It s an exciting time of year and I m looking forward to getting started. It s such a cool time of the season. I m really looking forward to seeing how it is in a Canadian market. I m sure it s going to be crazy, how the fans are. It s going to be awesome. Matthias skipped practice on Wednesday with an undisclosed ailment and said Thursday at the morning skate that he wasn t going to play that night against the Arizona Coyotes. He hopes to be back in the lineup for the regular-season finale against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and then ready for the playoffs next week. I just need more rest for something, he said Thursday. Matthias is represented by Surrey-based agent Rich Evans. Evans declined to talk about the contract negotiations. #TweetSpot: In defence of Sbisa, Dorsett deals By Guts McTavish, 24 hours Vancouver Thursday, April 9, 2015 In Boston, new Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning witnessed first-hand what type of personnel it takes to win. On Wednesday we saw two contract signings that gave us a glimpse into what exactly Benning's winning Canucks blueprint might look like moving forward.

9 Not surprisingly, both Luca Sbisa and Derek Dorsett are highly competitive players who are difficult for opponents to play against. Something the Canucks has been craving for years. But not everyone agrees. Less than a month ago in this column I spoke about how high the Canucks were on Sbisa and that it wouldn't surprise me if he were to one day become a top-four d-man on this team. I'm not blind to the kid's first-half adventures, but like management I see the reason for such an investment. He hits to hurt, and in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference the Canucks are a little short on those types of players. On Wednesday, they signed two of them. Over the years Vancouver management has had a revolving door of sub-par talents that they promised to groom into the prototypical hard-to-play-against bottom-six forward. They've also had far too many players that were top-six rejects that possessed none of the tools it takes to be an everyday, hard-nosed bottom-sixer. Finally this regime has recognized what a bottom-six forward should look like. Dorsett fits that bill. Credit Willie Desjardins for confessing his love of running all four lines and sticking to it, allowing a player like Dorsett to succeed. In Boston every player had a role and got plenty of ice time to hone it. So far, Benning's Canucks have proved to be no different. Playoff riches for Canada with four teams in NHL postseason By Mike Zeisberger, Toronto Sun Thursday, April 9, 2015 Cue the whiteouts in Winnipeg and the Red Mile Mania in Calgary. NHL playoff hockey is returning to Manitoba for the first time since In Cowtown, meanwhile, the Flames will end a post-season drought that dates back to In fact, with both the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames clinching their berths in the Stanley Cup tournament Thursday night, four Canadian teams are guaranteed to be part of the 2015 playoffs, joining the already-qualified Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks. Given that only one Canadian-based team -- the Habs -- made the postseason one year ago, there are plenty of smiles going around in the Great White North, especially by both hockey fans and television executives north of the border. And if the Ottawa Senators beat the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday, they ll be the fifth Canadian team to make the big dance. Oh, Canada. Kudos to the Flames for ploughing full-speed into the postseason, posting an impressive 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday that eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions from playoff contention. All the while, the Kings loss meant the single point accrued by Winnipeg in a 1-0 shootout defeat in Colorado was enough to ensure the Jets a playoff spot of their own. We have as much of a chance as anyone, Jets forward Blake Wheeler said afterward when asked about how far his team could go in the playoffs. Winnipeg last hosted a playoff game 19 years ago during the Jets first stint in the Manitoba capital, The team, of course, eventually moved to Arizona, leaving a deserving hockey-starved city stripped of its franchise. NHL hockey arrived back in Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Manitoba to kick off the Jets 2.0 era. The Thrashers franchise only reached the playoffs once and failed to record a post-season win. One interesting note: both franchises that once were located in Atlanta -- the Atlanta-Flames-turned- Calgary-Flames and the Atlanta Thrashers-turned-Winnipeg-Jets -- clinched playoff berths on the same night. The Senators, meanwhile, now control their own fate, thanks to a 3-0 win in New York over the Rangers Thursday coupled with a 4-2 loss by the Boston Bruins in Florida to the Panthers. If the Sens either win or gain a point by going to overtime in Philly Saturday, or if Boston loses in Tampa Bay that same night, the Senators are in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

10 Not bad for an Ottawa team that was 14 points out of a wild-card playoff spot two months ago. And not bad for the hockey-mad country of Canada, which now has four representatives in the playoffs -- and, potentially, five with an Ottawa victory on Saturday. Over to you, Sens.