Demitra anxious to shoulder load

Transcription

1 Demitra anxious to shoulder load Forward hopeful of post-christmas return following injury setbacks By Ben Kuzma, The Province November 24, 2009 The forgotten man is easy to spot in the bowels of GM Place. He's the one wearing a designer suit while his colleagues are clad in battle gear. He's the one with an understandably dour demeanour while his teammates revel in the rigours of competition. In being relegated to spectator status following offseason shoulder surgery -- and a second procedure on two torn rotator cuffs a month ago that curtailed his comeback -- it's easy to conclude that a recent post-operation infection may have been the final stab at sanity that killed Pavol Demitra's spirit. Easy to conclude that the physical and mental drain of subsequent setbacks might be too devastating for the speedy Slovak to overcome in what could be his final season with the Vancouver Canucks. Not so. Not even close. Demitra is buoyed by aqua therapy that has added considerable strength and range of motion to his repaired left shoulder. It's also added the peace of mind that he can make a successful NHL return and also line up with countrymen Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa at the 2010 Winter Olympics. "The doctors have come in with a new plan," says the 34-year-old Demitra. "I've been swimming for the past two weeks and building up a lot of strength and the movement in my arm is getting better. I do the breaststroke. Freestyle is painful and I don't think I can do that yet, but we're heading in the right direction. "It hasn't healed enough to shoot, but I can skate and I'm hoping to be back after Christmas -- but you never know. As long as I don't have a setback. There was an infection the first week after the last surgery and I had to take antibiotics. There was a lot of scar tissue and my shoulder was so stiff. "It's always something with a shoulder. After the first surgery, I lost everything and pretty much had to start from zero again." Even though the time frame for his return is uncertain -- the four-to-eight-week prognosis after the second surgery could delay the process to mid-january -- Demitra is determined to prove worthy of the $4 million US remaining on his expiring contract. He's eager to prove his passion and that he's not just an aloof athlete whose only loyalty is to the dollar sign. He's eager to prove that possessing a game more predicated on skill than will shouldn't be misinterpreted.

2 Eager to prove he cares more than most know. "I'm having a great time with my boy because he's playing hockey and soccer and taking karate and is also very good on his skis," Demitra says of six-year-old Lucas. "It's nice to spend more time with my wife and family, but I want to play. It's my life. It's what I do and what I miss. "It's totally painful and so hard to watch a game. Going to the gym every day is not easy. Before the [second] surgery, I was doing a lot of stairs and just trying to change it up because I was already going crazy. And biking was irritating the shoulder and that's why I want to start skating. "I want to help the team so bad and I know I can play a couple of more years." Critics have wondered aloud why Canucks general manager Mike Gillis committed $8 million over two years to a former client whose best days are in the rearview mirror. But Demitra did manage 20 goals and 53 points last season on the second line and his 0.77 points per game were better than first-liners like Scott Gomez and Olli Jokinen (0.75) and Milan Hejduk (0.72). That's why Gillis believes Demitra can help put the Canucks over the top in the postseason, rather than drag them down to mediocrity. For that to occur, the left-shot Demitra has to regain a quick release that allowed him to collect 752 points in 819 career games and another 53 points in 83 playoff games. He has to regain the confidence to know that he can absorb a hit, rather than going out of his way -- and out of his character -- to deliver one. That's what Demitra did when he checked Chicago defenceman Brian Campbell into the endboards at GM Place during the second round of the playoffs. "That's hockey," shrugs Demitra. "I tried to maybe do a little bit too much and go as hard as I can. It was the playoffs and that's what you have to try to do. He kind of saw me at the last second and moved his body and put all his weight on my left shoulder." What scoring load Demitra can eventually shoulder will determine his worth -- whether it's here or elsewhere. But moving is not his motivation. Staying is. "I love this city and my family is happy here," he says. "It's a very exciting city to play in." bkuzma@theprovince.com Copyright (c) The Province Scoring touch eludes Burrows A year after his breakout 28-goal season, the winger has only one in last 18 games

3 By Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun November 24, 2009 He shoots, he doesn't score. That's the story lately for Canuck winger Alex Burrows, who is in the midst of a long and very frustrating goal-scoring slump. Burrows has one goal in his last 18 games and that was scored into an empty net in Vancouver's 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Nov. 5. He hasn't put a puck past a goalie since Oct. 11. On Sunday night, Burrows had a game-high seven shots on goal, but like the rest of the Canucks could not beat Chicago Blackhawks' backup goalie Antti Niemi. Burrows does have four goals this season, but three of them came in the team's first five games. The pucks just haven't been finding the net the way they did last year during his breakthrough 28-goal season. It's not from lack of trying. Among his Canuck teammates, only Mikael Samuelsson (75) has more shots than the 62 Burrows has fired on net this season. Burrows hopes the return of linemate Daniel Sedin from injury will help kickstart his offensive game. "Obviously, Danny and Hank like to have those little give-and-go plays and they like to work their magic off the cycle," Burrows said. "Same thing for me, I just have to keep going to the net and hopefully get some greasy ones." Burrows has been playing hurt for much of the past three weeks with an undisclosed lower-body injury suffered in an Oct. 29 game in Los Angeles. He was not expected to dress the following night in Anaheim, but surprised everyone by playing. He said he is now feeling fine. "I'm good, I'm fine," he said. "My legs are back into it." Burrows insists he is not feeling extra pressure to live up to his terrific offensive season of a year ago. "No, not at all. Not as long as we win games. Even last year when we were scoring goals, my main focus was on winning games and about team success. "Now that I'm not getting the bounces around the net, my focus is still the same -- team success first. At the same time, I want to contribute offensively to help the team win. I just have to keep working and hopefully I'll get on a roll."

4 LOTS OF COMPANY: Burrows is not the only Canuck forward struggling to score. Centre Ryan Kesler has gone eight games without a goal and has just one goal in his last 13 games. Mikael Samuelsson has just one goal in his last seven games and Kyle Wellwood has yet to score in 19 games this season. Some of the Canucks defencemen counted on by the team to provide offence are also struggling to score. Alex Edler, who had 10 goals last season, has yet to score this season. Kevin Bieksa, who had 11 goals last season, has one goal this season and it was scored in the season-opener on Oct. 1. Sami Salo, who three years ago had a 14-goal season for the Canucks, has not yet scored this season. BACK TO CAMP: The Canucks plan a second training camp of sorts coming out of the Olympic break. The team's non-olympic players will travel to Columbus on Feb. 27 and practise there for two days before their game against the Blue Jackets on March 2. That game is the opener of a six-game trip that also makes stops in Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, Colorado and Phoenix. REMEMBER ME?: Former Vancouver captain Markus Naslund will be playing with some familiar faces from his life as a Canuck when he ends his brief retirement and joins MoDo of the Swedish Elite League in the coming weeks. Former Canuck forward Josh Green has seven goals and 11 points in 19 games with MoDo this season. Czech defenceman Tomas Mojzis, a former Canuck draft pick, has played all 22 games for MoDo this season. Naslund is training in advance of his return to MoDo, where he will join childhood friend Peter Forsberg and try to improve the sagging fortunes of their hometown team. MoDo sits 11th in the 12-team Elite League, but has won three straight games since Forsberg joined the team earlier this month. Forsberg has collected four goals and four assists in those three games. MoDo has also recently signed former NHLer Dan Hinote, who played the past three seasons with the St. Louis Blues. ICE CHIPS: Monday was a day off for the Canucks, who don't play again until Thursday when the NHL's leading scorer, Anze Kopitar, and the rest of the Los Angeles Kings visit General Motors Place. The Kings will be another tired team for the Canucks. Los Angeles is in Edmonton to meet the Oilers on Wednesday night. bziemer@vancouversun.com Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

5 Tanner Glass goes one-on-one with Elliott Pap By Elliott Pap, Vancouver Sun November 23, 2009 Q: With a name like Glass, you ve probably have been subjected to your share of puns over the years. What s the best one you ve seen or heard? A: I think the best, my favourite, is Pain in the Glass because it kind of plays on both the pain (or pane) and Glass. That happened when I was playing junior for the Penticton Panthers. All the billets had to make a sign for their players one year for playoffs and my billets came up with that one. Q: We ve heard that you were a history major at Dartmouth, an Ivy League school. Your brother is at Mount Royal College in Calgary and your sister is studying biology at the University of Regina. Were your parents academics themselves? Did they teach? A: No, my parents are small business owners. They own a cleaning company and a water-well drilling company. They have about five rigs now. They started those right from the ground up so they are kind of self-made. The drilling happens all around Saskatchewan but the cleaning company is right in Regina. Q: You ve talked about the fact that your focus at Dartmouth were the Roman, British and American empires. Can you draw any parallels between those dynasties and the Oiler and Islander dynasties of the 1980s? A: Well, ha ha, I think Julius Caesar and those guys might have been a lot like Duane Sutter. I know Duane a little bit and he s a pretty hard-nosed guy. So they probably had some similarities. Q: This summer you plan to climb Mount Kilimanjaro elevation 19,331 feet in Tanzania with your girlfriend Emily. How did this come about? A: Emily spent some time in Africa after her graduation from college, working for an organization called GrassrootSoccer. So we were over there for that but we didn t have time to climb the mountain. So it s been in the works for a couple of years. It s between a five-day and an 11-day hike and you can kind of pick how long you re going to take. Q: How much training do you have to do for a climb like this and will it interrupt your hockey training? A: Actually, you don t need a lot of training. Sometime the people in the best shape don t summit because they try to go a little faster and their bodies can t get used to the altitude. It s just a walk, I think, about six hours a day. You hire a company, you have guides and they kind of

6 show you how to get up there. You can carry your own pack, or get the guides to do it, and go at your own pace. Q: Vancouver is your second NHL stop. Florida was your first. How would you compare the two areas as hockey markets? A: In Florida, it didn t really feel like I had realized my dream of being in the NHL. There is not really a city the team identifies with and the rink is kind of in the middle of nowhere, just on the freeway. It was so low profile in Florida. Here, the people care. It s a hockey-crazy environment. It s nice. epap@vancouversun.com Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Crawford says he 'finally matured' Former coach of the Canucks and three other teams has new perspective with Stars Canwest News Service November 24, 2009 Marc Crawford is in his 14th season of coaching in the NHL. And through his previous 13 years behind the bench, he was known for his fiery temper, his screaming and his demanding style. While he still demands the best from his players, he is a different coach. "I guess I've finally matured," he said, jokingly, to the Dallas Morning News. All kidding aside, Crawford, who had previous stints in Quebec, Colorado, Vancouver and Los Angeles, was able to regroup after he was fired following his second season with the Kings in It helped that he was able to work as a Hockey Night In Canada analyst. "It just gives you a lot of perspective," he told the newspaper. "When you're in the battle, it's really hard to see some things. But to step away, you sort of see it really is just a hockey game. It really is something that should be enjoyed." That doesn't mean the former Canucks coach has gone soft.

7 "I'm fresher, so I do think that allows you to have more patience," he said. "I think the patience comes from a little more understanding and perspective, and I think that's just natural at this age." But does he need to toss a clipboard or scream to motivate? He won't say that's never going to happen. "It has to be natural, that is one thing I've learned," he told the Morning News. "Right now, I feel good about where we're going and how we've played, and I feel confident we're going to get there. "Nobody's satisfied. I don't want anybody to think we're satisfied, but I do think we're moving in the right direction." Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun Markus Naslund, in his own words By Elliott_Pap 23 Nov 2009 The former Canuck captain granted his first 'comeback' interview to the Canadian Press on the weekend and explained where his head and body currently reside. As we pretty well knew, Naslund is doing it to help out his struggling hometown team, MoDo. He and Peter Forsberg both grew up in Ornskoldsvik and played for MoDo before coming to the NHL. Here's what Nazzy had to say... ON WHY HE'S ENDING HIS RETIREMENT: "I still felt that I made the right choice in retiring.this was just a different scenario with coming back here and playing in my hometown because I'm helping the team. They were in dead last place and they were struggling financially. It's just one of those things where both me and Peter felt that it was a good thing to do. The hockey team means everything to this city. In everyday life, that's the only real thing that they have here in this town as far as entertainment goes. Now when the team is not doing well, you can tell a lot of people are down here too." ON HIS CONDITIONING AND PLAYING AGAIN: "I worked out until maybe mid-june or so. I've been really busy with building a house here and I've been at the house site for full days the whole time. But it's not like I've let myself go, I feel that it shouldn't take me too long to get back into game shape. They've asked me throughout the summer and even in the fall when they've been struggling and I haven't felt that it was even on the horizon for me to come back. And then a lot of things just happened at once there and I just decided to go ahead and do it. I had no intentions of playing at all when I left New York. It wasn't in the back of my mind at all. It will be interesting to see what it feels like to play again. Hopefully, it will be something where we have some fun and are successful on the ice too."

8 Sedin's return boosts Canucks By HOSEA CHEUNG, SUN MEDIA Daniel Sedin's return this week could come as a catalyst at a critical time for these streaky Canucks. Back with the team Sunday for the first time in six weeks, the winger already had an effect on his struggling linemate, Alex Burrows, who registered seven shots and was dangerous around Blackhawks' goaltender Antti Niemi all game long. But while the reunion of the twins helps Vancouver's top trio, Daniel's return should also instill some much-needed consistency into the roster, allowing lines to stay together instead of constantly mixing and matching. It also gives the team two scoring forward lines again, after having to put Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond with Henrik Sedin as the main unit. Either way, it could be the key to snapping the Canucks out of their current mediocre funk. Mired in a Jekyll and Hyde season, Vancouver needs to string together a winning streak - one similar to those Chicago or Nashville have recently compiled - to contend with the best in the West. They can't count on yet another surreal stretch drive to gain home-ice advantage, or in this case, to make the playoffs. "That's four real good efforts in a row that we've put in," said coach Alain Vigneault after Sunday's loss. "We've played a lot better than a two-and-two record." It's too bad "good effort" and "a lot better" doesn't add up to points in the standings. Currently sitting 11th in the West, Vancouver is only one game above.500 with a record for 24 points, and have lost four of their last six. They've showed tremendous offensive flair at times - in 8-2 and 5-2 wins against the Avs - but have also flopped in certain matchups, losing 6-1 to St. Louis and 7-2 to Anaheim. Last year's eighth place team, the Ducks, finished nine games above.500 with 91 points and in order for the Canucks to reach that mark, they'll need to win 34 of their last 59 games. And even then, that's far from a guaranteed playoff spot with the competition level in the conference. With most of the team healthy for the first time this season, Vancouver can finally show what they are capable of and play to the level that Canucks GM Mike Gillis envisioned when building the team this past summer. Whether that potential is reached or not, the Canucks will face a more difficult last half of the season if they continue this lose-one-win-one format.

9 From spare part to key contributor By KEN WIEBE, SUN MEDIA Erik Christensen is doing two things he hasn't done consistently for quite some time -- scoring and smiling. After falling on hard times the past two NHL seasons, Christensen admits a trip to the minors has helped give him a fresh outlook on things. "Right now what I'm looking is to have some fun and find myself again," said Christensen, who scored a goal in each of his first two games with the Manitoba Moose on the weekend. "I always love hockey, but I haven't had a lot of good days the last couple of years. I'm trying to come down here and feel like a goal scorer and feel the way I did as a kid. Enjoy the game and work on some things I need to get better at. "But first and foremost, to enjoy being on the ice." While some players might pout about being demoted to the minors after spending most of the previous four seasons in The Show, Christensen has thoroughly enjoyed the shift from spare part to key contributor. "You want to be a go-to guy, I'm always going to think of myself as a goal scorer, no matter what," said Christensen, who is currently on loan from the Anaheim Ducks for a two-week conditioning stint that might be extended. "It's been great. The guys are a close-knit group and when you come into a situation like this, it's easy. I just keep my nose down and try to fit in as best I can." Christensen made a good impression on head coach Scott Arniel last weekend. "You can see his skill package," said Arniel. "I've seen him play before but I didn't know he skated that well. He certainly is what we're looking for in a No. 1 centre and he'll help us in a lot of areas." The Moose depart this morning for a three game road trip that features games against the Rockford IceHogs, Peoria Rivermen and Chicago Wolves. LEBLANC SENT DOWN: The Moose assigned Ninette product Derek LeBlanc to the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League yesterday. With the arrival of Christensen and return of Matt Pettinger from the Canucks, Arniel figured it was best for LeBlanc to go down and get some more ice time. LeBlanc, who earned a job on the opening-day roster, had one assist in nine AHL games. INJURY UPDATE: The Moose got some good news on the injury front as forward Guillaume Desbiens (broken foot) has been skating on his own the past few days and is inching closer to a return.

10 However, he isn't expected to be back in the lineup until next week, when the Moose host the Rochester Americans on Dec. 1 and 2. Forward Pierre-Cedric Labrie (shoulder) is also progressing, but there has been no change in the status of forward Matt McCue or defenceman Mike Funk, who are both suffering postconcussion syndrome. Defenceman Lawrence Nycholat had successful arthroscopic knee surgery but remains on the shelf for another four-to-six weeks, while forward Matt Pope is still battling a high ankle sprain and isn't expected back before late December. ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca