Canucks vs. Blues Gameday thoughts...

The Canucks are on the road for an afternoon tilt with the St. Louis Blues today, and they find themselves in the thick of a 3way logjam for top spot in the Northwest with Minnesota and Calgary. The Canucks have dropped 2 straight after losses in San Jose and at home to Phoenix, hopefully Roberto Luongo and the boys can end this little skid today and beat the Blues. The Canucks have sent Mason Raymond back to Manitoba, and recalled Rick Rypien. Maybe it's a response to the Canucks inability to handle the physical play of the Sharks and Coyotes, and the feisty Rypien will certainly help in that department. Players like Jeff Cowan, Matt Cooke and Ryan Kesler will need to step it up in the physical end of things, and Cowan especially will need to avoid taking penalties like the double minor Jovonovski suckered him into in the game Friday night. We get another look at Kris Beech today, as he plays his second game since being acquired on waivers from Columbus. He was certainly involved in the game against Phoenix, but it may be a couple games before we really get to see what he is all about. I like the idea of putting him on a line with Markus Naslund though, it will help see what he can do. It certainly seems like the Canucks are missing Mattias Ohlund, as their recent drop in quality coincides with Ohlund's neck injury... Lukas Krajicek will likely be a gametime decision, after missing Friday's game with the flu. Bottom line is we haven't won in St. Louis in 4 years, and the Canucks have lapsed into some lazy habits that are costing them games. The call up of Rypien is the 1st message sent by coach Alain Vigneault, and you can believe should the Canucks turn in another lackluster effort, he will make sure they get it by other means. The Canucks head to Columbus on Tuesday then up to Detroit on Thursday for an opportunity to get back at the Red Wings after a couple disappointing losses earlier this year. Congrats to Henrik Sedin for being named to the West All Star team, though many feel it was a surprise that Daniel wasn't named, either in place of or in addition to Henrik.

Around The NHL:
-Big win, Big Loss: A nice late goal from Daniel Alfredsson gave the Senators a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings last night in Ottawa, but it was a costly one as they lost Dany Heatley with a separated shoulder. He is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.
-Will that be paper or plastic?: Leafs fans will be reaching for bags to cover their heads after that California road trip, but the most frustrating thing must be the revelation on HNIC last night that they decided against hiring Scotty Bowman as team president because he wanted complete control over the hockey operations. The audacity and ignorance that this decision shows is simply par for the course from the ownership group of the Leafs, and the real reason why the team continues to get worse. They have guys who know less than the fans getting their hands mucky in the operation of the team, something that never works.
-Calling Cujo: Calgary and Toronto San Jose are being mentioned among others as teams interested in acquiring Curtis Joseph. I can't see him going to the Sharks, as they have absolutely no intention of letting Nabokov have a night off (get the feeling this will come back to haunt them come playoff time?), and while some Leafs fans may like the idea of Cujo's return to T.O., he is not the answer to their problems. Calgary seems like a logical fit, as Kiprusoff has struggled this year, and they have a 0 experience backup. Can Cujo get it done though? Who knows, but if the Flames should take another skid, I wouldn't be surprised to see him show up in Cowtown.