I didn’t hear until late last night (ferry trip plus Mark Knopfler concert kept me away from sports news), but yesterday longtime Canuck Markus Naslund signed a two-year deal with the New York Rangers for what works out to $4 million a year:
“It wasn’t hard to keep playing because I knew a few weeks after the season I wanted the chance to play again and maybe redeem myself and play the way I know I can play,” Naslund said last night from his home in Ornskoldsvik.
I’m glad to see the backside of Naslund (as, I’m sure, were many Vancouverites when he was walking around town). Don’t get me wrong–he could play. In his prime he had a Brett Hullesque release from the slot, cunning hands around the net and terrific outside speed. Also like Hull, he has that ability to sneak into the bare patches of defensive coverage to make room for a shot. He had three forty-goal seasons here in Vancouver, and was obviously a key component to the team’s success during his tenure. For a couple years, the West Coast Express line of Naslund, Morrison and Bertuzzi was the best in the league.
Still, his production has been systematically tailing off in recent years. He may enjoy a boost with a more attacking-style team and a more capable centre, but that was never going to happen in Vancouver. The team hasn’t had the personnel for the past two or three years. Last year the Canucks paid Naslund $6 million for 25 goals from Naslund last year, which was about 15 goals too few.
Naslund was never the kind of player I really admired. His commitment to defense was, at best, spotty and he was reasonably timid on the ice. Mike Keenan’s decision to hand Naslund the captaincy after Messier left was a brilliant tactical decision, but I think its effectiveness has long been exhausted. Naslund always struck me as too cool to be captain. It was hard to imagine him getting angry at his teammates for underperforming, or standing up for them physically on the ice.
It’s a common pattern as players age: they don’t necessarily want to decline in the same city where they rose to prominence. I’ve enjoyed watching Naslund over the years in Vancouver, but his expiry date had, for me, already passed.
If I have the Swedish correct, the title of this post means “we’ll miss you, Naslund”, “I love you, Markus”. Cue the cheesy tribute video:
This morning I had the peculiar experience of watching a Canucks game in Malta. Courtesy of the NASN, I was able to catch last night’s Vancouver/Calgary game (not live, thankfully) while eating breakfast at our local bar.
And the Canucks won. Considering their early season play, that was a nice bonus. They took a 3-0 lead and then, in classic Vancouver fashion, made it interesting by taking the third period off. Happily Luongo played the full sixty minutes. They did look like a team missing three of their regular defencemen.
This will probably be the only hockey game I ever watch serenaded by the clanking metal-on-metal sound of a blacksmith across the street. When I say ‘blacksmith’, I’m serious. Change this guy’s clothing, and he could be living in any of the last ten centuries. He’s got an anvil at the centre of his workshop, an open fire, and every surface of his workspace is covered in black soot.
As I write this, it’s exactly 11:00pm and the Canucks and Stars are deep in the second overtime period. Regulation was pretty exciting, but overtime has been the defense-first chess match that everyone expected the series to be.
Dallas has looked the better team through the third period and most of overtime, but things have evened out a bit in the last five minutes or so. The Canucks are down two forwards, so I wonder if that’ll be the difference.
Poor Ryan Kesler. This is his first game since January, and it’s like playing two games in one.
I also wanted to plug my friend Rob’s hockey project, GoCanucks.ca:
GoCanucks.ca is the brainchild of two longtime Canucks fans that love what the Playoffs do to Vancouver hockey fans…Our plan is to launch the most comprehensive Canucks Fan site you’ve ever seen for the 2007/2008 season. But in the meantime, we’re giving away a Canucks Jersey everytime the Vancouver Canucks post a win during the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s a WIN-WIN-WIN situation: Canucks win games, Fans win Jerseys, and GoCanucks.ca wins email subscribers. Go Canucks!
You can give them your email address to win a jersey, or become a sponsor for the cost of a jersey. The latter would be a good fit for, say, a local sports bar.
Note to Rob et al: you should rotate the sponsor logos on the front page, to give them more visibility and return on their investment.
I didn’t hear until late last night (ferry trip plus Mark Knopfler concert kept me away from sports news), but yesterday longtime Canuck Markus Naslund signed a two-year deal with the New York Rangers for what works out to $4 million a year: