Any player in the minors who makes more than $75,000 has to clear waivers before he can join the big club. If the player is claimed off waivers, each team is responsible for 50 percent of his salary which will count against the cap.

Me: Hi, can I get a cab? I'm at Shine Nightclub on the Cordova side.

Black Top Cab (BTC) operator: Sure, no problem. Just wait there.

Me: My name's J.J.

BTC operator: I don't need your name. I'm gonna send a cab over, just flag it down.

Me: There's a few other people waiting here. Can you send the cab for me?

BTC operator: Just flag him down when he gets there.

Me: There's a few other people waiting here. Can you send the cab for ME?

BTC operator: I'm gonna send one over. Just make sure you get in front of everyone else.

Me: We were waiting for an hour and a half for a cab. What's the deal?

BTC driver: We were busy tonight.

My buddy: Ummm... I was just wondering... we flagged you down on the street. Were you on your way to pick up a fare? Were we better off waiting on the street than calling?

BTC driver: We get the call to go somewhere, but if someone flags us down within 3 minutes, then we can pick him up.

My buddy: What about the people that call to be picked up from an address, like a house or a hotel?

BTC driver: Well, someone else should pick them up.

My buddy: Do you call it in? Does your company send another car over?

BTC driver: I don't know. On a busy night, you should just wait on a busy street.

My buddy: So there's no point in calling?

BTC driver: At this time (approx. 3:30 am now) we don't care about the hotels. They're not a preference. We all go to Granville.

My buddy: What about the people who aren't on Granville?

BTC driver: They should just walk there. It's quicker.

• Alex Auld replaced Dan Cloutier in the first period after Cloutier was knocked into the post by Nolan Baumgartner. Though he took the loss, Auld was steady for most of the game, rarely caught out of position.
• Apparently, Cloutier won't be able to fly home with the rest of the team - sounds like he has a concussion - and it should be interesting to see how Auld fares with suddenly becoming the team's no. 1 goalie.
• I can't wait to see Bryan Allen back.
• I thought Steve McCarthy looked as comfortable as he has ever looked in a Canucks uniform. He made better decisions with the puck and looked to be communicating a lot more with his teammates. He finished the game with 20:24 minutes of ice-time and four blocked shots.
• Colorado drew nine penalties from the Canucks; the Canucks only drew four from Colorado. Mattias Ohlund was the biggest culprit, taking four minor penalties - two for hooking and two for high-sticking.
• Bertuzzi had his best game of the season. He was aggresive, he skated, and he actually SHOT the puck. Matt Cooke's goal was a direct result of Bertuzzi's beautiful end-to-end rush around all five Colorado players on the ice.
• Bertuzzi is most effective when he is selfish. Without Naslund on his line, he can afford to be. I should note that he spent most of the night with Ryan Kesler and Matt Cooke. If I was Crawford, I'd be tempted to keep that line together.
• Is Anson Carter still on the Sedin line?

... Everyone is entitled to an opinion...

... I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it... I wish it didn't get much attention as it did...

... I didn't apologize for what I said... it was an apology if I offended anyone...

... That's just something between George and me... I think he just wants to be on TV...

Marc Crawford: We gave up far too many soft goals in just poor, soft coverage -- it wasn't anything more than that -- down deep in our zone.

Markus Naslund: It was terrible. We knew they were going to rebound from the game they had in Vancouver [a 6-4 Avalanche loss last Saturday]. It's inexcusable. These are huge games every time we play them. It's inexcusable for us to come out like we did.

Dan Cloutier: Three [goals] down low wasn't good. That's where they killed us. In the first 10 minutes, every time they came into our zone they would create scoring chances.

Sami Salo: We didn't work, battle or make good passes. You could sense in the morning skate that we weren't really sharp and it showed.

Brendan Morrison: Last night, I was really upset and disappointed because I felt I let my teammates down. As a guy who's looked at as a leader, that's disappointing. Mentally, I felt I was ready. Then I go out and make bad decisions early in the game that led directly to goals. I probably cost us the game early on and I'm going to challenge myself to be better.

Brendan, I hope the whole team does.

Todd Bertuzzi: We want a lead [in the Northwest Division]. And we want a big lead. We want to try to take off on them.

• The Canucks adjusted to daylight savings time a couple of days early as they didn't start playing until a few minutes left in the second period. Before that, they were a mess of turnovers, lazy passes, turnovers from lazy passes, penalties, disorganized powerplays and even worse penalty-killing. The Avs took it to them and built a 6-1 lead in the second period, to the delight of the Avs fans.
• I'm not blaming the officiating for the loss - trust me, I give the Canucks full credit for the loss - but that was some of the most inconsistent officiating I've ever seen last night. They let a few hooks and holds go, but called a phantom goaltender interference call on Jovanovski and a cross-checking minor on Ohlund when him AND Blake were battling in front of the crease. There was also a call on Steve McCarthy when he stayed with a Colorado player, who ran into him and fell. At certain points of the game, it looked like the old NHL with a very random sprinkle of the new NHL.
• Does Bryan Allen mean that much to the team this year? The defensive zone coverage looked like a Chinese fire drill out there.
• So did the Naslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi line.
• IMHO, Bertuzzi has played his most aggresive hockey when he's not with with Morrison and Naslund. When he's with Kesler and Cooke, he takes the puck to the net and actually shoots when he has the opportunity to. Bertuzzi finished with 6 shots last night and 4 of them were in the third period - when he was with Kesler and Cooke.
• Hopefully, the 'Nucks build on their third period momentum. In that third period, they set a team record by outshooting the Avs 23-0, but alas a period does not make a game.

We're not concerned about it. The fans will be into it, but as players, we're just trying to win a hockey game. That's what our focus is going to be on. We have a great rivalry here with Vancouver. They've got a great hockey team. Our goal is just to try and win the hockey game.

Bertuzzi is a thug and he should be treated like one. He was allowed to come back too soon.

You're going to have fans throwing stuff at him. They're going to be spitting on him when he comes out.

After 56 games with the Islanders, Bryan was traded on February 6 with Todd Bertuzzi and a third-round draft pick (Jarkko Ruutu) to the Vancouver Canucks for Trevor Linden.

Vancouver Canucks Senior Vice President and General Manager Dave Nonis announced today that the Canucks have signed free agent defenceman, Jason Doig.

In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.Doig, 28, will report directly to the Manitoba Moose of the AHL, Vancouver’s minor affiliate, where he has played in five games this year, notching two points (0-2-2).

I had to retire a bit premature compared to you. I didn't want to. You made me. Why didn't you shoot wide some times Brett? Why did you always have to shoot it where I wasn't? Why didn't you pass to someone I could stop? Someone like Sergio Momesso or Steve Tuttle. Why Brett? Why? Oh, by the way, I named my dog Hully. It's a blonde mutt that I lay the boots to daily.

- Red Wing netminder Tim Cheveldae (who Hull scored on the most)

• Alex Auld was steady again. He had some rebound control problems late in the game, but he still made the saves when he needed to. A lot of Minnesota's shots were good quality - in close or wide-open - and Auld stopped all but one of them. He is now a perfect 3-0-0 for the season, and while scoring is up around the league, he is sporting a 1.67 GAA and .936 SV%.
• Anyone else have problems with the pay-per-view feed? I missed the last 6 minutes or so of the first period.
• Maybe it's just me... but the more I watch Anson Carter, the more I wonder if his chemistry with the Sedins is overrated. He's not a good puckhandler and he doesn't seem overly strong. In fact, he seems to lose the puck or gets knocked off it a lot. I know the Sedins are off to a good start, but Anson only has 4 points (2-2), and most of the Sedins goals come from feeds to/from one another. I know the line has only been together for 10 games, but I actually wonder how much Carter has had to do with the Sedins' early success.
• There was a sequence in the third period when, on a 4-on-4, the Canucks held the puck in their offensive zone for more than a minute. Naslund was skating circles - literally - around the Wild and the team produced 2 or 3 good scoring opportunities.
• Bryan Allen has my early vote for unsung hero. I don't even want to think of what the defense would be like if he hadn't stepped up. Solid, stay-at-home type, who plays the body and blocks shots - exactly what this team needed. So far he has looked good in a bigger role and like he can handle his 19 minutes of ice-time per game.

For those of you who don't know what Behind the Blog is, it's an email interview conducted to allow you to get to know the writer behind the blog. I ask the blogger questions about his/her passion for hockey, their favorite team, their blog, and NHL questions.

• Thanks to three early powerplay opportunities, the Avalanche jumped to a good start, but Dan Cloutier played huge for the Canucks. He finished with 28 saves on 32 Colorado shots.
• Speaking of Cloutier, his rebound control was a lot better. I think I noticed only one or two saves last night that he gave up big, juicy rebounds on.
• I think it's fair to say that the Canucks are no longer a one-line team. In the past week, other players besides Morrison, Naslund and Bertuzzi have contributed and scored; last night, the Sedin line was great and looked dangerous on most shifts. Daniel Sedin scored two goals - both thanks to beautiful passes from brother Henrik.
• Seems like I've brought up scoring from the 'd' a lot recently. Well, last night they scored twice (from Bryan Allen and Ed Jovanovski) to bring their season total to 10 goals. The way they have been scoring, can we call the d-men the Canucks third scoring line?
• Actually, maybe not the third scoring line, the top 3 scoring d-men - Jovanovski, Salo and Baumgartner have combined to score 6 goals and 24 points. Ohlund has also chipped in with 3 goals and 4 points. Meanwhile, Sedin, Sedin and Carter have combined to score 7 goals and 18 points. Is the defense corps the real second scoring line?
• Probably as most people outside the media expected, there were none of the anticipated rough stuff during the game. Just a good, hockey game. Colin Campbell was in attendance and I'm sure the league would have had a stern word or two with both teams prior to the game. After Thursday night's sloppy game, it was nice to see two talented teams play good hockey.
• Pundits usually like to point out that coaches trust and favor players who are on the ice for the game's most crucial moments. For what it's worth, with the score at 5-4 in the final seconds, Crawford put out Morrison, Linden and yes, Jarkko Ruutu. Linden scored his empty net goal on this sequence.

I wish he could be playing in Colorado with me. He has such a big presence. He can hold onto the puck and slow down the game to his pace. With his size and strength he can play a little bit different game than anybody else. It's fun to play with a guy like that. It gives you more time to get open and more time to do your thing.

I've got Phoenix (on Thursday night), and I think that's disrespecting Wayne (Gretzky) and the Coyotes, and I won't do that to them.

Everything else surrounding the game is pretty much put on by the media. We, as well as the Colorado players, feel it's a dead issue. It's something that happened. We've moved on and they've moved on. We're different teams.

The Vancouver thing, you guys are blowing it out of proportion. Everything is in the past. We're moving on. We just want to win games.

• The score was extremely flattering for the Coyotes. The game would have been over in the first 6 minutes if not for the play of Curtis Joseph. The Canucks - especially Markus Naslund - have had his number the last couple of years, but he was great tonight. I was surprised that he wasn't the first star of the game.
• The game itself was choppy - there were a lot of penalties - though I think both teams played sloppy hockey for most of the game.
• Bertuzzi was a force again tonight. Every time he was on the ice, it just felt like he was going to do something, like he was going to skate by or ward off his check and create a scoring chance. And he usually did. Think he knew Team Canada GM Wayne Gretzky was watching the game?
• Ditto for Jovanovski.
• For the second game in a row, another high-stick to one of the Canucks' d-men went undetected by the refs. Behind the Canucks goal, Ladislav Nagy got his stick up on Steve McCarthy and cut him on the lip. I know the refs have a billion rules to enforce now (well, they always have, it's just they decided not to call half of them in recent years), but they just cannot miss high-sticks. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but linesmen are allowed to call stick infractions, are they not?
• Trevor Linden is struggling, but you can't discount what he means to this team. He was a key reason the Coyotes, down 3-2, didn't score on two late 5-on-3's. He blocked shots and was always in good position to prevent those diagonal, cross-ice passes. On those 5-on-3's, the Coyotes couldn't do much more than pass the puck around the point or along the side boards.
• With Jovanovski's and Baumgartner's goals (both their firsts of the season), the Canucks six defensemen now account for just under 30% of the team's goals this season. As a group, they have scored 8 goals and 28 points. I haven't looked at other teams' d-stats, but I think it's a safe bet that as a group, the Canucks have the highest scoring defensemen in the league.

In a move to save some money under the cap, the Colorado Avalanche have declined to pick up the 2006-07 season options on forward Joe Sakic and defenseman Rob Blake.

The Denver Post reports that the team will save roughly $700,000 in cap space this season because team payroll is based on the combined average of a player’s total contract. Sakic and Blake signed five-year deals with Colorado in 2001 with a team option for a sixth year. They would have each earned close to $7 million had the options been picked up. Both will become unrestricted free agents on July 1, unless they sign contract extensions with the club before then.

Sakic, who was drafted 15th overall in the 1987 Entry Draft has previously stated his desire to finish his career with the Avalanche.

I think it's a racist statement because a lot of the guys who are wearing chains are my age and are black.

I don't see it happening unless every NBA player is given a stipend to buy clothes . Guys who haven't been wearing suits and don't own suits, it will be really hard to get them in time for the season (needing to be specially made for tall players).

It's important that the players understand they have to respect the game. They have to respect the league. And they have to respect the fans. You must be a professional at all times.

As a management and coaching staff, the task of reducing this list to 23 players will be challenging as we strive to defend Olympic Gold in Turin.

• How's this for balanced scoring - the Canucks had five different goal scorers for the third game in a row. Daniel Sedin, Sami Salo, Markus Naslund, Mattias Ohlund (2 goals) and Brendan Morrison all scored for the 'Nucks. Morrison's goal was his first of the season.
• After a somewhat sluggish start to the season, the Westcoast Express seem to be finally rolling. Tonight, they combined for seven points; Morrison (1-2) and Bertuzzi (0-3) had 3 points each and Naslund scored his 6th goal of the season.
• Cloutier was a lot better tonight than his last two starts. He made the saves when he needed to make them, and never allowed the Blackhawks to get back into the game.
• On the other end, Khabibulin didn't look good at all. Maybe it's playing behind a much less experienced defense than the he one he played behind in Tampa? Or maybe the $6.75 million in his back pocket is weighing him down.
• How did the ref miss Barnaby's high-stick on Jovanovski? It happened right in front of him.
• Maybe it's because he was playing against the team that gave up on him, but Steve McCarthy had a solid game. He skated well, moved the puck well and even threw some hits. He logged a season-high 16:04 minutes of ice-time and finished with 4 hits, 3 blocked shots and a +2 rating.
• Anyone else think the Canucks have the best fourth line in hockey right now? Not only are Goren, Ruutu and Linden shutting down the opposition, they are creating their own offensive chances. They also have roles on the special teams - Linden and Ruutu take regular shifts on the penalty-kill; Goren plays on the powerplay.

Welcome one, welcome all to the Hockey Blog Carnival #11 here in the Land of Broken Dreams, known to the locals as Vancouver. It’s a dark, rainy, and depressing place. The surrounding doom and gloom tends to put me and the other locals in a rather foul mood most of the time.

Is it too early to suggest a goalie controversy?

• In just 7:46 minutes of ice-time, Lee Goren had 1 goal, 1 hit, 1 fight and 4 shots. He was also a +1 for the night. Not a bad stat line, especially for a fourth liner.
• The Stars looked tired tonight and had trouble keeping up with a speedy, determined Canucks team. They looked especially frustrated and undisciplined, giving the Canucks 10 powerplay opportunities, including two 5-on-3's; the Canucks scored 3 powerplay goals.
• For the second game in a row, the Canucks got 5 goals from 5 different players - Daniel Sedin, Salo, Goren, Bertuzzi and Park. Sedin's and Goren's goals were their first of the season.
• Brendan Morrison played an agressive game - probably his best game of the season - especially on the penalty kill. However, he was once again held off the scoresheet and only has 2 assists in 6 games so far.
• Besides the Stars' weak second goal, Alex Auld looked solid again in net. His save of the night came off a Bill Guerin one-timer - Guerin was wide open in front of the crease - with the Canucks only leading by one goal in the third. Including his win against Detroit, he is now 2-0 for the season and has only allowed a total of 4 goals.
• Still with Auld... interesting quote from Marc Crawford during his post-game conference. Asked about Auld's play tonight, Crawford smiled and said something like, "... that's what you want from your... (pause)... goaltenders... for them to make the timely saves..." Part of me thought he stopped himself from using the word 'back-up' to describe Auld. Also thought the 'timely saves' comment may have been a bit of a shot on Cloutier. Okay, I'm psycho-analyzing.
• Sami Salo again led the defensemen with 26:52 minutes of ice-time, but the rest of the minutes were fairly spread out over the rest of the defense. Ohlund and Jovanovski logged 21 minutes each; Allen and Baumgartner played 17 minutes each; and Steve McCarthy played a season-high 15 minutes. I like it as it means 1.) all six defensemen are playing well and 2.) the top-3 aren't logging 25-30 minutes - a lot of minutes in an 82-game season. (Baumgartner's minutes are on the high side, but this is partly due to the Canucks being on the powerplay a lot.)

There's an old expression, and I don't know who said it -- `The mind is willing but the body isn't, I wish no one had to do this because it's so hard, it's hard because you never think you're going to grow older and be unable to live up to the expectations you set for yourself.

That's what infuriates me about the game: the fact that... scoring... is the one thing I love to do, and it's almost like you are not allowed to do it anymore.

• Todd Bertuzzi was moved from the top line and onto one with Ryan Kesler and Matt Cooke. The line gave Minnesota fits all night. Bertuzzi, especially, played more like Vintage Todd. Kesler and Bertuzzi both scored their first goals of the season, albeit Todd's was an empty-netter.
• Richard Park had, easily, his best game as a Canuck. Playing on a line with Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund, Park didn't look out of place and had a 3-point night (1G, 2A).
• With three lines scoring last night, I wonder if Crawford will stick with these line combinations for a while.
• Bryan Allen also had a strong game. He was physical and didn't get beat a lot and finished a plus-3. He even occasionally jumped in and joined the play. Allen brings a physical element to the defense and the Canucks need him to have games like this more regularly.
• Cloutier gave up 3 goals in 13 shots. The third Minny goal (a screened shot from the point) no way he would have seen, but the first was off a gawd-awful rebound. Auld should start one of the upcoming home games - the Canucks play the next four of their games at GM Place - but I wouldn't be surprised if Auld started the first of the four.

"I think they can eliminate a lot of Europeans that come over that are mediocre and take a lot of jobs."

"... typical of French guys in our league with a visor on".

Mr. Avery's recent comments were insensitive and inappropriate. The National Hockey League takes great pride in the diversity of its player base and repeatedly has made it clear to the players and Member Clubs that comments of this type are not acceptable. In a communication sent to all Clubs yesterday afternoon, the League expressly reiterated its position in this regard and indicated that similar misconduct in the future would result in the imposition of League discipline.

• The Canucks were never really in the game. They had all sorts of trouble generating offense early in the game. In fact, at one point the shots on goal was 12-3 in favor of Minnesota. The Canucks picked it up in the third but it was too late at that point.
• I thought Steve McCarthy looked better tonight. He skated well. Still fumbled with the puck, but at least his legs seem to be getting there. I sincerely hope his early season struggles is just due to rust - he only played 25 games in 2003/2004 and didn't play anywhere during the lockout - and having to adapt to a new system.
• I wonder if I'm being an optimistic homer... but especially after his fight with Alex Henry, Todd Bertuzzi played some of his better hockey. He started handling and protecting the puck better. Later in the game, he even drove towards the net a couple of times. I hope tonight's game woke him up.
• Actually, I hope tonight's game serves as a wakeup call for the entire team.
• A tale of two games. Dan Cloutier kept the Canucks close, but Foy's flukey goal (to make it 3-0) seemed to rattle him. He had stopped 20 Minnesota shots at that point before letting in 3 of their last 8 shots, including Bouchard's on a penalty shot. I'm sure Canucks fans will scream for Auld to start Friday's rematch; I have a feeling Crawford will stick with Cloutier.

The No. 1 Reason the Yankees Aren't in the Playoffs Anymore:

"Who can concentrate on baseball when hockey is back?"

• The rest of the forwards finally decided to show up. Sedin, Sedin and Carter combined for 5 points, including Henrik's and Anson's first goals of the season, and were a combined +7 for the night. Matt Cooke and Richard Park (empty net) also scored for the first time.
• Cooke earned his money tonight. He was his usual agitating self and sparked the team with some solid hits. He also scored the tying goal on a breakaway after forcing a turnover in the Detroit zone.
• Alex Auld started his first game this season and stopped 28 of 30 Detroit shots, including a couple in the final seconds to preserve the win. Hopefully, he can continue to give Cloutier a breather every third game or so and keep Cloutier relatively fresh for the playoffs.
• In three games so far, Steve McCarthy has looked lost and tentative. I thought he was mostly responsible for Detroit's second goal when he let Tomas Holmstrom cruise to the front of the net. Probably his most telling stat is that he only played 11 minutes, none in the last 10 minutes of the game.
• Wade Brookbank was interviewed between periods and he mentioned that he expects to play in at least one of the two games in Minnesota. I wonder who he will draw in for - McCarthy, Baumgartner or Goren?
• Sami Salo again led the time with 26:24 minutes of ice-time. He also assisted on Henrik's goal to extend his point streak to three games. He now has 5 points (1G-4A) and is tied with Markus Naslund for the team lead in points.
• The Canucks held Detroit without a powerplay goal after Detroit scored five against the Flames the night before.

• Through this first weekend of the season, teams have combined to score 251 goals - an average of 3.14 goals per team per game. The average over the 2003/2004 regular season was 2.57 goals per team per game. So far, teams are scoring 0.57 goals per game more than last season - a 22% increase.
• The crackdown on obstruction has resulted in an average of 7.84 penalties called against each team per game. The average over the 2003/2004 regular season was 5.75.
• These penalties have produced an average of 6.84 powerplay opportunities per team per game, and have resulted in 1.19 powerplay goals per team per game. This means that a little more than one-third of the goals scored so far have come from the powerplay. In 2003/2004, teams averaged 4.24 powerplay opportunities and 0.70 powerplay goals per game; under 30% of the goals scored came from the powerplay.

Bertuzzi did not comment on the all the boos he heard Saturday night. But there were at least two Alberta fans who were cheering for the Canuck winger. Marvin and Roberta Lipka of Lethbridge were staying at the same Edmonton hotel as the Canucks. Marvin Lipka, who suffered a serious stroke two years ago that has left it difficult for him to speak, approached Bertuzzi for an autograph in the hotel lobby. "He was extremely cordial, he shook both of our hands twice, and we thought 'wow, we'll get this framed,'" Roberta said. A short time later two tickets to the Saturday night's game arrived at their hotel room courtesy of Bertuzzi. "My husband was in tears," she said. "It was such a nice gesture."

• For the second game in a row, Markus Naslund scored two goals. His season total of four goals ties him for the league lead. Unfortunately, he is the only Canucks forward to score so far. The other Canucks goals have been scored by Sami Salo and Mattias Ohlund.
• The second line of Sedin, Sedin and Carter have been invisible in two games - a departure from their strong preseason showing - and have yet to score a point between them. In fact, the line has been unable to generate anything offensively that in two games, they only have two shots between them. Both from Daniel.
• Hard to blame Cloutier on the first three Oilers goals. Especially on the last one, the defense has to do a better job of clearing that area out from in front of Cloutier. The Canucks need a crease-clearing defenseman. But we haven't heard that before, have we?
• Speaking of the defense, I don't know how much longer the Canucks can rely on their top 3 (Ohlund, Jovanovski and Salo) to log 30 minutes per game.
• Full credit to the Oilers' defense. They blocked shots and forced a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone. The Canucks had a hard time setting up their offense.

Assets: Possesses an excellent scoring touch and a deceptive shot. Usually pots goal-scorers' goals because he knows where to position himself. Is very accurate.
Flaws: Is slight in stature and will need to increase his strength to better handle NHL defenders. Must work on his play without the puck.
Career potential: Second line winger.

TSN's opening-day salary research indicates the excess spending is at least $110 million higher than the $907.5 million cap or ceiling, an aggregate total of at least $1.0175 billion. In order to balance that "over-spending," the players owe the league at least $110 million and it translates into a minimum 10 per cent withholding on their pay cheques for the first quarter of the season.

• The Vancouver Canucks, of course, opened the 2005/2006 with a 3-2 win against the Phoenix Coyotes. Markus Naslund led the team with 2 goals and Dan Cloutier stopped 30 of 32 shots. The complete game recap is here; the score sheet and stat sheet are here and here; as well, Vancouver Canucks Hockey Blog provides its own game recap here and Tom Benjamin provides his analysis here.
• In what will be his regular feature, James Mirtle shares his notes here; Jes Gőlbez shares his thoughts on opening night here; Eric McErlain feels good about looking back at boxscores instead of CBA-related stunts and provides his NHL roundup here; Paul from Kukla's Corner has his usual assortment of news and posts on opening night here.

• During the pregame introductions, the team showed the "My NHL" ad clip but with Canucks game footage spliced in and the "warrior" putting on a Canucks jersey - for me personally, this had a much better effect. I wonder if the league is planning on playing similar versions in each local market.
• The Northwest Division championship banner was already hanging on the rafters before fans were let in. I know it's not the Stanley Cup banner, but it still would have been nice to see it raised.
• On top of the miniature Stanley Cup "premium' gift from the league, the Canucks also handed out mini, replica banners prior to the game.

Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that had been away
Haven't changed, haven't much to say
But man, I still think them cats are crazy