EDMONTON, AB – APRIL 6: Connor McDavid #97 of the Edmonton Oilers can’t get a shot past goaltender Jacob Markstrom #25 of the Vancouver Canucks on April 6, 2016 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The game is the final game the Oilers will play at Rexall Place before moving to Rogers Place next season. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)
Vancouver, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning announced July 7 that the Canucks have signed goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a three-year contract extension. The contract will carry an annual average value of $3.67 million and will run through the end of the 2019.20 season.
“Jacob is a talented, competitive goaltender with size and a proven ability to make big saves at crucial moments in a game,” said Jim Benning. “He set career highs in several statistical categories last season and two years ago led the Comets to their first Calder Cup Final. He’s motivated and wants to help his team win. We’re excited to have Jacob competing in a Canucks uniform for years to come.”
Markström is a tall goaltender that has a lot advantage of being big and making himself look even bigger in net. He is a skilled goaltender with great mental strength as one of his major characteristics. He is cool, despite having a strong winner’s instinct. Plays the butterfly style with a decent glove and has fine positioning and agility in net. What has been noticeable, however, is that he sometimes goes down too early and has problems getting up on his feet fast enough after a save. He could also work some with his rebound control, but overall Markström has plenty of raw qualities that makes him a very interesting prospect.http://www.eliteprospects.com
Appearing in his sixth NHL season in 2015.16, Markstrom established career highs for games played (33), starts (30), wins (13), shots against (988), saves (904) and minutes (1,848). The 26-year-old finished the season with a 2.73 goals against average, a .915 save percentage and set career-highs for most shots faced (48) and most saves made (47) in a single game on March 22, 2016 at Winnipeg. Markstrom also posted a record of 1-0-1 along with a 2.40 goals against average during a two game conditioning stint with the AHL Utica Comets to start the season. In 83 career NHL games split between Vancouver and Florida, the 6-6, 201-pound goaltender has a record of 26-42-9 along with a 3.00 goals against average and .904 save percentage.
On the international stage, the Gavle, Sweden native has represented his country in numerous tournaments including the IIHF World Championship in 2016, 2013 (gold) and 2010 (bronze) and at the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2010 (bronze) and 2009 (silver). He is also set to represent Team Sweden at the 2016 World Cup.
Markstrom was acquired by Vancouver from Florida alongside Shawn Matthias in exchange for Roberto Luongo and Steven Anthony on March 4, 2014. He was originally selected by Florida in the second round, 31st overall, at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff January 15, 2016
The Vancouver Canucks (17-17-10) play the second game of their 6-game road trip tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes ( 20-18-7) at PNC Arena.
The Canucks will go for their third consecutive season sweep of the Hurricanes, while Carolina will try for their 5th win in a row against.
In their last game, Vancouver visited the Washington Capitals in the first game of their road trip last night at Verizon Center. The Canucks brought a 2-0-1 record in their last three games on the road into the game, looking for a third road victory in 4 games, and to end the Capitals 10 game home winning streak.
VANCOUVER, BC – JANUARY 6: Kris Versteeg #32 of the Carolina Hurricanes reaches to check Jared McCann #91 of the Vancouver Canucks during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 6, 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver won 3-2. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
But alas, it was not to be, as Vancouver, lost a tough one on the chin, 4 to 1, to the top team in the NHL, the Washington Capitals (33-7-3), who extended their consecutive winning streak at home to 11 straight games.
Radim Vrbata, had his second goal in his last 15 games; Bo Horvat, picked up his 7th point in 5 consecutive games (4-3=7); and Henrik Sedin, got his 28th assist of the season, his 7th assist in his last 10 games; his 3rd assist in two consecutive games. Ryan Miller, stopped 36 of 39 shots for a .923 Sv% for the Canucks.
Jacob Markstrom, who got the win against Carolina in Vancouver, will start against the Hurricanes. He has a 2.13 GAA and is 3-1-1 in his last five games, which includes the win against the Hurricanes.
“I look forward to facing them again. They’ll be fresh in our memory from when we saw them last week.”—Jacob Markstrom on Canucks Twitter.
Jared McCann will be in the lineup in place of Derek Dorsett who has the flu.
Taylor Fedun will his Canucks debut tonight in place of Yannick Weber.
“I’ve had lots of ups and downs which have allowed me to get where I am today. I’m reallly looking forward to tonight.”—Tyler Fedun on Canucks Twitter.
CANUCK JOTTINGS
Bo Horvat has 4 goals, 3 assists in his last five games, including 2 power play goals.
Since the start of the calendar year, Horvat ranks t-sixth in the NHL in goals scored (4) and is t-fourth in points (7).
Canucks are averaging 2.41 goals per game. For an 82 game schedule the estimate is Vancouver will finish with 198 goals. The least number of goals ever scored by a Vancouver team in a full season of 82 games are 192 by the 1998-99 Canucks.
In his last 13 games, Horvat has a FOW% of 50.4 percent (131 FOW and 124 FOL); 29 shots, 10 hits, 6 takeaways, 11 blocked shots; 2 PPG; 3 PPP; 9 PTS (4 G-5 A=9 PTS); and a 13.8 shooting percentage.
Canucks penalty kill is a killer at 26 for 29, 89.7 percent in their last 11 home games. And 34 for 40 in their last 12 games overall, 85.0 percent.
Vancouver has points in 12 of its last 21 (8-9-4=20 pts) & 15 of its last 27 games (10-12-5=25 pts).
Vancouver is 8 for 56, 14.3 percent in their last 19 games overall since December 1, 2015, with the man advantage (6 for 38, 15.8 percent at home in 11 games since December 1).
Captain Henrik Sedin is 6 games played from tying Trevor Linden (1140) for most games played in a Canucks uniform. Henrik has skated in 1,134 career regular season games and also ranks first in franchise history in points (952), assists (732), and plus/minus (+225).
Daniel Sedin tied Markus Naslund (346) for first all-time in franchise goals on January 11 against Florida. In the goals department, Daniel ranks first in franchise history in power play goals (121), game-winning goals (77), and overtime goals (14).
Vancouver has had 147 power play opportunities to date, tied for the 3rd most of any team in the League; 72 of these opportunities have been drawn on the road, 8th in the NHL.
The Canucks conclude their seventh of 13 back-to-back series this season with tonight’s game versus Carolina. Thus far, the Canucks have gone 5-5-3 in back-to-backs this season including a record of 2-4-1 in the first game and 3-1-2 in the second game. Last season, Vancouver played in 12 back-to-back series. They posted a 15-8-1 record in those series going 10-2-0 in the first game and 5- 6-1 in the second game.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin have played in 590 wins together. They have been Vancouver’s top two scorers every season since 2006.07. According to ESB, since 1990.91 the only pairs of teammates to play in more wins together are Niklas Lidstrom and Kris Draper (664); and Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom (599).
Alex Edler surpassed Garth Butcher for 13th (611) for most games played in franchise history, against the Washington Capitals on January 14, 2016.
Henrik Sedin is 2 ppg from tying Ryan Kesler (61) for ninth all-time in franchise ppg
Alex Edler is 2 goals from tying Sami Salo (74) for third all-time amongst defencemen in franchise goals
According to Elias Sports, with their win on Jan. 11 vs FLA, the Canucks became the first NHL team to end streak of two opponents, each streak of 9+ games, before Feb. 1 of a season
Vancouver has scored a power play goal in five straight games; they have gone 5 for 16 during that stretch, 31.3 percent.
Alex Edler leads the team in time on ice per game (24:35) and has led the team in that category in 39 of 43 games he’s played, including 21 games where he’s led all skaters in TOI. He currently ranks 17th in the NHL in TOI/GP.
Chris Tanev leads the team and ranks seventh in the League in blocked shots with 101. His defence partner Alex Edler ranks t- 12th in the NHL with 93 blocked shots.
Jacob Markstrom made a career-high eight consecutive starts from Dec. 22 – Jan. 11. He has posted a record of 5-2-1 and a goals against average of 2.19 and .927 save % during that stretch.
Canucks players aged 23 or younger that have appeared in the lineup thus far (Baertschi, Horvat, Hutton, Virtanen, McCann, Gaunce, Shinkaruk, and Etem) have accounted for 21.2% of points (59), 22.3% of goals (23), 20.6% of assists (36), and 21.2% of shots (271) for the team this season.
In the jammed Pacific division, except for top spot held by the Los Angeles Kings, positions 2nd thru 6th are wide open for the taking, and the Canucks have been making a steady upward move in the standings towards one of the two remaining playoff spots in the division. They are 5 points out of 2nd and 2 points from 3rd place; 1 point ahead of Anaheim in 5th; 2 points in front of Calgary in 6th.
In their last game, Carolina brought a three-game winning streak – all divisional victories – into a cross-conference game in St. Louis with an injury plagued Blues team last night . After back-to-back wins against Columbus, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Hurricanes defeated the St. Louis Blues for their 4rth straight win, 4-1 at Scottrade Center on Thursday night.
Brett Pesce, Brock McGinn and Riley Nash scored for the Hurricanes; Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist and goalie Eddie Lack made 23 saves.
The Hurricanes have earned points in 7 of its 8 games, are 7-2-2 in their last 11 games and are 12-5-3 in their last 20 games.
According to Canucks.nhl.com, Cam Ward may get the chance to extend Carolina’s winning streak to five games after Eddie Lack made 23 saves in a 4-1 victory at the St. Louis Blues.
CAROLINA HURRICANE NOTES
The line consisting of Eric Staal, Kris Versteeg and Elias Lindholm have points in three of the last four games.
Skinner is tied for third among all NHL skaters in game-winning goals and ranks tied for sixth among all NHL skaters in even-strength goals (14).
In the 20 games since Carolina started using an all-American blueline full-time, the Hurricanes are 12-5-3 and the defensemen have accounted for 46 points (13g, 33a).
With their win on Thursday at STL, the Hurricanes moved to 20-18-7 on the season. It marks the first time since the conclusion of the 2013-14 season that the team has posted an above-.500 record (36-35-11). The last time the Hurricanes were two games above .500 was after a 4-1 win vs. DAL on April 3, 2014 (34-32-11).
The Carolina Hurricanes lead all NHL teams in total takeaways (404). Carolina forward Jeff Skinner leads all Hurricanes skaters in takeaways with 45 so far this season. Skinner ranks second among all NHL skaters in total takeaways. Carolina rookie defensemen Brett Pesce (20), Noah Hanifin (16) and Jaccob Slavin (14) rank among the top five NHL rookie defensemen in takeaways.
Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk was selected on Thursday to represent the Metropolitan Division in the 2016 NHL All-Star Game in Nashville. Faulk ranks second in the league in power-play goals (12), and was the first player in the history of the NHL to score his
first 12 goals of the season on the power play. Faulk is tied for the most power-play goals by a defenseman in a season in franchise history (Risto Siltanen; 1983-84).
The Carolina Hurricanes rank second in the NHL in faceoff win percentage (53.3). Hurricanes blueliner Noah Hanifin ranks first among NHL rookie defensemen (sixth overall) in power-play ice time (88:07).
Point Streaks
JEFF SKINNER (2-1-3 / 2 Games)
In the tight Metropolitan division, except for top spot held by the Washington Capitals, positions 2nd thru 7th are wide open for the taking, and Carolina has been making a steady upward move in the standings towards one of the two remaining playoff spots in the division. They are 6 points out of 2nd; 4 points from 3rd place, and tied for a share of 4rth with New Jersey, going into the game tonight.
WESTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD STANDINGS
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE STANDINGS
2015-2016 VANCOUVER CANUCKS VS ALL TEAMS
CANUCKS PLAYER STATS
HURRICANES PLAYER STATS
STATISTICS COURTESY OF THE NHL AND VANCOUVER CANUCKS
CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff July 8, 2016
CANUCKS BANTER By Andrew Chernoff January 15, 2016
Andrew Phillip Chernoff 