Ask any coach of his from his checkered past, and you'll likely find out that Brad Isbister is one of the most frustrating players they have ever had the misfortune of coaching.
Blessed with great size (6'4" 222), good balance, and a blistering shot, Isbister has all the physical tools needed to be a successful power forward. It's just too bad that he seems to have none of the mental ones.
The phrase "a million dollar body and a ten cent head" is most appropriate when talking about the guy (although he is kinda pudgy), and one wonders how long he'll remain in the NHL. After the Canucks made him a healthy scratch for the third straight game, especially against a physical team like the San Jose Sharks, it's quite obvious that he isn't part of the team's plans for much longer.
The [line combination] alignment also showed that Brad Isbister has become a non-factor. For the third-straight game and 13th time this season, the winger was a healthy scratch. So, what does the future hold for a 6-foot-4, 225-pound grinder who seldom plays to his imposing size?
To describe Isbister's game, think of a big marshmallow. It's big, white, soft, and just sits there and provides little nutritional value or taste.
Isbister was given a prime opportunity to play a big role with the Canucks, a team in desperate need of both size and offensive output up front. Instead of seizing that opportunity by the throat, Isbister loafed around and put up a pathetic two goals and five assists in 30 games. All the while, Isbister rarely hit anyone, rarely broke a sweat, and spent more time hitting the local sushi buffets than working on his game.
After showing some potential with the Isles in his early days, Isbister has produced just 81 points in 224 games as he's floated between teams and between the AHL and NHL. As Isbister can't really provide much value in any facet of the game, I'd be shocked if another NHL team wants to take a chance on the guy. Good riddance to bad rubbish (I hope!).
Although it's one year too late -- and what former NHL player is going to give up a fishing trip for this? -- the Florida Panthers will celebrate their Cinderella run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals this weekend. Panthers alumni like John Vanbiesbrouck, Ray Sheppard and Bill Lindsay will join the majority of the players (sans schedule-conflicted Rob Niedermayer and Robert Svehla) who led Florida to the Finals in only the third year of the franchise, before being swept away by the Colorado Avalanche. There's a golf tournament, player appearances and an exhibition game at BankAtlantic Center on Saturday that will give hockey fans something they've long dreamed about: another chance to witness the majestic skating of Terry Carkner on NHL ice.
In 1995-96, they finished third in their division (41-31-10, 92 points) and fourth in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, then beat in the Bruins 4 games to 1 in a seven-game series, the Flyers 4-2 and the Penguins 4-3 before losing to the Avalanche in four games in the finals.
Right winger Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the dressing room with his stick minutes before the home opener that season, then scored two goals that night, prompting Vanbiesbrouck to declare Mellanby's feat a "Rat Trick." Throwing plastic rats on the ice after goals soon became a phenomenon.
"We accomplished some pretty lofty things with a group of guys who were considered mediocre players at the time," Lindsay said.
"Mediocre players at the time?" Has history been that kind to Johan Garpenlov and Jody Hull? Florida Panthers fans have every right to celebrate this unexpected season of meteoric success, lest they fall deeper into the depressing reality that their franchise is now known more for losing Roberto Luongo and failing to make the playoffs in the Southeast Division than plastic rodents. But for the rest of us, this weekend begs the question:
Are the Florida Panthers the most mediocre Stanley Cup finalist of the last 25 years?
With the Vancouver Canucks struggling to score more than two goals per game last season, GM Dave Nonis decides to go out and spend big bucks on ... defensemen?
Now, with the Canucks left with only about $3-4mil to sign a couple of wingers, many folks have begun speculating that a trade is in the works. The Canucks are either going to go into next season with a team that is based solely on winning 2-1 games, or somebody is going to be dealt.
Sami Salo? He just signed an extension. Kevin Bieksa? Ditto. Lukas Krajicek? Extension, and he's cheap. Willie Mitchell? He's got a no-trade clause.
This leaves, of course, 30-year old Mattias Ohlund, the veteran who makes $3.5mil a season.
Ohlund has seen a slight decline in play since the lockout, and his value will only continue to decrease. His lack of quickness is noticeable some nights, and he seems to be the best trade bait available for the Canucks to relieve salary pressure AND secure a good scoring winger.
Of course, I won't claim any insider knowledge. Nonis might very well be happy to stick Bourdon in the AHL and go into the season with the defense as it stands right now.
As an aside, don't pick Miller in your office pool. He hasn't scored a goal since BEFORE the lockout (138 games!).
The smarter GMs around the NHL have waited for the suckers and big spenders to lock themselves into expensive, albatross contracts with the biggest names. Why not sign an old guy with a creaky back (Ryan Smyth) to a 5-year deal, huh?
Now is the time when the bargain hunters come out to play, and try to find the Dumb and Dumber DVD stashed amongst the Pauly Shore VHS tapes in the clearance bin.
Unfortunately, Canucks GM Dave Nonis took the Pauly Shore movies, instead of looking for something of higher quality.
Nonis could have re-signed Jan Bulis, or perhaps went for a skilled guy like Jason Allison.
Sure, the terms are not disclosed, but the Canucks certainly overpaid for crap. As if the Canucks need more forwards who can't score.
Brad Isbister - He spent most of last season in the AHL because, well, he's an AHL-caliber player. He doesn't work hard, he can't score, his defense sucks, and he's just a warm body. Just check out his scouting report:
Takes far too many nights off, and has yet to shake the tag of chronic underachiever. Doesn't use his size nearly enough to maximize his potential
SEASON TEAM GP G A PTS 2006 NYR 19 1 4 5 2005 BOS 58 6 17 23 2003 NYI/EDM 66 13 15 28
Ritchie? He's a puny center with a whopping 31 points in 159 games the past three seasons. He's not all that great defensively, either.
It's gonna be another long, tiring year for Luongo ...
Chouinard was placed on waivers yesterday, the first step towards a buyout. He will be owed two-thirds of the $1.1 million US remaining on his contract once he clears.
The buyout amount -- $733,326 -- will count against the Canucks' salary cap and will be spread over two seasons, meaning Vancouver GM Dave Nonis will have $366,663 of "dead money" on the books for both the 2007-'08 and 2008-'09 NHL campaigns.
It is puzzling why the Canucks didn't just leave Chouinard on the farm, instead of putting some dead money on the cap total. The Canucks need every penny they can get, given their current financial situation and Markus Naslund's expensive contract.
Marc Chouinard was definitely a big disappointment for the Canucks, literally and figuratively. After giving the Minnesota Wild a few good seasons of solid 2-way play, Chouinard was absolute garbage for the Canucks.
SEASON TEAM GP G A PTS PIM
2002-03 DUCKS 70 3 4 7 40
2003-04 WILD 45 11 10 21 17
2005-06 WILD 74 14 16 30 34
2006-07 CANUCKS 42 2 2 4 10
If you ever wanted proof of Jacques Lemaire's coaching mastery, look no further than the fact they he got a 30-point season out of Chouinard. If the Wild don't want to re-sign him, then he seems to be pretty much worthless, unless you like slow-skating centermen. (Paging Bobby Clarke!!)
The list of smurf-sized players that rocked the minors and sucked in the NHL is longer than John Holmes: Steve Kariya, Brandon Reid, Stanislav Chistov, Jason Krog, Keith Aucoin, and Darren Haydar, to name a few.
Many such players often have to find a new team before they are given a chance to succeed, such as Ray Whitney and Martin St. Louis.
They [Ducks] were looking for a change for Ryan and we think he has a chance to be an NHL regular, but it's not a lock," Vancouver Senior Vice-President and General Manager Dave Nonis said.
"We think he has some upside and he definitely has a second gear - he's one of the fastest in the league but his size may be a factor."
After rocking the AHL to the tune of 95 points in 85 games over the past two seasons, Shannon, generously listed as 5'9" 178lbs, earned a full-time job with the Ducks, but produced just 11 points in 53 NHL games. You can be forgiven if you don't recognize his name, even if it is now engraved on the Stanley Cup. Shannon was a bit part for the Ducks, and never made his presence felt.
At 24, Shannon is no spring chicken, so he won't get a lot of chances to prove himself as an NHL-caliber offensive forward. That is why the Ducks let him go, and why the Canucks acquired him.
Ryan Kesler, the player ex-Flyers GM Bob Clarke once thought was worth a jaw-dropping $1.95million offer sheet last summer, has signed a 3-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks with very little drama involved.
Kesler, 22, appeared in 48 games for the Canucks last season, recording 16 points and 40 penalty minutes. He missed the last 34 games of the regular season due to a hip injury, but returned for Game One of the Western Conference Quarter-Final against Dallas. Kesler suffered a hand injury in the game that ended his season.
$1.75 mil/season seems like a lot for a player who averages a point every three games, but it's important to note the context:
1. You couldn't expect a player like Kesler to accept too drastic of a pay cut, now that he knows other teams value him quite highly.
2. Kesler is only 22 years of age. Power Forwards and tall forwards tend to take longer to develop, and Kesler still has the best years yet to come. It's better to pay big for the projected performance of his next three seasons, rather than overpay for past performance.
Kesler has already proven that he will be, and is, a fine penalty killing forward that plays well in the trenches. With the Canucks struggling so much for offense, it will be important for Kesler to make the leap and provide some playmaking genius.
There is reason to be skeptical, however, given Kesler's true talents and need to add more bulk to his wispy frame. Kesler had the label of 'offensively-challenged' when he was drafted, and hasn't shown the potential to make the leap from checking center to 2nd line center.
Still, even with the downside, the Canucks came away with a fair deal with not too much risk involved. There is a good chance that Kesler can make the leap to 35-40 points next season, barring any more freak injuries.
According to the Molvanian Academy of Sciences, there are over 52,500 twins on Earth that were separated at birth and don't know as such. For a variety of reasons, some brothers and sisters grew up with different names and lived different lives.
As a volunteer for the Academy, it is my duty to discover these long lost sets of twins and attempt to re-unite them.
Vin Diesel's real name is Mark Sinclair Vincent, Jan Bulis' real name is Fredrick Hans Von Struedelhoff. Super awesome people don't go by their real names.
The Sedins do everything together, including water aerobics, eating ice cream, buying condos, and cycling the puck in the offensive zone.
The Sedin twins are known for having some kind of psychic connection on the ice, and they have rarely ever been apart, save for penalty-killing situations.
Well, desperate times call for drastic measures, and it seems the twins will probably be split apart for Game Five:
"Obviously, they have played so well together all year long, they have been our best offensive players, but right now in the playoffs, except for maybe Game 1 and Game 7 of the Dallas series, they haven't been as good as they have been all year long," [coach] Vigneault told the Vancouver Sun. "They seem to be skating in quicksand on different nights. I know they want to do well and they want to be the go-to guys, but right now their game is not as good as it was during the season."
Not quite as good? That's quite understating it, don't ya think?
Henrik Sedin: An amazing 71 assists and 81 points in 82 regular season games compared to 2 assists and 4 points in 11 playoff games. Henrik's slap-pass on the Power Play is far too predictable and he's not having much luck connecting on his feeds. His team-worst -6, playing mostly head-to-head against opposing checking lines, is downright awful.
Daniel Sedin: Led the Canucks with 84 points in 81 games, but has just 5 in 11 playoff games. He actually leads the NHL in playoff shots (48), but has been snake-bit and also generating fairly low-quality chances. He needs to get to the front of the net more often.
The real issue is that the Sedin's can't or won't kick their game into another gear. While a guy like Trevor Linden is noticeably working harder and hitting anything that moves, the Sedins are cruising around at the same speed and intensity that they were in the regular season.
That just won't do ... so, maybe this wake-up call will do something. It has to, or the Canucks are finished.
Even Canucks coach Alain Vigneault couldn't keep a straight face Saturday when he tried his flu-bug defence in describing the implausible number of injuries which have left his blueline in tatters.
There is something very serious going around, but it's not the flu.
Kevin Bieksa - It's now believed that he is suffering an upper rib or shoulder injury, and not a real flu as was thought before.
Sami Salo - Suffered a back/tailbone injury after a slew foot from the Stars' Ladislav Nagy. Yep, he's got "the flu".
Rory Fitzpatrick - The latest victim of this mysterious 'flu', who will miss Game Three. The true cause of his injury is not quite known, but I doubt he's popping NyQuil and drinking a bucket of chicken soup right about now.
First had had Upper and Lower Body Injuries, and now we have The Flu? This is getting really quite silly. I know hockey is war and war requires subterfuge, but how much worse can these descriptions get? "Overtime Induced Fatigue"?
With their blue line ravaged, the Canucks had to call up defensively-challenged Yannick Tremblay. His unofficial nickname is The Turnstile ... This isn't good news :(
Ask any coach of his from his checkered past, and you'll likely find out that Brad Isbister is one of the most frustrating players they have ever had the misfortune of coaching.
With the Vancouver Canucks struggling to score more than two goals per game last season, GM Dave Nonis decides to go out and spend big bucks on ... defensemen?
The smarter GMs around the NHL have waited for the suckers and big spenders to lock themselves into expensive, albatross contracts with the biggest names. Why not sign an old guy with a creaky back (Ryan Smyth) to a 5-year deal, huh?
Another day, another buyout in the NHL.
Ryan Kesler, the player ex-Flyers GM Bob Clarke once thought was worth a jaw-dropping $1.95million offer sheet last summer, has signed a 3-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks 
The Sedins do everything together, including water aerobics, eating ice cream, buying condos, and cycling the puck in the offensive zone.
Common symptoms of The Flu include headaches, fatigue, stomach discomfort, runny noses, coughing, and loss of appetite.
