head coach: Mike Keenan

roster: C - Mark Messier, Peter Zezel, Dave Scatchard; LW - Markus Naslund, Brad May, Gino Odjick, Donald Brashear, Larry Courville; RW - Alex Mogilny, Pavel Bure, Brian Noonan, Scott Walker, Todd Bertuzzi D - Jyrki Lumme, Dana Murzyn, Matthias Ohlund, Grant Ledyard, Bret Hedican, Dave Babych, Bryan McCabe, Steve Staios, Enrico Ciccone, Bert Robertsson; G - Sean Burke, Arturs Irbe.

injuries: Enrico Ciccone, d (returned from fractured tibia February 2, missed 10 games); Gino Odjick, lw (knee January 24, day-to-day); Larry Courville, lw (wrist January 14, out for season); Dana Murzyn, d (knee December 27, out for season).

transactions: Geoff Sanderson, lw, traded to Buffalo for Brad May and a 1999 third-round draft choice, February 4; Mike Sillinger, c, traded to Philadelphia for a 1998 conditional sixth-round draft choice, February 5; Peter Zezel, c, acquired from New Jersey for a 1998 fifth-round draft choice, February 5; Trevor Linden, rw, traded to New York Islanders for Bryan McCabe, d, Todd Bertuzzi, rw, and a 1998 third-round draft choice, February 6; Lonny Bohonos, rw, placed on waivers February 6; Dave Roberts, lw, assigned to Syracuse (AHL) February 6; Chris McAllister, d/lw, assigned to Syracuse (AHL) February 6.

standings:

Western Conference - Pacific Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA 
Colorado     58  29  13  16    74  172  138
Los Angeles  55  26  20   9    61  161  146
San Jose     56  21  28   7    49  139  152
Edmonton     57  19  28  10    48  141  164
Anaheim      56  19  28   9    47  137  170
Calgary      57  16  30  11    43  149  179
Vancouver    57  16  33   8    40  153  203

game results:

1/26 at Phoenix   L 4-2
1/28 at Colorado  L 6-1
1/30 New Jersey   W 3-1
1/31 at Edmonton  W 6-3
2/02 Colorado     L 2-1
2/06 Edmonton     W 5-4
2/07 San Jose     W 6-3

team news:

by Carol Schram, Vancouver Correspondent

These pesky Vancouver Canucks certainly provide no shortage of things to talk about. As we head into the NHL's "Winter Break," we're talking about Canucks at the Olympics, what might be the biggest trade in team history, and - get this - a winning streak.

When it seemed like it couldn't be done, Vancouver has gone and won four of its last five games. They're still last in the Western Conference, but they're still just nine points out of the last playoff spot, with 25 games to go. A ton of those remaining games are also so-called "4-pointers" - against those same teams that the Canucks will be trying to catch.

As much as it seemed impossible, the energy surrounding this hockey team feels like it has been changing for the past couple of weeks. Even the most skeptical followers admit that, far in the distance, there may be a small ray of hope still flickering. It looks like the rudderless management ship is still going to do everything it can to salvage this season.

Meanwhile, even Trevor Linden's staunchest supporters couldn't deny the fact that he was having the worst season of his 10-year career. But that didn't ease the shockwaves that traveled through the city on Friday afternoon when the rumor began to circulate that Mike Keenan had really done it: he traded the Canucks' heart-and-soul to the New York Islanders.

Since being granted permission to "work the phones" a couple of weeks ago, Keenan had obviously been moving at a frantic pace in an effort to shore up his squad before the Olympic trade moratorium came into effect at 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, Feb. 6. Wednesday night, he made his first deal, sending month- old Canuck Geoff Sanderson to Buffalo. While everyone knew the formerly prolific Sanderson had struggled in Carolina before the Canucks acquired him, his performance here had been less than stellar: no goals and three assists in nine games with Vancouver before suffering a shoulder injury January 21 against Phoenix. A smaller, speedy player with talent, Sanderson was suddenly labeled a one-dimensional Russ Courtnall clone, and the guy who supposedly won the McLean/Gelinas trade for the Canucks was on the move to Buffalo, for Brad May and a third-round draft choice.

A lot of Vancouver fans had been upset when gritty team MVP Martin Gelinas was traded to Carolina in January, but the idea was that a talent-upgrade existed. A month later, when you look at the trade as Martin Gelinas for Brad May, the deal's a little tougher to swallow. It's ironic, too, because at this point May looks like he is going to have the toughest time of all the newcomers fitting into the Canuck system.

It's becoming more and more obvious that it's no easy task playing on a line with a guy like Pavel Bure. While Mark Messier has taken more criticism in the last month than he had since joining the team, that has been mostly because everyone else has already shouldered his share of the blame for this dismal season. Fact is, Pavel and Mark have clicked together, and Messier's not playing that bad for a 37-year-old. But first Tom Renney and now Mike Keenan have tried everyone and their dog on the left side, and no one has been able to boost the pair beyond what they can do on their own. Rather than loading up a line, Keenan seems intent on adding some grit and a fear factor. He'll occasionally throw Alex Mogilny out when offense is desperately needed, but he has favored the big grinders, from Donald Brashear to Gino Odjick to Chris McAllister, whenever he can get away with it. Clearly, that was Keenan's thinking behind the May deal. He traded a left-winger for another left-winger - a bigger one, with more grit and, perhaps, a power forward's scoring touch. In his first two games with Pavel and Mark, Brad May has looked happy enough to be on the line, but he has yet to contribute in any significant way.

Trade number two came Thursday, when Keenan shipped Mike Sillinger off to Philadelphia for a conditional sixth-round draft choice. Again - not a huge surprise. Sillinger had done some time in the press box and the former first-round draft choice was clearly "not Keenan's kind of player". Despite his success in the face-off circle and the Canucks' ongoing shortage of pivots, Sillinger is smallish and neither gritty nor durable enough for Keenan's liking. Despite having put up the best numbers of his career with 37 points last season, a move to the Flyers will likely keep Sillinger in the ranks of the NHL's "fringe players" - at least until expansion creates another 80 or so playing jobs.

The subtraction of Sillinger made sense, given what we know about Keenan, but the motive for his timing became clear a couple of hours later, when Iron Mike picked up veteran center Peter Zezel from the New Jersey system, for a fifth-round draft choice. Zezel is 32, six years older than Sillinger, and he had played just five NHL games this year with the Devils, spending most of his time with the AHL's Albany River Rats. But Zezel is, definitively, one of Keenan's boys. He is solid and stocky, and has already done time twice under Iron Mike - during the late-80s glory years in Philadelphia, then again during 1995-96 in St. Louis. This looked like one of those classic, wacky, Keenan maneuvers that Vancouver fans had all been worried about; then Zezel skated on the ice and popped the team's first goal, just 53 seconds into his first game as a Canuck, centering the second line with Alex Mogilny and Markus Naslund. Maybe it was just adrenaline, but there's no doubt: Zezel shone in his first two games wearing the new killer whale logo (which can't possibly feel any crazier than being a River Rat).

Even after the Zezel deal came down Thursday afternoon, there was a feeling that Mike wasn't done. The rumor was that Keenan had said "By the time Trevor Linden gets on that plane for Nagano, he won't be a Vancouver Canuck." Whether or not the statement was ever made, the content was accurate. By Friday afternoon, word had started to leak that the axe had fallen and the lifelong Canuck was outta here. The New York Islanders had long been rumored to be interested in Alex Mogilny, and it was well known that their gritty captain, young defenseman Bryan McCabe, was up for grabs. But when the trigger was finally pulled, it was Linden who was gone, in exchange for McCabe, hulking winger Todd Bertuzzi, and another third- round pick.

While McCabe is considered the real deal, who perhaps had too much responsibility thrust upon him too early on Long Island, Mike Milbury had been making a singular hobby of dressing down Bertuzzi every chance he got. While Milbury admitted, in post-trade interviews, that "If I thought he could fulfill his potential I'd be a fool to make this deal because his potential is so vast," Milbury also said "We tried everything to get him going except put bamboo shoots under his fingernails." He seemed particularly miffed that, while Bertuzzi's offensive numbers haven't been stellar, his bruising winger seemed reluctant to get into the physical side of the game. Ironically, that could make him an ideal replacement in Vancouver for Linden, who was also knocked steadily through his career for his reluctance to drop the gloves.

In their first game with the Canucks, Saturday against San Jose, McCabe put up a +3, partnered with worst- in-the-league Jyrki Lumme, in a solid outing, and Bertuzzi seemed to have no trouble getting himself psyched. On his first shift of the game, just 57 seconds in, Bertuzzi laid out a beautiful pass to Dave Scatchard, giving the Canucks a 1-0 lead before the game was a minute old, for the second straight night in a row. Bertuzzi added a goal of his own in the second period and finished +1 for the night on a line with Keenan's old favorite Brian Noonan and new favorite Scatchard.

Three wins in their last four home games have done a lot to erase the sting of the trades and the horror show that we have already witnessed this season. When the Canucks put up a 2-0 lead in the first period against New Jersey on January 30, they got a standing ovation from a crowd that had seen just five wins at GM Place to that point all year. The other so-called 'home' win happened during the season-opener in Japan. No matter how bad it gets here, Canuck fans do want to see winning hockey, and just like they believed when the team traded for Alex Mogilny and they believed when the team signed Mark Messier, this latest batch of changes is making them believe once again. That will help ease some of the pressure on management during what could have been an interminably long Olympic break.

So here's a quick summary of the Canucks' current lineup after this latest batch of comings and goings:

Goal: Arturs Irbe has started the last five games, since Sean Burke got shelled in the third period of a 6-1 loss in Colorado. Always known for his streaky play, Irbe has been solid, if a little unnerving, while the team around him has renewed its commitment to better defensive play. It's very tough to say if Keenan will stick with the little Latvian after the Olympics, or if he will return to Sean Burke. Of course, both goaltenders are free agents at the end of this season, so each has more than enough incentive to put together a good stretch run in order to help secure himself a healthy contract on the open market this summer.

Defence: Matthias Ohlund and Bret Hedican have been the top defensive pair for most of the season, and Hedican appears to have permanently inherited Trevor Linden's "A" now that the former Captain is gone. In the past, substitute alternates have included Dana Murzyn, who's out for the year, Jyrki Lumme, who's having the worst season of his life, Dave Babych, who's now little more than a role player, Martin Gelinas, who's been traded, and Alex Mogilny, whose talent still shines through, but who has not asserted himself as a core member of this season's Canuck team. So the "A" fell to Hedican when Linden hurt his knee down in Phoenix two weeks ago. My guess is that Keenan's next choices would have been either Noonan or Scatchard, but an "A" is a bit of a hefty honor to bestow on a rookie, no matter how much he is buying into the system.

So far, it has been only one game, but it looks like McCabe could be an ideal fit for Jyrki Lumme, who has struggled all year. McCabe is a younger, more talented version of Lumme's regular defensive partner Dana Murzyn, and could provide the solid grounding that Lumme needs in order to effectively play his sometimes erratic game. Keenan is a big fan of mostly using four defensemen, so those are the faces you can probably get used to seeing. Right now, his third pair is reliable veteran Dave Babych and big-but-buffoonish Enrico Ciccone. This latest series of moves looks like it could mean curtains for Adrian Aucoin and Grant Ledyard. The latter has now admitted that he requested a trade more than a month ago, and has heard nothing back while he sits out more games than he plays. Former defenseman-turned-winger Chris McAllister has been returned to Syracuse with the arrival of this batch of new bodies, but Steve Staios and Bert Robertsson remain up with the big club.

Forward:
Brad May Mark Messier Pavel Bure Markus Naslund Peter Zezel Alex Mogilny Brian Noonan Dave Scatchard Todd Bertuzzi Donald Brashear Scott Walker Steve Staios

These were the four lines Keenan used, with decent success, against San Jose, and it's clear enough why each of these players is lined up with the others. Bert Robertsson and Gino Odjick were scratched, and Lonny Bohonos and Dave Roberts have been placed on waivers on their way back to Syracuse. Keenan may not be done trying to upgrade these lines just yet, either. Gino is resigned to the fact that his days here are numbered. Keenan has said that he won't play Gino and Donald Brashear in the same game and Brash, while leading the league in penalty minutes, also manages to put up some offensive numbers and create a decent presence on the ice. The eternal question, of course, is "Where does he go?" and "What do you get in return?" Markus Naslund has been playing fairly well in recent weeks and might have worked himself off the bubble, but he could also still be moved - here's bettin' that the Brad May deal began with Keenan dangling Naslund to Buffalo, rather than Sanderson.

One thing's for sure though - the revolving door that we were promised has definitely started to spin, and it is going to keep right on turning until the NHL's March trade deadline. And the Canucks - don't look now, but the chemistry does appear to be changing, and they are back in the hunt for the playoffs.

Who woulda thought??

OTHER NEWS:

* Trevor Linden will be missed by more than just hockey fans here in Vancouver. He was, of course, so renowned for his charity work in the city that he won the NHL's King Clancy award last summer and was named Gillette Sportsman of the Year for his extra-curricular community activities. He built a tremendous base here, even setting up a charitable foundation in his name, and has promised to return in the summers and, likely, when he finishes his career. His wife Cristina is also from the area. While many agree that the writing was on the wall in terms of Linden's hockey career, he left with a tremendous positive image and reputation in the city, and will always be remembered with tremendous fondness. Vancouverites are emphatically wishing him well with Team Canada in Nagano.

* Three other Canucks are going for the gold on behalf of their countries: Pavel Bure for the underdog Russians, Matthias Ohlund for the Swedes, and Jyrki Lumme with Team Finland.

* Meanwhile, Donald Brashear has got himself a court date in New Jersey over the holidays. The tough guy failed to make a scheduled early-February appearance on an assault charge stemming from an incident over the summer, but he is planning to return to the resort town and get the situation sorted out over the break. For many of the other players on the team, I guess there will be moving trucks to call and personal details to sort out; either that, or local hotels are going to be a little fuller for the rest of the year.

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