Black Ice Vancouver

“The wailing of the newborn infant is mingled with the dirge for the dead.”
-Lucretius

The plan was to write more about new additions, which is a thing I am having trouble with. There isn’t a whole lot to say about new additions at this point in a season, as though obviously neither of these men or the (now-injured. Fantastic. I’m blaming Sami Salo. He emits some kind of radiation, or he hit a witch with his car or something. I don’t know) new defensemen have created some hockey juggernaut in the Canucks, it’s also only 8 games in. Normally I might have some stuff to say about how a team has played, or pore through statistics on various things, but, like, here’s the thing: We kind of have to shut up for a second and give these poor fuckers a chance to do something measurable before we start your Cup party preparations or call for the head of the coach. Sure these 8 games have indicated all kinds of potential problems, but basically the most irritating thing for me as a sports fan are the articles written in the middle of a 3-game losing streak, or a player’s 6th pointless game. So, okay, I’ll write some more about the new additions.

Raffi Torres’ name is Raffi, which is great. I picture him with an afro half the time (why?) and forget about him the other, but when I do remember I can recall his days as a physical presence with occasionally soft hands, like a pre-awesome Todd Bertuzzi. He had a bad season last year, apparently has a bad attitude, and this will probably be the year that makes or breaks whether he’s seen as a difference-maker by future coaches and GMs. If you are excited about the career of Raffi Torres but haven’t really picked a side, this will be an exciting season for you.
Manny Malhotra is money in the goddamn bank so far. All I want is to see 15/16 in flashing lights over my bed, and I’m allowed to think this is significant because he kicked an equal amount of faceoff ass last year. He’s the king of the faceoff, and he’s earning every dollar they gave him. Nobody’s going to think that’s the case if he’s drawing the puck back to a team that can’t win, but you know, it’s 8 games in. At some point between Friday’s and Tuesday’s games we’ll be a 10th of the way through the season, so if the last thumping of the Wild (complete with essential contributions for the new guys) didn’t swing the old Canucks Fan pendulum back to excitement, we’ll hang Vigneault off the Georgia Viaduct. Okay?

–Clayton Pierrot