cam neely

There are many times I write absolutely irrelevant posts and get ripped apart, this might be one of those. Also, I am not attaching a spoiler alert to this guy because honestly…you should have seen the new Star Wars by now; it’s been a month. So what the heck am I even talking about? A simple comparison of two polarizing figures in their respective arenas (Jake literally) and a shameless excuse to fit Star Wars into a Canucks post.

I’ll try and keep it to the point.

This week’s Pass it to Bulis podcast had a heavy dose of Star Wars in it and it got me thinking about the newest spectacle “The Force Awakens” and who might relate to some of the characters. I’m probably wrong on this as I really wanted to compare Zack Kassian but he isn’t a Canuck anymore and that would ring on deaf ears.

I’m not so sure this won’t.

So Kylo Ren is the new villian in the Star Wars saga and he’s dealing with some personal issues, not to mention he has a slight case of FD (forcetial disfunction). He got the force from his mom Leia so its really like 3rd generation force and it just isn’t strong enough. Ren took over as the Dark Side captain but he struggles to live up to the potential that’s been placed on him by Snoke (new supreme leader) and the force itself.

Was he ready for the force? Is he going to be Vader when he grows up or will he just be another guy that joins the Dark Side and has angst. We’ll know soon enough in a few years.

Not so much unlike rookie Canucks winger Jake Virtanen. Jake was given the mantle as the next star winger that has size, a booming hit and finishing skills. He won’t be Todd Bertuzzi, Cam Neely or really the illusion we had of Zack Kassian before the bottom fell out. Virtanen has a great frame, clearly has skill with the puck and without; his “murders” are anticipated every single game and he’s still raw.

Kylo Ren and Jake Virtanen are at the beginning of their journeys where one needs to decide if he truly is evil and can destroy the Jedi’s existence while the other one is figuring out how to fit his role with the body and talent he’s been given.

Virtanen started his season with promise; he made some monster hits early on, the McDavid one still being everyone’s favourite, but then after being granted opening night status, slowly began to fade. OK, he’s totally green to the NHL and everyone has a different path on how they get there but it got to the point where it seemed Jake needed some kind of wake up call.

Sending him to the World Juniors was supposed to be that wake up call. Turns out, Big Country had a forgettable tournament and joined the rest of his Canada team mates when they went home before the semis. Jake came back with a chip on his shoulder and a headline that could crush any kid. He turned that into confidence and he’s now getting the feel for the game on his own terms.

He isn’t dealing with the force or a a giant digital head telling him what to do; Jake Virtanen is learning the NHL game and he’s been given an opportunity that clearly Kylo Ren turned down when the Resistance came to turn him back against the Dark Side. Jake’s development won’t be a steep learning curve, he’ll need guidance he’s getting more and more chances to show what he can do.

With a few goals on the season already, might we see the Force Awak….no, that was just bad. You can stop reading now.

Follow me on twitter: @always90four

Often we dream about the player that was traded away and turned out to be a star or the missed opportunity to draft a player who ends up being an elite sniper in the league; well what if all those decisions didn’t happen? This is the story of the Canucks team that never was.

Its summer 1986 in Vancouver, first round pick of the Canucks, Cam Neely is traded to the Boston Bruins for star forward Barry Pederson. The Nucks needed scoring and didn’t want to wait it out to see if Neely would become a star one day. At the time, not a fleecing at all, down the road….uh ya. But read on, its gets better.

The Neely trade is regarded as either the worst trade in NHL history or in the top two (Naslund for Stoynov folks!) The Canucks weren’t exactly making waves at the time and needed a boost. Well, what if they hung onto Neely and rode it out? Most likely he would have continued to develop under star and captain Stan Smyl and Vancouver still ended up with the 2nd overall pick in the 1988 draft. They would draft Trevor Linden.

Trevor Linden, everyone’s hero
Photo courtesy of nhl.canucks.com

So now you would have Smyl, Neely, Linden, Adams, Snepts (HARRRRRR-OLLLLLLD) and up and coming goalie Kirk McLean. Things would have picked up from there and who knows maybe the Canucks beat the Flames in 1989…..no cup for you Calgary! That alone feels good for most of us. Things are looking up right? So we beat Calgary, they don’t win the cup and now we go into the draft. I believe GM Pat Quinn still takes Pavel Bure that year late in the draft.

Pavel Bure was an All Star all the time.
Photo courtesy of russkiyhockey.wordpress.com

By 1991 when Bure made his debut, the Canucks would have quite the roster assembled and all because they waited and developed their own talent. Coach Pat Quinn would have one of the top arsenals in the NHL and a player like Neely who would become the NHL’s first power forward. Realistically, the Canucks may have had an opportunity at a Cup earlier than 1994, as early as 92. Although, the Oilers had just come off their run of Cups and the Penguins were the new breed of awesome with Lemieux and Jagr.

In 1991, the Canucks would have been harboring: Trevor Linden, Cam Neely and Pavel Bure. Greg Adams, Cliff Ronning and Geoff Courtnall. Rounding out the bottom would have seen Sergio Momesso, Jim Sandlak and Garry Valk. The defense would have been Jyrki Lumme, Gerald Diduck, Dave Babych and Jim Agnew. Oh, forgot to mention Igor Larionov would have been there still. Kirk Mclean would be our star goalie. A pretty solid group on paper and most likely would have done quite well in the Smythe division.

So what does all this mean? Am I saying this would have fixed all the Canucks problems to this date? Maybe. Would the Canucks have a unforgiving, lynch mob type fan base now? Probably not. Would Dave Nonis still have a love for Orange Julius hot dogs, most defintely!

This just shows had they hung on a biiiiiiit longer, the Canucks may have become an organization that would have been a chore to play every year, you would have never wanted them to draft anyone because they would turn them into stars and the organization most likely wouldn’t have taken their fan base for granted for so many years…they wouldn’t have had to.

The story gets better though. Ok, Canucks are stacked, looking good, everyone in the league is taking notice as are the fans around Canada. Pattie Mallette decides to move cross country to the west coast to start a new life after a troubled youth, she never rekindles her relationship with Jeremy Bieber and thus, the world never experiences Bieber Fever.

I know I like that story a whole lot better now. And one final head scratcher: IF, Cam Neely never leaves Vancouver and at the very least plays for the Canucks until at least the last few years of his career, does he ever play Seabass in the movie Dumb and Dumber? Probably not. The movie is based in Rhode Island, which is south of Boston where he would have never played. Would Dumb and Dumber have been the same movie? We’ll never know!

Follow me on twitter @hankthetank10