Breaking down the schedule
A forensic look at the 2015-16 season — and a thinly-veiled plea to a wife
Because it’s NHL draft day, because all anyone can talk about is Connor McDavid, here are three quick questions that come to mind when we look at the Canucks’ 2015-16 schedule:
When are the Edmonton Oilers coming to town?
Will we actually have to buy scalped tickets to an Oilers game for the first time since the Gretzky years?
Sorry, are these the Oilers we’re talking about? Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?
Oct. 18. A Sunday night. Perfect. Happens to be the sports editor’s birthday, in case the sports editor’s way better half is wondering what to get the husband who has everything. (And no, they don’t need to be good seats. Just get me into the building.)
A few other things that jump out while poring over the sked:
FEAR THE FERLAND
Micheal Ferland certainly made his mark — actually, many marks, most of them black and blue — on the Canucks just two months ago. It really was rather unpleasant and unexpected (over and over again, for about six games) for the seemingly favoured Canucks in the first-round playoff matchup. Well, there’s nothing like trying to shed bad memories right off the bat — the Canucks and Flames open the season with a home-and-home (in Vancouver Oct. 7, in Calgary Oct. 10). Then, oddly enough, the teams don’t meet again for another four months.
TEAM’S WORST ROADTRIP
It might be a three-way tie, as the Canucks play …
a) seven games in 12 November nights in three states and three provinces;
b) six games in 10 December nights in five states;
c) six games in 10 January nights in five states.
The flip side? The Canucks leave Vancouver just seven times in the season’s final 11 weeks — and just one of those trips is as much as a three-gamer.
BEST ROADTRIP FORTHE FAN
Sure, the Southern California twofer trips are popular — they happen this year in mid-October, the end of November and early March — but let’s offer another option, shall we?
Start your trip Jan. 14 in Washington, D.C., against the Capitals. Then skip the following night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes, choosing instead to spend a couple of days at the various Smithsonians and in Georgetown bars. An easy train ride up to New York, where you’ll be among the first (relatively speaking) to see the New York Islanders at their new home in Brooklyn Jan. 17, followed by a game at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers Jan. 19. Got more time? Train up to Boston to see the Bruins Jan. 21, then finish what would certainly qualify as an ultimate road trip in Pittsburgh to see Sidney Crosby and his less-than-merry band of Penguins for an early afternoon game Jan. 23. With a bit of dashing through Toronto’s Pearson or Chicago’s O’Hare, you might just be home in time for last call at the Roxy. (That’s what Shane O’Brien would have done.)
FIVE OTHER HOME GAMES (NOT NAMED MCDAVID) WORTH BUYING TICKETS FOR
Well, we now know which other divisional games will sell out fast. Hmmm, Dec. 26 vs. Edmonton and the season finale, April 9 vs. Edmonton. Five others of note?
1. Oct. 27: Carey Price, the B.C. boy who won the (deep breath) Hart, Vezina, Lindsay and Jennings Awards — and was clearly robbed of the Lady Byng — makes his annual visit. This time last year, the Rog rocked throughout Price’s visit, which ended with a spectacular bit of Sedin-to-Sedin overtime wizardry that reminded us that the Tortorella Era was over.
2. Nov. 4: There are a few of us here at Province Sports who feel the 2010 Olympics need more lasting legacies — like, say, a statue of Sidney Crosby winning the gold medal. He’s practically ours, right? No? Crosby’s in town that night with the Penguins. Who cares if he never wins another Stanley Cup? When he’s on, he reminds us of McDavid. (Note: We have no idea if that’s true.)
3. Nov. 21 and March 27: The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks visit. We don’t hate them any more. We envy them. And we stand and applaud them.
4. Dec. 7: We used to get really excited for the Cody Hodgson visits. Now … not so much. However, there is No. 2 pick Jack Eichel. And, in his first Vancouver appearance as a Sabre, Vancouver’s Evander Kane.
5. April 4: The Canucks eliminate the Los Angeles Kings from post-season contention with an 11-1 victory, highlighted by a five-point night by Zack Kassian and Ronalds Kenins’ fourth hat trick of the season. I mean, isn’t that the way things always end for the Kings?