Canucks Daily: Kane Should be Suspended, Selke Handout

The Vancouver Canucks will join the rest of the NHL in evaluating the results of the NHL Scouting Combine that unfolded in Buffalo over the weekend and decide if and how much it impacts their NHL Draft decisions come July 7th and 8th.

Cutter Gauthier of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, the system that produced Canucks centers past and present, Ryan Kesler and JT Miller, was the star performer according to the NHL, finishing in the top-10 in five of the test categories.

Later today we’ll take another look at the Vancouver Canucks possible pick at 15th overall or whether on not they’ll trade up.

Kane – Kadri

It was a dirty play, Nazem Kadri of the Colorado Avalanche is injured and will miss at least the rest of the Western Conference Final, and Vancouver native Evander Kane deserves a one-game suspension for the blatant hit from behind. If it were regular season it would garner a much stiffer sentence.

With the Edmonton Oilers on the brink of elimination, it’ll be interesting to see if the NHL is willing to suspend the club’s overzealous power forward, who just happens to lead the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 13 goals.

Besides an offensive threat, Kane is also a menace, as much to his own club as he is to opponents. He’s leading the playoffs with 37 penalty minutes, and the five-minute major that resulted from the Kadri hit took the momentum away from the OIlers soon after Connor McDavid gave the team a 1-0 lead in the first minute of Game-3.

Edmonton gained a little mojo back by successfully killing the penalty, but things weren’t the same. Colorado went on to win the game Saturday night by a 4-2 score to take a 3-0 lead in the series.

Let’s be Frank

Frank Selke was a nine-time Stanley Cup champion as a hockey executive and in 1978 the NHL decided to name a trophy after him. Sometime Sunday afternoon we’ll learn who this year’s recipient is, recognized as being the best defensive forward in the National Hockey League. Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, a winner of the award on four previous occasions, Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers, who won it last year, and Elias LIndholm of the Calgary Flames are the three finalists.

Early Start

Vancouver Canucks fans, grease up the popcorn popper a bit earlier today, the Eastern Conference Final game between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning begins a little after noon Pacific. The Broadway Blueshirts lead the series two-nil.

Enjoy the Hockey Action !!