When the Vancouver Canucks debuted their Vancouver Millionaires jerseys back in March, we wondered aloud if the original plan had been to debut the historic duds versus the Ottawa Senators, the team the Millionaires defeated back in 1915 for Vancouver’s lone Stanley Cup.

No, we were told when asked (proving the worst thing you can ever do is ask), that had never been the plan.

That said, if the Canucks did want to sport their heritage jerseys versus the Senators, it would appear that next March will yield a golden opportunity. According to multiple reports, the league is planning to go from one outdoor game to six in 2013-14, with the sixth and final game in what’s being called a stadium series happening just next door to Rogers Arena in BC Place. Vancouver will obviously be one of the two teams. The other club: the Ottawa Senators, who have been sore about the way we stole Cyclone Taylor and then their Stanley Cup for 99 long years.

GRUDGE MATCH.

It took 65 minutes, but the Canucks finally got some good, clean looks on Brian Elliott. Granted, these looks came in the shootout, where you have to trade good clean looks with the opposition, but still. Let’s call this a moral victory. Considering the difficulty the Canucks had mustering shots on goal, let alone shots from areas where Elliott might have been remotely challenged, we can call breakaways the Blues were forced to allow them after overtime a win.

Granted, it’s a lot harder to call the result of the shootout a win, since the Canucks failed to score on the Blues as many times as the Blues scored on Schneider. Looking at it this way, it’s harder to call the shootout a victory. I’d be tempted to call it a loss, even.

I watched this game.

Canuck fans didn’t quite know what to make of Alain Vigneault’s decision to play Ryan Kesler and Derek Roy on the same line in Nashville. If the acquisition of Roy was motivated by a desire to make the Canucks deeper down the middle, playing a member of Vancouver’s recently upgraded stable of centres on the wing doesn’t exactly jibe with that plan.

That said, you can see why Vigneault might want to try it now. With 10 games to go in the regular season, he was handed the tall task of trying to get familiar with a team that suddenly had Derek Roy and a rebuilt Ryan Kesler on it. The addition of these two gives him a lot to assess in a short time, and on Monday, he began an assessment of the potential chemistry between the pair, with Kesler in the middle between Roy and Jannik Hansen.

Five minutes into the game, the chemistry experiment paid off as Derek Roy got his first as a Canuck to push the club’s early lead to two. But make no mistake — it wasn’t exactly chemistry that led to this goal. It was the only thing better than chemistry: terrible, terrible defensive coverage. Take a look:

Among the many, many salient (and dare I say mind-blowingly accurate) points in our most recent game recap was an observation on Dale Weise playing on Derek Roy’s wing. “He’s basically the gremlin in Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” I wrote. “He shouldn’t be on that wing.” At this point, I sat smugly and waited for my comedy award. It never came, perhaps because referencing specific episodes titles from a program that went off the air in 1964 is a good way to alienate your audience.

But Alain Vigneault got it, and over the weekend, he decided it was time to upgrade Derek Roy’s linemates in a big way. Dale Weise was removed from the line. In his place came the former Selke winner, Ryan Kesler.

New Van Fan is a web-series that follows the adventures of long-time Canucks fan Dan as he attempts to bring novice Canucks fan Andreas up to speed. The whole thing may or may not be an excuse to point out the inherent silliness of this fanbase — we’re not quite sure. Have an idea for an episode? Suggest it in the comments.

The Canucks have struggled versus the Colorado Avalanche for quite some time. No matter what they try, no matter what they do, they can’t seem to not get points. Coming into this game, Vancouver was 18-0-2 in their last 20 versus the Avs, and 10-0-0 in their last 10. You can understand how they might be a little complacent — these days, the Canucks could practically spot the Avalanche two goals and still come away with a win.

Unfortunately, there’s a difference between practically and literally, and the Canucks did it the latter way Saturday afternoon.

Even still, their struggles against Colorado continued — the Canucks still almost won. But, eventually, the Avalanche broke through, taking advantage of the complacency that had cleverly cultured for the last 20 games to finally catch the Canucks unawares. The result: the Avalanche won this game. And I watched this game.

Spitballin’ (or Super Pass It To Bulis: All In, if you love adventurous acronymizing) is a feature that allows us to touch on a multitude of things really fast, because in the world of hockey, there are always lots of things to find and colour. Here are a few quick topics.

When Raffi Torres left Vancouver for Phoenix, we wondered aloud if the Canucks had anybody on the payroll that could replace what he brought. Two years later, I think it’s safe to say that Zack Kassian is the closest we’ve come. But it’s not just that he’s a big, bruising forward with soft hands, or that he’s a little bit insane. It’s also that photogenic face.

I don’t mean photogenic in the usual sense. It’s not that Kassian’s looks good in photographs, or that his features are stand out in some special way. But a photo of Zack Kassian is likely to be hilarious, much more so than your usual hockey player, in much the same way a photo of Raffi Torres was almost a sure-fire laugher.

And as it turns out, Kassian’s amusing photogenicity is somewhat transferrable. His mere presence in a picture can turn those around him into hilarious comedy props. Case in point, this shot from Monday night of Kassian and Coyotes forward Rob Klinkhammer, which is amazing:

Ryan Kesler returned to the Canucks lineup versus the Coyotes, and to these eyes, he looked pretty good. He scored a goal, he facilitated some breakouts, and he tilted the ice in the Canucks’ favour. But he’s still got a ways to go before he’s back to top form, and with the schedule winding down and practice days few and far between, Kesler will have to play his way into game shape.

The topic of Kesler’s limited practice time came up during an intermission interview Monday night, and a happy-to-be-back Kesler responded, simply, “We talkin’ about practice?” It was, of course, a reference to one of the greatest interviews of all-time, Allen Iverson’s infamous practice rant.

But in case you missed the reference, our old friend MAKAVELI719696, creator of Bruins’ takedowns “Embellishment City” and “The Ironing Is Delicious”, decided it was time to make it more explicit, mashing up the two interviews in a small masterpiece this morning:

The Canucks have been in a lot of low-scoring games lately, but this one felt different. Prior games have been snoozefests — actually, scratch that. A snoozefest sounds amazing. Think about it: an entire festival dedicated to sleeping? That’s a yes. Sleep is fantastic. Snoozefest is the wrong word. But the prior games have been mundane.

This one wasn’t. The Canucks dominated the Coyotes for the majority of the night, peppering Mike Smith like he was a Caesar salad and they were the waiter at an Olive Garden. With a lesser goaltender in the opposition end, this might have been a blowout. But Smith kept the Coyotes close. By the end of the night, Phoenix had come to rely on him so thoroughly that, when he left the goal for the extra attacker, they got confused and scared and scored on themselves. Related: I watched this game.

Derek Roy has played just two games with the Vancouver Canucks to date, so it’s safe to say that we’re still in the process of getting to know him. There’s plenty yet to learn about the diminutive centre, and plenty of rumours about his on and off-ice activities to sort through.

But while we could figure it all out over time, we don’t have the luxury of time here at PITB. We have an annual bandwagon cheat sheet to prepare.

Thankfully, Roy has a lot of history in the NHL already. He played seven years in Buffalo, for instance. That in mind, we reached out to Sabres blog Die By the Blade in an effort to determine what’s true about Roy and what isn’t.

Today in Quotes Taken Out of Context: Ryan Kesler might need a cream or a gel or something.

There are two ways for Canuck fans to look at this game: on the one hand, you could be upset with the way the Canucks played, which would be fair since they didn’t play well. They were sloppy from top to bottom, making lazy, easily intercepted outlet passes, surrendering prime scoring chances, and forcing Cory Schneider into a virtuoso performance to preserve the victory.

On the other hand, they still won, and handily. Why? Beecause, as bad as they were, they still weren’t worse than the Calgary Flames on a good night. It’s tougher to be upset with Vancouver when Calgary exists to remind you that it could be much, much worse. With that thought hanging in the back of my mind, I was extremely content when I watched this game.

The Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers met for the second time a week on Thursday night and, mercifully for Vancouver hockey fans, the Canucks managed to flip the script in round two. Rather than leaving the game having made zero saves, Cory Schneider made all the saves. Rather than being outscored 4-0, the Canucks did the same to the Oilers.

And, rather than being made to look silly by the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins line, the Sedins restored the natural order by making them look silly. The 2-0 goal was textbook Wizardous Sedinerie. Let’s take another look and revel in its excellence.

Don’t let the 4-0 score fool you — this was a very different game than the last time the Canucks faced the Oilers. For one thing, the team that scored four goals was the Canucks, which was nice. For another, Cory Schneider made one save. He didn’t do that last time. He followed it up with several more, too.

But if there’s one stat that really demonstrates how different this one was from last time, consider the following: On Friday night, when the Canucks faced the Oilers, the game was effectively over by 7:15. This time around, the game hadn’t even begun by 7:30. Just think about that. That’s some improvement right there. I watched this game.

Lost in the excitement of the Canucks’ compelling, dizzying lack of action on trade deadline day was the one roster move they did make, recalling Zack Kassian from their AHL affiliate in Chicago and sending down Bill “The Jet” Sweatt in his place.

The move brought to a close what appears to have been some sort of punishment for off-ice shenanigans, something that Kassian corroborated upon his return, saying that management had stressed “being a professional away from the rink.”

Granted, this somewhat contradicted Alain Vigneault’s earlier explanation that Kassian “went to Chicago basically to play hockey,” but only somewhat. After all, Kassian did go to Chicago to play hockey. That’s what he did while he was there. He evens scored a goal. Of course, the reason he had to go to Chicago to play hockey is because whatever he was up to in Vancouver was enough for him to be grounded from playing hockey here.

It wasn’t a terrible NHL trade deadline for the Canucks. After all, they acquired Derek Roy, a skilled player that adds a very important element to their attack: a centre. They really haven’t had one of those all season.

Still, the 2013 trade deadline won’t be remembered in this city for what Mike Gillis did — it will be remembered for what he didn’t do. A big part of that is because he acquired Roy the day before the deadline, which is like giving a child a present on Christmas Eve. It’s exciting, but there had damn well better be something else under the tree on Christmas. But a bigger part is because Roberto Luongo wasn’t traded, leading to the the most indelible moment of the deadline, when Luongo told the world he had a sucky contract. That’ll stay with us, just like Luongo will.

All of this in mind, let’s take a look at the winners and losers of the deadline from a Vancouver perspective.

Over the course of his tenure as Canucks GM, Mike Gillis has earned a reputation as an eleventh hour dealer. Typically, the Canucks go completely quiet right up until the deadline appears to have passed, and then, just as Vancouver hockey fans begin to pout, it’s announced that Gillis’s paperwork has just beaten the buzzer.

Not so this time around, where it would appear Gillis’s New Year’s Resolution was to stop leaving things until the last second. A day in advance of the trade deadline, he’s made what may be his big splash: the Canucks have acquired centre Derek Roy from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2nd round pick and prospect Kevin Connauton.

New Van Fan is a web-series that follows the adventures of long-time Canucks fan Dan as he attempts to bring novice Canucks fan Andreas up to speed. The whole thing may or may not be an excuse to point out the inherent silliness of this fanbase — we’re not quite sure. Have an idea for an episode? Suggest it in the comments.

The Canucks have been wildly inconsistent all year, but if there’s been one thing that Vancouver hockey fans have been able to expect from this team night in and night out, it’s the sight of Daniel and Henrik Sedin playing on the same line. But now it would appear that this too is in jeopardy.

The Swedish twins have been playing together despite a lengthy quarrel all season long, but over the weekend, both decided enough was enough, independently approaching coach Alain Vigneault and demanding to be split up.

According to a report from the Vancouver Sun’s Elliott Pap, Henrik Sedin was the first to demand a new linemate, citing stale play as the primary reason for the split. “I think both of us would benefit from new linemates, new challenges,” Henrik said. “We’ve become predictable to defenders and to one another. This team needs more offence from us and we can no longer provide it together.”

The game of AHL thrones appears to have begun. Who will win? Who will die? As we all know, there is no middle ground.

10 days ago, we discussed a report from the Team 1040′s Tom Mayenknecht that had the Canucks, Flames, and Blues working on a three-way affiliate trade, of sorts. In a move that seemed needlessly complicated, Mayenknecht said that the Canucks would be buying the Peoria Rivermen and moving them to Abbotsford, the Blues would be partnering with the suddenly vacant Chicago Wolves, and the Flames would be moving the Abbotsford Heat to Utica.

It had the look of a few steps too many, and we speculated instead that it would likely be the Flames purchasing the Rivermen while the Canucks snagged the franchise in Abbotsford. That still seems, to us, to be the most logical course, but over the weekend, more reports surfaced tying the Canucks not to Abbotsford, but Peoria.

Late Saturday night, Andy Strickland of True Hockey reported that St. Louis and Vancouver have reached an agreement on the Rivermen.

The 2013 NHL lockout yielded many horrors, from “the podium” to “assmode” to the three-act masterpiece that was “The Voicemail”. But if, like me, your efforts to suppress the four-month ordeal have been unsuccessful to date, you may recall the lone bright spot that was the Bieksa’s Buddies charity game.

In an effort to mitigate some of the difficulty charitable benefactors like Canuck Place and the Canucks Autism Network were facing with the lockout eating into their donations, Kevin Bieksa organized a charity game, pitting a ragtag group of Canucks, Canuck family members, and celebrity Canuck fans like this sauve, poncho-wearing stud against the UBC Thunderbirds for a game at Thunderbird Arena. It was a rousing success, yielding a $200,000 intake to split between the charities.

It also yielded this sweet quilt.

What do I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, American Psycho 2, Son of the Mask, Home Alone 4, Return to Oz, S. Darko, Roadhouse 2: Last Call, and this game have in common? They were all sequels that absolutely nobody asked for. But, unlike those movies, the complete cast from last Tuesday’s snoozefest versus Columbus returned for another non-adventure (save Keith Ballard, who wisely hurt his foot).

You may have thought the Canucks’ actionless affair with Columbus was a one-off. Not so. The Canucks returned Thursday with [the complete absence of] a vengeance, perhaps realizing about eight minutes in that Cory Schneider was going to be nigh unbeatable and taking the rest of the night off. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the same, because there is no Cory Schneider equivalent for blogging (except for, like, the spam blocker, maybe.) I watched this game.

ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun gave Vancouver hockey fans some food for thought Wednesday when he named the Canucks among the teams showing an interest in San Jose bruiser Ryane Clowe, who might be on the market as the Sharks debate a deadline sell-off. “Don’t just assume he’s 100 percent headed to an Eastern Conference team,” Lebrun added after discussing a number of scenarios in this regard. “I’m told there are Western Conference teams, the Vancouver Canucks among them, that also covet Clowe.”

This left many Canuck fans scratching their heads for several reasons. Does the club really need a guy that takes a lot of penalties, has yet to score a goal all season, and abuses the letter E so brazenly? And beyond that, don’t the Canucks need a centre more than they need another winger?

Let’s ignore, for the moment, Clowe’s awful luck this season, the blowups it’s produced, and the extraneous E’s, instead taking a look at that last objection. All season long, the Canucks have been shorthanded up the midde, what with Ryan Kesler spending so much of the year on the IR and Manny Malhotra’s tenure as a Canuck ending back in February. It’s been our understanding that acquiring a centre has been a top priority for this team all year.

But now we’re beginning to wonder if Jordan Schroeder may have helped to shift their priorities.

With the NHL’s trade deadline now less than a week away, Canucks fans have spent the last few days debating which of their prospects Mike Gillis and co. should consider off-limits. The name that comes up most frequently: winger Nicklas Jensen.

It’s easy to see why. Jensen is exactly what you want an NHL forward to be these days — big. But it’s not just that. He’s also got some soft hands for a large man. As evidence, we submit his lovely shootout goal for the Chicago Wolves Wednesday night in their 3-2 win over the Oklahoma City Barons. Feast your eyes on this fabulous move, as Jensen pulls off the deke made famous by Peter Forsberg to make veteran goalie Yann Danis look silly: