On Saturday, the Canucks put in their most lacklustre effort of the season, losing to the Edmonton Oilers in less than 8 minutes. It was a demoralizing loss and, with the trade deadline just a couple days away, many Canucks fans are eager to see Mike Gillis shake things up by making a big move.

On Sunday, the Canucks called up Nicklas Jensen and Bill Sweatt from the Chicago Wolves and sent down Zack Kassian and Andrew Gordon.

It would be a mistake to connect these two days together by anything more than chronology. Fans and media alike were quick to call this a desperation move, but the roster movement doesn’t seem to be sparked by the loss in Edmonton. Instead, it looks like this roster move was caused by something that happened before the game even started.

Canucks news comes fast and furious, and sometimes we find ourselves playing catchup. Thankfully, the Dreaded Two Goal Lead – often called “the worst lead in hockey” – is super easy to come back from. Everybody knows it’s a guaranteed death sentence for those that hold it. Well, much like an ice hockey team coming from two goals down, PITB will now effortlessly catch up.

While I have no proof, I have a sneaking suspicion that Canucks prospect Nicklas Jensen wanted to play this season in the Swedish Elite League so that he would be sure to be available for Denmark’s national team for Olympic qualifying. The country’s final Olympic qualification tournament was on home ice in Vojens, and they were the highest ranked team in their group, consisting of themselves, Belarus, Slovenia, and Ukraine.

Denmark won their first game on Thursday, shutting out Ukraine 2-0. With Slovenia beating Belarus 4-2 on the same day, Denmark just needed to beat Slovenia on Friday to ensure their first ever Olympic berth. Instead, the much lower-ranked Slovenians shocked Denmark 2-1, earning their first ever trip to the Olympics. That unfortunately means that neither Jensen nor Jannik Hansen will be travelling to Sochi in 2014 to play in the Winter Olympics.

Poor Hansen. He made no secret of the fact that one of his motivations for going to Europe during the lockout was getting in shape for these qualification games. Then the NHL got it together a month before he could help the team. His presence may have made a difference.

Instead, both Hansen and Jensen will be watching Sochi on television. Between that and the fact that Roberto Luongo — a lock to make the team, even if some pundits are saying otherwise — likely won’t be a Canuck by then, there doesn’t look to be much Canuck representation at the Olympics.

While their may not be any NHL hockey right now, Nicklas Jensen is still giving Canucks fans something to get excited about. The Canucks’ first round draft pick in 2011 is in Sweden playing for AIK of the Elitserien (Swedish Elite League) and will apparently being staying there for the entire duration of the season, even if the lockout ends. That’s not exactly a bad thing, as he is currently making the most of his opportunity.

Jensen currently leads AIK (Allmänna Idrottsklubben Ishockeyförening) in goals, points, and shots on goal. He has 8 goals to go with 3 assists and has yet to go two games without a point. His 11 points in 15 games makes him tied for 15th in the SEL and he is 2nd in goals.

What’s remarkable is that he’s still only 19-years-old and playing against men. He leads all junior-aged players in goals, points, and shots and is second among junior players in average ice time, which Google awesomely translates as “Ice Age.”

The only potential red flag is his minus-3 rating, but it’s worth noting that AIK is one of the worst teams in the league with a 5-11 record and has below average goaltending. Jensen is far from the worst on his team and plus/minus is a tough statistic to judge out of context, but it’s something to keep in mind.

While you can catch highlights of all of AIK’s games on the SEL’s video site, I have compiled all 8 of Jensen’s goals into one nifty highlight package:

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.

Canucks news comes fast and furious, and sometimes we find ourselves playing catchup. Thankfully, the Dreaded Two Goal Lead – often called “the worst lead in hockey” – is super easy to come back from. Everybody knows it’s a guaranteed death sentence for those that hold it. Well, much like an ice hockey team coming from two goals down, PITB will now effortlessly catch up.

The Vancouver Canucks have only one prospect playing in the World Junior Championship this year, but they will still be well-represented. Their one prospect in the tournament is 18-year-old Nicklas Jensen, their 2011 first round draft pick, and he is easily Denmark’s most important player.

The Canucks made another round of cuts this afternoon, sending Mike Duco, Eddie Lack, Yann Sauve, and Jordan Schroeder to Chicago, Nicklas Jensen to his junior club in Oshawa, and releasing Todd Fedoruk and Anders Eriksson outright. While there is still one final round of trimming to go, as a number of players that will need to clear waivers remain with the team (Mancari, Parent and/or Sulzer), today’s cuts were, in effect, the final round, giving us a fairly clear indication as to who will be in the lineup on opening night.

As we have been throughout this process, PITB is here to break down the moves.

Considering that the last 18-year-old to make the Canucks was Petr Nedved in 1990, it’s probably safe to say that 29th overall pick Nicklas Jensen is a longshot to win a spot on the roster come opening night. But if you’ve seen Jensen play, and, moreover, if you’ve been keeping up with Alain Vigneault’s praise for the kid, it might not be as far-fetched as you think.

Nicklas and Brendan Jensen may have the same last name, but they enter prospect camp with completely different expectations. And, for that matter, pronunciations. Nicklas sports a soft “J”, while Brendan has a hard “J”, which is appropriate, as he has a much harder path ahead of him.

Nicklas is a first-round pick, while Brendan is an unsigned invitee. Nicklas spent his summer at the Canucks’ development camp, while Brendan spent the summer wondering if he’d have a job with the Vancouver Giants with Canucks draft pick Jonathan Iilahti slated to come over from Finland. Nicklas has been training with the Danish U-20 team in Quebec, playing exhibition games against teams in the QMJHL, while Brendan has been training with the Giants and having his coach publicly question his ability to be a number one goaltender.

And yet, both find themselves at the Canucks’ prospect camp and Young Stars tournament, both wearing the familiar orca on the front of their jerseys.

Throughout the Young Stars Tournament, we will have in-person coverage from Harrison, while I will be “in studio” back here in the Valley. We won’t be writing our usual I Watched This Game feature, as the games themselves are not what matters. Instead, we’ll be looking at the individual performances. I will be choosing the 3 stars from amongst the Canucks prospects as well as making a few other observations. Why just the Canucks prospects? Because we don’t care about the other teams. Screw ‘em.