Normally when a new GM holds his first press conference, he beams about how happy he is to be there, how he'll mold the team into a Stanley Cup contender, and thank ownership to giving him the opportunity to run the franchise (into the ground).

With player-agent-turned-GM Mike Gillis, it didn't quite work that way. Showing that you can never quite change your stripes, Gillis was in full 'agent' mode, and on the attack against the guy he took the team over from: Dave Nonis.

"I don't think this team is close at this particular point," said Gillis, doling out his harsh dose of reality just one week after Nonis declared the team was "very close" to competing for a championship.

Translation: Nonis was full of crap, and the team he put together wasn't very good.

"You can't blame a coach for doing everything he possibly can to win hockey games based on the assets he is given," Gillis said.

Translation: What do you expect Vigneault to do with the crap Nonis gave him?

"A couple of very good decisions, or a couple of really bold decisions might put this team in a position to win almost immediately. I'm hoping to be able to take advantage of those opportunities as quickly as we can."

Translation: Even though I said the team wasn't close to winning, I'm so awesome that with a quick wave of my magic wand, the Canucks will be back to tearing up the Avalanche like a starving Panda in a bamboo forest.

You can bet that quite a few GMs around the league (Kevin Lowe, especially) won't be too happy or willing to deal with Gillis, the guy who has ripped them off many times, especially if Gillis keeps acting like the boastful ass that he's always been. Yes, there is a lot of truth to what he is saying, but chopping up the former GM of the club shows that Gillis has too much ego to pump up, and that is a worrisome sign for Canucks fans.

I don't know much about Darryl Parks, who appears to be a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. But I know enough that I couldn't help but pass along this YouTube video where he makes the case that he be hired to replace Dave Nonis as general manager of the Vancouver Canucks:



Click here for the rest of his videos, which, if nothing else, are certainly proof of his fanaticism. As for the Canucks, while there might not be any official reaction to the Parks candidacy, the moderators of the team's message board have already erased two separate threads (here and here) discussing Parks and his video.

Like Bob McKenzie over at TSN, I'm having a tough time getting my head around the dismissal of Dave Nonis as GM of the Vancouver Canucks. Sure, the Canucks took a pretty horrible tumble from last season, dropping from a Northwest Division title and 107 points to a ninth-place finish (technically 11th) in the West just three points outside a playoff spot. Then again, as others have recounted, the Cancuks blue line had to be held together with spit and bailing wire this season after getting hit with a tsunami's worth of injuries that saw six defensemen miss a significant amount of playing time.

For me, and I'm sure for many others, Nonis should be remembered and hailed for just one thing: His acquisition of Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers for Todd Beruzzi, Alex Auld and Bryan Allen. The Canucks also got defenseman Lukas Krajicek back in the deal. Still just 29 27, Luongo probably has anywhere between 8-10 seasons of elite-level play left in his career, more than enough time for the Canucks to make a few changes around the margins to acquire the offensive pieces they need to get back into the playoffs and make a serious Cup run.

And as we all know from our hockey history, time and time again, it's the elite goalie who makes the difference in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And while the current ownership group in Vancouver would like you to forget about Nonis starting right about now, hockey fans in the know understand all too well that he put the franchise in the position to do some damage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year they manage to qualify. That is, as long as Luongo is in the picture. It won't be long before Nonis finds another job.

More thoughts from Orland Kurtenblog and Canucks and Beyond.

Although Trevor Linden has not officially announced his retirement, it's pretty much all but certain that the most popular player in the history of the Vancouver Canucks has played his final game in the NHL.

All of the signs were there: Trevor flying in his parents for the game, the fans giving Linden a standing ovation after the game, kudos and handshakes from the opposing Calgary Flames, giving Linden the First Star, and lots and lots of tears.

There's no denying this city's affection for Trevor Linden, a city he embraced from the day he arrived at age 18, a gangly 18-year-old from Medicine Hat, Alta.

That's why, once more with feeling, the fans at GM Place gave their hero several rousing ovations, enveloping him in the type of adoration fans generally save for a final goodbye to their true loves.

"Maybe that's a hint," Linden joked afterward. "It was quite overwhelming, at the same time, I'm not surprised. I've been treated incredibly by the city of Vancouver for a long time and the fans of the team. For someone who doesn't like attention, it was a little difficult."

It's too bad that Linden, who played 1382 regular season and 124 playoff games, never got a chance to taste champagne from the Stanley Cup, and had to endure the disdain of coach Alain Vigneault for his farewell season.

Linden is one of the few sports personalities that one could seriously put a 'hero' tag on. Known for his tremendous charity work, Linden used his celebrity to benefit others, and was always a class act on and off the ice.

As you can imagine, plenty of hockey fans were touched, figuratively, by Trevor Linden over the years. The tributes are always flowing in ...

Joe Pelletier wonders if he'll ever watch hockey the same way again.
'Miss 604' attended the match and took some personal photos.
Yeah, who cares that the Flames won and Iginla got his 50th. Nobody in Vancouver, that's for sure.
Deb wants to jump off of a bridge. I hope she left me in her will.

Today's Video of the Day: A Soldier's Story about Trevor Linden.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

It's been a rather frustrating year for Sidney Crosby as he's fought an ankle injury and watched as Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin steal his spotlight. With just six points in six March games, Crosby wasn't much of a factor as the Penguins battled the likes of the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers to Atlantic Division supremacy.

Last night, Sidney finally put his stamp back on the team with a two-goal performance in the Penguins 4-2 win over the Flyers. With the win, the Pens win the division for the first time since 1998, and can finish no lower than second place in the Eastern Conference.

"We ended up losing Crosby (for 28 games) and Marc-Andre Fleury (for three months) and so many other guys during the course of the season, and we were just trying to focus and maintain our position to make the playoffs," coach Michel Therrien said. "The guys surprised me with their commitment."

Another interesting note: The Penguins sold out all 41 home games for the first time in their 41 year history. Given the team's past attendance problems, this is just more icing on the cake for the revived antarctic dwellers. Still, I find it amazing that they never sold out a season back when Mario Lemieux and the Pens were winning Stanley Cups. What the hell?

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Because weekends should be all about happy, positive thoughts, it could be argued that Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo played well for a guy that spent the previous night in a South Florida hospital bed.

Unfortunately, that standard isn't quite good enough to allow Luongo to play well. For the second start in a row, Luongo didn't get out of the second period. Because of that (and their inability to score) the Canucks suddenly find themselves in danger of blowing a playoff spot that looked like a safe bet a month ago. Minnesota won Friday night, 4-0, and Luongo was pulled after allowing four goals on 21 shots.

After Luongo slept at a Coral Springs hospital Thursday night (wife Gina gave birth to a healthy baby girl Thursday), he flew to the Twin Cities from Fort Lauderdale and watched his team hang him out to dry. Luongo was clearly not at his best, but it wouldn't be right to blame this on his hectic schedule or family matters. The bottom line was that the Canucks stunk up the XCel Energy Center Friday night, and the Minnesota Wild were very good on both ends of the ice.

Besides the fact that Vancouver now appears "Most Likely To Blow A Playoff Spot" in the Western Conference, the big story Friday was the play of the Wild. For the first time in a while, Minnesota has strung together back-to-back games that could make them look like a contender even to the most cynical fan (I'll raise my hand on that one).

As for Vancouver, they're now tied with Nashville for eighth place (Nashville holds the tiebreaker, so Vancouver is technically ninth). Edmonton is two points back thanks to their 5-4 shootout loss in Denver last night, which we'll cover shortly.

(Still to come: More on Vancouver's collapse, entertaining hockey in Jersey, another gem from Jacques Lemaire, all the Friday results, and a YouTube tribute to a Buffalo legend)

Look, we all have our priorities. We also define "joy" in different ways. The following passage from the Vancouver Sun had me questioning both concepts within the context of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:

Goaltender Roberto Luongo left the team early this morning to travel home to south Florida, where his wife Gina was expected to deliver the couple's first child this afternoon.

But any joy around the Vancouver Canucks about Luongo becoming a father - and not missing a start, as he's expected to play Friday night in Minnesota - was overshadowed by confirmation that veteran centre Brendan Morrison is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, as reported in today's Vancouver Sun.

So you have the basic, human joy surrounding the birth of a (hopefully) healthy child. You have the narrow-minded, fanatically selfish joy that Luongo won't miss a start for the free-falling Canucks. And then you have the completely warped notion that either of those emotions could be trumped by a season-ending injury to Morrison. I suppose this wacked mindset shouldn't be a surprise, considering Luongo's been getting "birth vs. berth" questions for the last several days. Gosh, you think that extra pressure from the media has contributed to his giving up 10 goals in his last three starts?

I know James Duthie said this tongue-in-cheek, but maybe the only solution is for players to schedule fertilization around the hockey calendar: "For hockey players, this would be October-November. That would assure a summer birth, and no conflict with playoffs or training camp. Perfect. Besides, hockey wives look great in fall sweaters."

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

With the Nashville Predators nipping at their heels, and Peter Forsberg starting to get into the groove, the Vancouver Canucks have picked the worst time to go into the tank.

After a give-the-points-away 3-2 loss to the Flames on Tuesday, the Canucks gave away another two points as the Avs pounded them 6-3. This was a game in which the Canucks had a 2-1 lead and looked halfway decent at one point, but then decided to stop putting out an effort altogether.

With the Avs win, and the Wild beating up on a red-hot Edmonton Oilers squad, the Northwest Division is providing hockey fans with one hell of a race. Every game is important, and every game provides a seemingly massive swing in the standings and the emotions of fans.

As of this morning, both Nashville and Edmonton have realistic playoff hopes if they can run the table and get some help from the hockey gods.

	Team	GP	PTS
1.	Detroit	77	108
2.	San Jose	76	100
3.	Minnesota*	78	91
4.	Anaheim	78	96
5.	Calgary	77	90
6.	Dallas	76	89
7.	Colorado	78	88
8.	Vancouver	77	86
9.	Nashville	77	84
10.	Edmonton	78	83

Today marks the official rollout of the NHL's new online video deal with Hulu, the video streaming service owned by News Corp. and NBC Universal. In isolation, it's not really that big a deal, but when you combine it with the league's strategy of positioning its content on as many platforms as possible, it all starts to make a lot more sense.

After all, if the fans aren't coming to you on traditional platforms in the numbers you're looking for, it's time to get ahead of the parade and position yourself where those eyeballs might be headed next.

But while the league might be highlighting the "free-on-demand hockey content, including full-length games from the current 2007-08 season, classic games and "Best of the Week" highlights and all access features," I decided to poke around Hulu to find some hockey related content that wasn't produced by the league. And while I didn't find much, what I did trip over was actually pretty funny.

One of the go-to plot-lines for the hockey media in the playoffs is to find that one veteran player who has yet to raise the Stanley Cup and then support his candidacy as a champion. Ray Bourque was the most famous case with the Avalanche in 2001, but these players are usually less legendary than battle-scarred veterans who've paid their dues to finally taste glory. Players like Glen Wesley, who played 1,311 regular-season games with four different teams before winning with the Hurricanes in 2006, and Dave Andreychuk, who held the NHL record for most regular-season game played without winning a Stanley Cup until the Lightning -- his sixth team in 22 seasons -- captured the chalice in 2004.

Teemu Selanne was the latest model last year, winning his first Stanley Cup in his 14th season. This postseason figures to feature several players, of varying degrees of celebrity and urgency, who could grab glory for the first time and lead someone like Bill Clement to bellow that we "gotta feel happy for" such-and-such or so-and-so:

Owen Nolan, Calgary Flames. Also known as "the Generation: Nordique player who didn't win a Cup with Colorado" (he was traded for Sandis Ozolinsh early in the 1995-96 season), here's a 16-season veteran that displays the kind of grit and determination that the media just eats up. His work-history is remarkable: former No. 1 overall pick, longtime captain for the Sharks, well over 1,000 games played and the greatest called shot in NHL All-Star Game history. Probability He'll End the Drought: Fair. If Calgary makes the postseason, it can be a dangerous team. But it takes consistency to win the Cup, and that's a foreign concept for the Flames.