R.I.P Luc Bourdon (1987-2008)

I was going to do a post on how happy I was that Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins finally broke through and scored some goals ... and won a game! OMGZ

Instead, there was a big bomb dropped on the hockey world with the shocking announcement of the death of Canucks prospect Luc Bourdon.

Now, the only major media link I have right now is in French, so I can't really translate.

RDS LINK

Le défenseur des Canucks de Vancouver, Luc Bourdon, a perdu la vie lors d'un grave accident de moto entre Shippagan et Lamèque, au Nouveau-Brunswick.

Autour de 12h30 heure avancée de l'Est, (13h30 Heure des maritimes) il aurait perdu le contrôle de sa moto avant de percuter un semi-remorque.

Sa soeur, Ève, a confirmé la nouvelle.

CKNW.com (radio station) also reports the same.

Basically, Bourdon was riding a motorbike and got hit by a truck. His sister confirmed the death.

As if life as a Canucks fan wasn’t crappy enough, our top prospect goes and dies :(

I never knew the guy, so I can't really express deep sympathies (something I don't like faking).

Instead, I'll talk about my favourite memory of the Canucks prospect.

A few years back, I covered the World Junior Hockey Championships for eurohockey.net, as they were being held in Vancouver. The Canadians were heavily favoured, and Bourdon was one of the big stars on the team.

I can remember how dominant he was in that tournament, and I was always surprised that he could never translate that into success at the pro level.

During that WJC, Bourdon was a machine... he was hitting, scoring, and scaring goalies poopless with his big slap shot. Basically, he looked like a great all-around defensemanin the making.

The crowd definitely appreciated the effort, and greeting the kid with many loud shouts of 'LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC'. Very few Canucks players have ever gotten such love, so it was definitely fun to hear that.

*sigh*

Luc's NHL Totals

36GP 2G 0A 2PTS 24PIM

R.I.P.

Canucks: The Mutterings

by Jes

Now, you wouldn't expect a defence that looks like ...

Ohlund-Mitchell
Salo-Bieksa
Miller-Krajicek
Edler-Bourdon

... would need a whole lot of help.

Well, the Canucks signed Dan McGillis (remember him?) to a try-out contract to further bolster their corps.

While this might seem like overkill, it's actually a good move considering Sami Salo injured his wrist (no shock) and Mitchell's groin is still wonky. The Canucks will need a good re-inforcement or two and McGillis is that kinda guy.

It's kinda strange how far McGillis has fallen, and now needs a try-out to get back to the NHL.

Thanks to Fat Lou's cap dodging theatrics, McGillis was demoted to the AHL Albany Rats for the past few seasons. McGillis put up 66 points in 108 games, and earned a lot of money to live the minor-league life.

Even at 35, you'd still have to think McGillis could be a useful cog, especially as a fill-in defenseman. He's nasty, he's got a good shot, and he's experienced.

Speaking of defence, the smart money is on the rapidly-improving Alex Edler to earn a full-time spot and Luc Bourdon to go back to the AHL.

It wasn't so long ago that Bourdon was dominating the WJCs here in Vancouver, and was one the world's top prospects. Now? Notsomuch.

Given his struggles in his brief NHL tenure last season, and in this preseason, and you've got a prospect who needs at least a seasoning in the minors. Hopefully, he'll regain his confidence ... he's making ME nervous.

Let's cut down the hype about prospect Mason Raymond. For a guy who had a whopping 4 points in his 11 game AHL debut last season, there is way too much talk about how awesome of a prospect this guy is.

Look, the Canucks have a fairly deep (albeit not impressive) forward corps, and don't have a lot of room for any prospects. Raymond has a lot of developing to do, and a few hot preseason games mean little. I mean, Jon Sim would be a star if preseason meant anything (For those who don't know, this guy has about 72 points in 30 preseason games...or something similar).

Given how some of the media, and even his teammates, gush about the guy, you'd think he's gonna put up 30 goals this season, and win the freakin' Calder Trophy.

It's great to see Ryan "Boy Band" Kesler doing well in the preseason with some offence (2 points last night, if I'm not mistaken), but it means nothing if he can't do more during the regular season.

I realize that he'll never live up to that contract that the Flyers somewhat-forced the Canucks to give him, so let's not expect the guy to put up 40 assists this season. Hell, I'd be pleased with 40 points!

The Canucks media are so anxious for him to succeed and justify the expense that they'll drool over every preseason point.

Wake me when the season starts! Preseason sucks.