Elliotte Friedman is paid to be a shit disturber. He would say he is a reporter, but I think he thrives on creating anger in Vancouver. (Again, he would say discussion, not anger) In the spirit of that, Elliotte hopped on a plane all the way to Sweden just to create a new shitstorm for Canuck fans.

You can listen to it here.

The Petey part starts around the 26 minute mark.

Now I will say that the interview was not a negative one, but as the media does...and the internet, they grabbed a piece and spun it. Petey has always said he wants to be in the playoffs. He said that before the last contract and of course, he still feels that way. So, it makes sense that he wants to wait and see how this season plays out. Seems logical to me. So on Twitter, it tends to be the opposite of that notion. Some Canuck fans want him signed to a 8 year/ $8 million a year contract. (They're drunk) I do believe that Petey will get a 7-8 year contract, but the number per year is the main talking point...especially after the Austin Matthews extension. I would hope that the idea of a hometown discount is still a thing and the Canucks can sign him for $10 million/yr, but I think Petey might have a bigger number in mind because of his value to the team. $11-11.5 is realistic, but I hope $12 is off the table.

The interesting part of this mental exercise is that Petey is still an RFA at the end of the year and arbitration eligible. Petey obviously believes in himself and thinks he can get 100+ points this year and solidify a high number if it goes to arbitration. The Canucks should never let this get to arbitration. I think Petey might be the type of player that gets an offer sheet if he doesn't want to go to arbitration. (I had to go fishing through the internet to get this info....and it might be wrong. Please correct me if I am) He

If it ever got to the point that a team could make an offer sheet, I think there are few teams that actually have the picks that would be needed for compensation. The other event that could happen, unlikely, but could happen, is that the Canucks trade Petey.

That kind of thinking infected a Boston blogger, Jimmy Murphy, thought the Bruins should trade for Petey. Of course he didn't speculate what Van would get in return. I did my research and in reality, the Bruins don't have the picks or players that would fill the hole left by Petey. So, clickbait is a real thing.

I know that is a natural trait for Canuck fans to over value their players, but I do wonder what kind of trade would bring equal value in the mind of Canuck fans.

The Canucks are not liked by the bookies of the sports betting world. In more than one site, the Canucks are not predicted to make the playoffs this year. Most have the Canucks around 88 points. Both Canucks Army and the Daily Hive have articles that cover this. You should go read them…Google it. I agree with the bookies and won’t reiterate the arguments made in the two other Canuck sites. Instead, I will go directly to the reason the Canucks have had trouble getting out of the western conference basement teams. It’s very simple….the Canucks can’t beat the east.

The Canucks record last year against teams from the Eastern Conference was 10-20-2.

Read that again….10-20-2. That’s terrible. Some would point to the early season losing streak and say that it skewed the numbers, but the Canucks also lost several games to eastern teams in the middle of their schedule. The interesting part of this is that Bruce was the coach for most of the losses…well most of the games against eastern teams (5-15-1). Tocchet’s record against the east was 5-5-1.

So maybe that’s the solution! Tocchet saves the team, because he can lead the team to a .500 record against the east. Of course, in 5 of those games the Canucks allowed 5+ goals. And in his limited games as a coach against east teams, he was unable to find a penalty kill system that worked against eastern teams. (67.7%)

I would love to say that I have solutions for this major problem, but it would be great if the Nucks could at least see the issues they have. I haven’t heard anyone in the organization mention how bad this team was against that conference. There is always talk about being better against divisional teams and conference teams, but the Canucks have done well against them. In fact, the Canucks were 28-17-5 against the West. If the Canucks could actually get to the playoffs, they might have a fighting chance.

In head to head match-ups against Eastern Conference teams, the Canucks only had winning records against Columbus and Ottawa. The Canucks never beat Washington, Tampa, the Rangers, New Jersey, Florida, Detroit or Boston. Brutal

I have the stats below for the Canucks games against last year. Take a gander and look at how bad this team was against the East.

If you get over to the Twitter, (I will never call it X...fucking stupid), you should ask the organization if they have a game plan for playing those teams this year.

I know I will.