Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd In recent years, every Stanley Cup champion has featured at least two defensemen with elite physical and scoring skills. Rob Blake and Ray Bourque in Colorado. Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski in New Jersey. Derian Hatcher and Sergei Zubov in Dallas. So if the Vancouver Canucks […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Today, Michael Nylander plays a key role with the Chicago Blackhawks. But the playmaking Swedish center was once regarded as a fragile commodity, physically and mentally. When he broke into the NHL with the Hartford Whalers in 1992-93, he lacked upper body strength. He missed 15 […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd In the NHL’s Original Six era, guessing the nationalities of the players was easier than scoring into an empty net on a clear-cut breakaway. During the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, all NHLers were Canadians, except for a handful of talented Americans like goalie Frank Brimsek and […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd For Janne Niinimaa, it would be better if a picture didn’t tell a thousand words. Which do you remember better? The Finnish defenseman’s top-notch statistics from 1996-97, when he set a Philadelphia Flyers record for most assists by a rookie by going 4-40-44? Or the image […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd Come on. Petr Nedved’s been in the NHL for ten years? No way! That would be an understandable reaction. It sure doesn’t feel like that long. The big Czech center is only 28 years old, and he missed most of the 1993-94 season and all of […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Ten seconds. That’s all it took for Andrei Nazarov to show the Vancouver Canucks he was fighting mad and ready to live up to his many nicknames in a 26 September exhibition game at GM Place: “The Russian Bear,” “The Mad Russian,” and “The Nazinator.” At […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd “Autumn time, and the livin’ is easy…” Markus Naslund couldn’t be faulted for singing a variation on the old standard. Until 1998-99, not much came easy for him. But that breakout season with 36 goals and 30 assists keyed him to similar success last year (27-38-65), […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd You might be surprised to learn that the person Markus Naslund would most like to meet is legendary boxer George Foreman. Maybe you shouldn’t be. The Swedish winger’s Vancouver Canucks are demonstrating a remarkable counterpunch as they hit the final stretch leading to the playoffs, and […]

  Originally published on IIHF.com in 2003 By Lucas Aykroyd It’s the afternoon of June 5, 2003. A heat wave grips Vancouver, Canada. This is a long way from the cold, crisp, intense atmosphere at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, where the USA achieved its 4-3 “Miracle on Ice” victory over the favored Soviet Union. […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd “It’s better to have more than less, because if you have less, you run into problems, and that’s not good for the team,” Manny Fernandez philosophically told Eishockey News after a 3-2 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks on March 13. The 32-year-old Minnesota Wild […]