Gary’s Review – Bruno Gervais #8 – and Congrats to the Canucks

#8.  What an enigma.  As far as a voice for the organization, he is great.  He interacts with the fans so well.  He is always a great quote.  I think that when his career ends, he will be a great TV pitch man or talk show host.

As far as his hockey – he is the ultimate Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde player.  There are times that he is such a star.  Then – the gaffe.

To me – and I am not a player, but a student of the game, his achillies heel is his getting out of the defensive zone.  His passes, to me are too telegraphed, and just not crisp.  There is no authority to his movement.

But then, he will come up with this brilliant move, or get the job done in front of the goaltender, that just makes me shake my head.

In any situation, I think he could be a 6th defensemen, that can eat up minutes, due to his experience.  However, look at the facts with this team.  You will have Streit back full time.   Mottau has one year left, and so does Eaton.  You have Hamonic and MacDonald and Jurcina returning.  That is six.  We all know that with this team, you need extra defensemen, but do you keep him on?  It really all depends on Snow, and what is out there.  Bruno is a RFA, and there is really no hurry to sign, and I do not think he will be looking for a monster contract.  He can get the 10%, and he would probably be happy with that.

As far as the grade, a C- will be for him.  He was oft injured and oft in the press box this season, but the inconsistency is the real factor for the grade.  Will he be here next season is anyone’s guess, but he is a great guy, great in the locker room, and if the cards work out – he could be here.

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Congrats to the Vancouver Canucks on winning the West.  As I have said in the past, I have been a Canuck follower since the 70’s, so I am a very happy person.  Glad to see the Twins get their game back on.  Henrik had 13 points in the 5 games, I believe, and Daniel was not that far behind.  Their are up at the right time.

And don’t you just love Ryan Kesler.  He gets an injury to his leg, and you think that he is DONE.  Then he comes back, wins crucial faceoffs, and gets the tying goal in the last minute forcing the overtime, which Kevin Bieksa gets the fluky bounce and scores.

Yes – I feel bad that San Jose got hosed on the non-icing call.  These are things that happen in hockey.  I like the San Jose team, I think they are a team to be very scared of next season.  It was just not their year this season.  Give them high marks for their play in this series.

Last night was also a great win for the Lightning forcing game 7 on Friday in Boston.  For the Canucks, it gives more time to rest, as game 1 of the Finals will be on Wednesday night in the Rogers Centre in Vancouver.  Good luck to the Bolts and Bruins and hope its a great game!

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