PHILADELPHIA -- Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo are gone, but the goaltending position has not been forgotten by the Vancouver Canucks. With their second-round pick in Saturdays NHL draft at No. 36, the Canucks took the highest-ranked goalie on the board, Thatcher Demko, as new general manager Jim Benning begins the process of replenishing the organizations goaltending depth. "I believe youve got to have a succession of goalies coming through the system," Benning said Saturday afternoon. "Goaltending is the most important position in an organization. ... I believe to be a top, contending team in the league, you need good goaltending. You can never have enough good goalies." Benning believes Demko, who plays at Boston College, is capable of developing into a No. 1 goaltender. He immediately becomes the Canucks goaltender of the future, especially considering the uncertainty that comes with Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom. "Hopefully theres an opportunity for me," said Demko, a native of San Diego, Calif., who brushed off the idea of pressure. "I think once I get there, youll start to feel it a little bit more with the Canucks fans and how passionate they are." It was at last years draft when ex-GM Mike Gillis traded Schneider -- coincidentally also a Boston College product -- to the New Jersey Devils for the ninth pick, which Vancouver used on London Knights centre Bo Horvat. Just before the trade deadline, the Canucks sent Luongo to the Florida Panthers for Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthias. Markstrom started just three games for the Canucks since the trade. Demko, who has the option of playing one to three more years at Boston College, isnt worried at all about the microscope that goalies are under in Vancouver. He cant wait to see what its like to play in a Canadian market. "Im going to thrive in it," he said. "Youve got to play in pressure and thats kind of just the nature of it. Youve got to thrive in those situations or youre not going to have success." Demko might get a taste of a pressure situation at the world junior championship because hes a candidate to start for the United States in the tournament that takes place in Montreal and Toronto. "Obviously you want to be the starter at world juniors, (it) is a goal," he said. "But theres a lot of other guys that could easily have that position." Part of drafting Demko was Bennings familiarity with him from living in Boston and watching him play often. The same can be said for winger Linden Vey, whom the Canucks acquired from the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday for the 50th pick. At 22, Vey has just 18 games of NHL experience and five assists in that time. But Benning watched him play with the Kings AHL affiliate in Manchester and said hell make the Canucks next season. "Hes ready to play in the NHL now," Benning said. "Hell start out as a third-line guy. I think once hes up and going, maybe it takes a year, maybe it takes a year and a half but I think hes got the skill to be a second-line centre at some point." It doesnt hurt that Vey also played for new coach Willie Desjardins with the WHLs Medicine Hat Tigers. Derek Dorsett, acquired from the New York Rangers on Friday, also was in Medicine Hat with Desjardins. That No. 50 pick wasnt the Canucks until they traded defenceman Jason Garrison to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday afternoon. The Kings used it on Victoria goalie Alec Dillon. Vancouver took six-foot-seven Russian defenceman Nikita Tryamkin 66th, Swedish defenceman Gustav Forsling 126th, Erie Otters centre Kyle Pettit 156th and Prince Albert Raiders defenceman MacKenzie Stewart 186th. Those players join the Canucks youth movement along with first-rounders Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann. But the most intriguing addition on Day 2 was Demko, who has prototypical NHL goalie size at six-foot-three. "My size is a tool, but I dont like to rely on it," Demko said. "I can use it, but I still like to react to pucks and kind of play athletic. Its something Im still working on, but its one of the biggest pieces of my game." Demko isnt just confident in himself but also in his ability to withstand the heat in Vancouver. He grew up considering Martin Brodeur a role model but ultimately might want to get some advice from Luongo. "Hopefully I can appeal to the fans up there and make them love me instead of hate me," Demko said. Yeezy Supply Uk . In a matchup of teams battling head-to-head for the final playoff spot in Major League Soccers Western Conference, the Whitecaps run to the post-season took a hard hit when FC Dallas blew open a tie game with two goals in the final minutes for a 3-1 victory Saturday night. Cheapest Yeezy Shoes . The team let Keaton Ellerby, James Wright and Matt Halischuk become unrestricted free agents after declining to make them qualifying offers. Ellerby, 25, appeared in 51 games for the Jets last season and had two goals and four assists. http://www.yeezytrainersuk.com/stan-smith-uk-stores.html . "It feels good, Ive never had one before, not even in College," Hagelin said after the Rangers outgunned the Jets 4-2, behind some solid goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist following a pretty wide open first period. y3 Uk Online . The 24-year-old Pruneau played his CIS football with the Montreal Carabins. The six-foot, 200-pound Montreal native had 41 tackles, 3. Yeezy Shoes Uk Sale . -- The Windsor Spitfires were left with just one goaltender Tuesday after having their starter walk out on them midway through Game 3 of their Ontario Hockey League playoff matchup with the London Knights.TORONTO – The images of humiliation flashed across a screen one by one inside the Maple Leafs practice facility on Wednesday morning, images of mediocrity from two incredibly embarrassing losses. Lazy fore-checks. Lazy back-checks. Careless defensive positioning. All the little intricate details that slipped away so badly in a pair of one-sided losses to the Sabres and Predators. Obviously there was lots that we couldve chosen to go through, head coach Randy Carlyle said the next day, even managing a grin. Carlyle was hoping to highlight process over big picture with his job on the line and he got the response he was looking for on Thursday night. The Leafs left behind the embarrassment of recent days with a mostly thorough 5-2 win over the Lightning, ending a three-game losing streak while quieting the panic and weariness of a frustrated city. That, said Cody Franson, pausing to exhale, is a much better feeling than the one that weve been carrying around for the past couple days. Richard Panik, drafted and developed by the Lightning, scored to put the Leafs ahead for good moments into the middle period, Toronto ultimately holding the leagues most potent offence to just two goals and 28 shots. Their goal was to keep the latter number under 25, something theyve done all too infrequently in the past two seasons. That was our main focus, said Jonathan Bernier after a 26-save performance, to keep [them to] 25 shots or under against us, and we were pretty close to that. I thought we played a pretty solid game. His job security questioned repeatedly after a 9-2 loss to the Predators two nights earlier, Carlyle believed his team was more engaged, structured and relaxed against the Lightning. It was a far cleaner effort overall – far fewer turnovers – one that kept Steven Stamkos quiet until the final furious moments of the final frame. It was an example of what kind of team we can be when we stay disciplined to our system and manage the puck, Franson said. And that, generally speaking, was the intent of the video session just a day earlier – demonstrate, under increasing pressure from all corners of the city, that the path toward respectability wasnt so overwhelming or undoable. This isnt a mountain that were climbing or a building that we have to push over, Carlyle said. This is something that youve done all your life and all were expecting you to do is to continue to do some of the things and do them at a higher rate and do them more consistently. Consistency has been elusive for the Leafs all year. The team that beat Boston handily just over a week ago was remarkably different from the one that showed up Saturday in Buffalo. This team, the one that held the high-powered Lightning in check, was vastly changed from the one that yielded nine markers to Nashville. Carlyles message suitably after victory then was to start preparations for Detroit on Saturday. Wed love to be able to be more consistent for sure, he said. Thats a goal that weve set out. And tonight was hopefully a starting point for us. By no means do we think were over the hump. Five Points 1. Stamkos Kept Quiet Carlyle employed his top line and top defensive pairing against Stamkos and, for the better part of Thursday evening, they held him and linemates, Valtteri Filppula and Ryan Callahan, in check. Stamkos scored late with the Lightning net empty and finished with five shots, but he was mostly quiet in defeat. Tampas captain had six goals in 10 career games previously at the ACC. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you dont cover one of the best players in the league, they have multiple ways of hurting you, said Carlyle. Additionally crucial for the head coach in limiting the leagues top goal-scorer since the 2009-10 season was his teams dominance in the faceoff circle. The Leafs won 65 per cent of the draws, led by Tyler Bozak at a remarkable 73 per cent (22-30). Toronto is now up to seventh overall in the faceoff circle, again led by Bozak, who is eighth-best in the league at 57.5 per cent 2. Point Streak Franson extended the longest point streak of his career and the longest currently of any player in the NHL against Tampa. Franson, in line for a big payday in unrestricted free agency next summer, rung up a point for the ninth straight game, totaling nine assists and 11 points in that span.dddddddddddd The 27-year-old had never gone more than four games with a point prior to this streak. He is one game from matching Tom Kurvers franchise record for longest point streak by a defenceman. 3. Fourth Line Offence Colton Orr went 50 games last season without recording a goal or even a point. He was demoted in the fall as the Leafs – led by a revamped management team – veered toward a more conventional lineup, one that leaned more on skill and less on grit. Enter the likes of Richard Panik, who scored Thursday opposite his former team, his fourth goal of the year. Panik is now on pace for 17 goals, despite averaging only nine minutes per game, none of that coming on the power play. The 23-year-old is a good example of why the Leafs are better off using more capable players on their fourth line. He might also be deserving of some opportunity on the power play, especially given the ineffectiveness of the teams second unit – Nazem Kadri, Peter Holland and David Clarkson have just two power play goals combined. 4. No Pain No player in the league has thrown himself around more recklessly this season than Leo Komarov. And yet the 27-year-olds body is apparently no worse for wear. He claims to have no bumps or bruises, nothing to signify the nightly punishment his body endures. Ive been thinking about that, too, he said. I guess Im used to it. Komarov says he feels fatigue and the usual tightness after a game, but his body doesnt have anything bad on it as far as bruises are concerned. He isnt one for a regular dip in the ice-bath or hot tub either, but does visit a chiropractor two times a week. The Finnish winger took over the league-lead from Matt Martin in the hits department on Thursday. He threw four against the Lightning and now boasts 88 in 20 games. 5. Under the Microscope The Leafs were under siege after their hapless performance against the Predators, leading to what van Riemsdyk dubbed as a lot of over-analyzing in recent days. Starting his career with the Flyers, the 25-year-old is well-accustomed to the ranting of an engaged fan-base and media corps. Coming from a market like Philly, theres some very passionate fans there as well so you learn some lessons over the years I played there, he said. I dont really let anything faze me as far as stuff like that. Youve got the most passionate fans in the world here, a lot of coverage for our team so you know theres going to be a lot of people giving their two cents – deserved or not. So weve just got to be ready to not worry about that and worry about what were doing in there. Injury Updates David Booth is nearing his Leafs debut, but it seems a likely possibility that the 29-year-old heads to the Marlies first on a conditioning stint. Booth, who was suffering from a broken right foot, hasnt played in a game since the end of September, but has been skating with the big club for the past week. Sidelined since late October, Joffrey Lupul is also closing in on his return. Like Booth, it seems likely that the 31-year-old will be out through the weekend though. The Leafs will send Lupul for one last round of x-rays, intent on making sure his previously broken right hand is healed and in no danger of further injury. Stats Pack 6 – Goals for David Clarkson this season, besting the mark he set in 60 games last year. 11 – Points for Cody Franson during a career-high nine-game point streak, the longest of his career. 4 – Goals for Richard Panik this season. 7-0-0 – Leafs record when scoring first. 22-30 – Faceoff mark for Tyler Bozak against the Lightning. Bozak is eighth in the NHL at 57.5 per cent. Special Teams Capsule PP: 1-3 Season: 20.3% PK: 3-3 Season: 84.3% Quote of the Night I told them theyve got a better chance of seeing the big guy than that happening. - Randy Carlyle, responding to a players request for another optional morning skate on Saturday. They requested and were granted one on Thursday morning. Up Next The Leafs host the Red Wings on Saturday. ' ' '
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